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“You—we—have to stop touching like this.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

He exhaled heavily. “I can’t stop.”

“You’re going to have to,” I whispered, pressing my palm harder against his chest. “I didn’t look at you this morning because you were with her, Ryder. I’m not going to be your dirty secret while we figure everything else out.”

His hand slammed into the shelf beside my head, the sound loud enough to make me jump. Not from fear. I had never feared him, but the sheer force of it echoed like a warning shot. His other hand gripped my hip, rough and possessive, anchoring me in place.

“I would never fucking hide you.” His tone was laced with something I both recognized and craved.

“Ryder,” I warned, glancing both ways down the aisle. I was surprised someone hadn’t come running to investigate the noise yet.

I prayed they didn’t.

The rumor mill at Crowsfell was bloodthirsty, and if someone caught us like this, pressed together in the stacks, it’d be social media gold.

“Look at me,” he ordered softly.

I dragged my eyes back to him.

“You think I want her?”

“I know you say you don’t, but you were holding her hand. You were smiling at her….” I trailed off, feeling embarrassed by how these thoughts sounded when translated out loud. “I’m not trying to behave like some jealous, territorial girl, but—”

“You are,” he cut in, a crooked, cruel smile tugging at his mouth. “I fucking love that, but you don’t have anything to worry about, Sass.”

I sighed. “I have no right to be upset. It’s not like I’m yours.”

His jaw flexed.

I realized I’d pushed him too far. He was frustrated. Real, bitter frustration that came from me not accepting what he’d been making obvious over and over. Ryder Voss didn’t lose control. Hewascontrol. Patience and power wrapped in a beautiful package.

Except right now, because of me.

"How many times are we going to do this?” He pressed against me, his chest rising, his breath grazing mine. “This in-between bullshit? You pretending we’re still walking some undefined line when we both know we crossed it a long time ago? It has to stop.”

“I know,” I agreed softly.

“You are mine, Sassy. Whether you say it out loud or not. You always have been. Always fucking will be. I’m trying to protect this, to do it right like you wanted and I need.” His voice dropped to a rasp, raw and splintered. “I couldn’t sleep last night because all I could see was you. You think I gave her a singlethought when I was in bed, fucking my hand for the second time to the sound of your voice breaking in my ear?”

He lowered his head, forehead pressing to mine.

“Don’t insult what this is by pretending there's a single goddamn part of me that isn’t already yours. I’d go to war with the whole damn world to carve your name into its center. I’d paint these fucking walls in blood and write it like scripture before I ever let you think you’re something to be hidden away.” His nose brushed mine. His voice, when it came again, was quieter, but no less lethal. “You could never be my secret. I want everyone to know you’re the obsession I don’t know how to live without.”

His mouth skimmed my jaw, then the shell of my ear. “I touch you because not touching you feels like dying. I’ve had to survive that already, Sass. I’m not fucking doing it again.”

I stared up at him at a loss for words, my heart hammering, clutching my book tighter. My thighs pressed together, a hopeless attempt to suppress the need between them. The heat between us was unbearable, every breath heavy with everything we weren’t allowed to do—yet. My head dropped back against the shelf as I struggled past the desire, the twisted urge to tell him to just take me somewhere—anywhere—and finally get this over with.

I kept telling myself I was doing the right thing, that holding back meant I was protecting people. That was a favorite lie of mine, one that I dressed up with good intentions.

The truth was, I wasn’t that noble. I held back because I knew it wouldn’t stop there. I would lose myself in him, completely. He’d ruin me in ways I’d never come back from, break me down until I belonged to him in ways no one else ever could. And I’d let him--gladly.

Some would call it toxic.

Others would call it dangerous.

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