Page 64 of Never Die for a Sinner
“Alex is my friend,” I grit. I shouldn’t care. The man is an actual psychopath, though I can’t lie and say there aren’t butterflies swarming through my stomach when his lips tip up in a sinister grin.
“Does he know that?”
Gathering all my strength, I place my hands flat on his chest and shove, but I may as well be shoving at the wall. He’s at least a foot taller than me, and a whole lot stronger.
A soft, humorless chuckle escapes his lips.
“You’ve been hiding from me.”
He’s right. I have. After the other night, I haven’t been able to get him out of my head.
The way his hands felt on my skin. The brush of his tongue against mine. The way he tasted like danger and sin and safety and everything I want to consume me, all wrapped up in one devilish man.
I’m no fool. A man like him would ruin a girl like me.
“Haven’t you, little ghost?”
Slowly, I nod, unable to tear my gaze from his.
“I—”
“Shh . . .” he hums softly against my temple, his thumb tugging my bottom lip from between my teeth. He watches me like I’m the most fascinating thing in the world. Like a toy, he wants to take his time ripping apart.
My heart thunders in my chest, my clammy hands pressed to the wall behind me.
We shouldn’t be doing this. I should shove away from him and go about my day. Ishouldforget he exists and move on with my life.
Unfortunately, I’ve never been good at following the rules.
“Let me go,” I breathe, warring with the demons in my head telling me not to let this man touch me and the fire burning my body to a crisp telling me he’s the only one who can quench it.
He leans closer, boxing me in, making sure I feel every inch of him pressed against me. My nipples are drawn to tight points. My clit is throbbing in my panties. My heartbeat skitters to a stop when his lips meet the shell of my ear.
His hand snakes into my hair, fisting the strands and tugging my head back. He leans in, pressing his nose into the crook of my shoulder and inhaling, like he’s memorizing my scent.
“You can’t stop thinking about it, can you?” His other hand slips down my side, over my hip, and to my thigh, teasing at the hem of my shirt. His finger traces over the smooth flesh peeking out beneath, and heat slips through my veins. “How it felt when you were grinding against my cock. How bad your pussy ached to have me inside you.”
God, he’s filthy . . .
“I don’t want anything to do with you,” I lie, breath trembling when he chuckles darkly.
“See, baby girl . . . I think you’re lying.” My stomach dips at the nickname, and I hate it.
He presses his lips to my neck right over my racing pulse. His gentleness, mirrored by the roughness in his voice, throws me for a loop. As if he wants to rip me to pieces, but he’s barely holding on to his self-control.
Something tells me Seattle couldn’t handle Levi Cross unhinged.
“I think you’re salivating for my fingers in your cunt. Teasing you until you come all over them.” I bite my lip, a shaky breath managing to slip free when he traces the hem of my jeans, up to the center of my thighs. “That what you want? You want me to touch you?” His fingers stroke up and down my thigh as if he’s taunting me. Testing me to see just how far he can push me before I break.
The pressure in my core expands, and I can barely breathe from the weight of it. Like I’m going insane.
“My pretty little prudish housekeeper, hooked on the touch of a man she hates. Is that it, Ava? You’re afraid of what everyone will say when they find out you’re just as attracted to me as the women you claim you’re nothing like?”
“Fuck you,” I growl, surging in his hold. He shoves me back, harder this time, and his lips skate across my racing pulse.
“I can make you feel good, sweetheart,” he whispers, and a shiver slides through me. The man is a walking red flag, yet I’m addicted to the attention he’s giving me. The knowledge that someone is jealous overme.Let alone Levi Cross. It makes me feel wanted for the first time in my life.
But . . . unfortunately, I didn’t realize it always comes with a price.
