Page 58 of Witch Undecided
Chapter Seventeen
Cora
There was shampoo in my hair, shower gel all over my body, and the fucking water had gone out. I smacked the stupid pipe with the shampoo bottle again. Come on! This happened once before and hitting the pipes usually worked; no idea why.
My skin pricked and the air in the tub behind me fizzed.
Hell no.
“Bubbles are a good look for you,” Jasper said from behind me.
I spun to face him, not bothering to hide my body. He’d seen it all before anyway. I waited for the rake-over, for him to devour the sight of my nakedness, but he kept his gaze on my face.
Not normal for him. “What is wrong with you?”
“With me?” He arched a brow. “You’re the one attempting to shower without water.”
He was still focused on my face, and my chest heated with… I didn’t even know what, because why the fuck wasn’t he being all lechy. “I’m naked, Jasper. Hoohaa and titties on display.” I held out my arms. “Free for all.”
“You want me to look at you?” He tilted his head and his eyes narrowed. “You think all I care about is your body. All I want is sex?” His gaze scanned my face, as if he was coming to some kind of revelation.
He took a step toward me.
I stepped back. “Don’t.” My pulse pounded in my throat even as my gaze devoured the harsh lines of his face and the hard lines of his mouth. I reveled in the cruel curl of his lips that could be so gentle when they wanted to be. I locked gazes with his emerald eyes, falling into the dark pupils as they expanded to draw me in.
“Jasper… don’t.”
He cupped my face. “Don’t what, Cora?”
Don’t touch me, don’t kiss me, don’t look at me like you care, like you l—
No. Don’t think it.
“This isn’t what it was, Cora,” he said. “It’s changed, and you feel it too. I…” For the first time since I’d known him, there was a vulnerable edge to his tone, confusion and doubt in his eyes. “I don’t understand what I’m feeling.” He dipped his head, one hand dropping to hug my throat, to caress my pulse with his thumb. “Help me understand.”
My heart was a hummingbird trapped in the cage of my ribs, and my lips throbbed and ached for the touch of his.
“Cora…” There was emotional pain in his tone. A need that echoed mine.
“One kiss.”
“Yes…”
The amulet warmed against my skin, recognizing the permission given, and then his mouth was on mine, tentative, questing, savoring me as if I were a fine wine. His hand tangled in my wet hair, diving into the suds to massage my scalp. My chest ached with a cacophony of twisted emotions. I shouldn’t be doing this. It was dangerous, but I wanted it. I wanted him. All of him, the destructive, evil motherfucker. I wanted him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, moaning into his mouth and devouring his sweet breath as he pressed my wet body to his. The kiss morphed into something hungry and desperate, as if we were two drowning people fighting to get to the surface of a lake.
He tore his mouth from mine and stared deep into my eyes. “What is this, Cora?”
This was fucked up, that’s what it was. I was falling for him and had been for some time. It had been easy to fight it when he’d been acting like a wanker, but everything was different now.Hewas different, and that made him even more dangerous.
My throat pinched and I pressed my forehead to his jaw and shook my head. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Now go. Please. Just go.” I pushed him away.
“Cora—”
“No, just go.”
Anger flashed across his face and he pushed into me, pinching my jaw and forcing me to look at him.
“Stop playing with me. Stop it.”
