Page 43 of Sweet Deception
How can I honestly be attracted to him? To this?
“Give me my keys.” Darren’s sharp, commanding tone reminds me of that night once again.
Ugh.I loathe him.
For a horrible, twisted second, I actually wish he’d crashed the car with both of us inside.
Hoping he’ll release me, I bend my free hand back toward him, offering the keys. He removes his hand from around my neck, nips the keys from my palm, and then wrenches my other arm behind my back, squeezing both of my wrists together.
“Let me up.” I feel weaker and smaller inside than even a moment ago.
It’s not a question of him overpowering me anymore. His presence just affects me that much.
Please, make it stop.
To my great surprise and relief, Darren’s weight disappears, and I roll over, quickly bringing my knees to my chest and springing to my feet. My boiling fury won’t allow me to look at him.
Backing away until I hit the dresser, I grip my elbows and wire my jaw shut, keeping my gaze trained low.
Darren stands next to the bed.
His clothes stick to him in strange places from where he slipped and fell. I want to snort at the fact that I knocked him down, but there’s nothing funny about this moment.
There’s also nothing remotely amusing about the way my body still throbs in unknown places, or the way visions of him spreading my legs and nailing me against the dresser project onto the walls of my mind.
What is wrong with me?
I wait for Darren to speak, but instead, he begins to peel off his clothes, damp and sticky with shampoo. He draws his shirt over his head in one fluid, graceful, controlled movement. My eyes widen as soon as I spy a rolling swath of his chest.
Heat crawls up my neck.
The nicks, scars, and tattoos adorning his chiseled torso draw my eyes like fireflies to a light in the night. The sharp lines of his body devastate my focus. I can’t stare at him, not without need pulsing through my veins.
I tap into all the rage inside me and drag my gaze up to his unreadable, handsome face. “What the hell were you thinking, locking me in here?” I cut my eyes at his, and the electricity that crackles between us when our gazes clash is more powerful than I want to acknowledge.
Tension tightens Darren’s jaw as he fingers the hem of his pants and removes them from his trim waist.
I attempt to keep my composure while he stands here grilling me with his laser-beam eyes, his insane body entirely bare except for the dark briefs sheathing his cock.
The act is harder than balancing in agrand pliéfor more than a few seconds. I squeeze my core tight to survive the tremors quaking through me and dig my teeth into my cheeks.
I’m fully clothed, and he’s naked, so how am I still somehow the more vulnerable party here? And why am I haunted by the sick desire to rip off these clothes I’m wearing and join him in the nude?
Darren marches up to me and gets in my face. My body shifts into such high alert, I don’t even think I’m blinking, and the raw power enveloping me renders breathing impossible.
“I wasthinkingyou’d be safer this way.” His deep rumble sends shivers across my skin. “If you got into anything while I was away or tried to escape, things could’ve gotten dangerous for you.”
“Oh, and you call this safety?” The words spill from my lips, unfiltered and ridiculous.Can he tell how off-balance he makes me?
His heavy gaze falls to my open mouth. “Relatively speaking.”
I draw in a breath like I’ve got something else smart to say, but I don’t, and Darren doesn’t give me a chance to prove it.
“Step aside,” he orders, voice softening just enough for my knees to go gelatinous. With difficulty, I follow his instructions and maneuver myself out from against the dresser so he can pull open a drawer and retrieve clothes for himself.
Of course that’s why he came over here. I’m such an idiot.
I position myself against the wall and close my eyes while his lethal fingers rifle through the clothing. When I open them again, he’s fully dressed and staring at me.
