Page 25 of Wanted
She watched anxiously as a muscle twitched in his jaw. Her nipples tingled, and she bit her lip when the one near his hand bumped against his knuckle.
He picked up her phone from the mattress. “Were you going to text me?” he asked.
She wanted to say no but couldn’t.
He flipped it open one-handed. He paged through the screens, seeing who she’d contacted, which was nobody, and who was in her contacts. His expression softened when he saw he was number one. He tossed the phone aside. Bracing his hand beside her head on the pillow, he leaned closer. “I’ve missed you, Danielle.”
She went still.
“I didn’t know where you were, if you were okay, or if you were ever going to call again.” His dark eyes got cloudy. “I didn’t like it.”
She hadn’t liked it either. The separation had hurt, but he was the one who’d caused it. “You betrayed me.”
“I crossed a line,” he said. “I’ll admit it, but something needed to change. This cat-and-mouse game has been going on too long.”
“It’s not a game.”
“You’re right. That’s why I’m done playing.”
She swallowed hard.
He didn’t ease up. “I think you missed me, too.”
She looked up at her persecutor through hazy eyes. He knew exactly what he was doing to her—and he knew that it was working. “Like a rash,” she said defiantly.
“Liar.”
To prove his point, he moved his finger, rubbing his knuckle against her nipple in a quick caress. Sensation swam through her, collecting between her legs where he was still so intimately situated.
“I’m here now,” he said. “So talk to me.”
Dani couldn’t move more than an inch with her hands chained above her head and his heavy weight pinning her hips. She’d never been more vulnerable in her life, but it wasn’t fear for her well-being that shook her. “I’m tired of running, Reno.”
“So stop.”
“I can’t. I didn’t do it, but I’ll spend the rest of my life in prison for it if I let you take me in.”
“Not if you work with me to prove what you’re saying is true.”
The offer was tempting. So tempting that she had to turn her head away. “You’re trying to trick me again.”
He leaned in closer until his nose brushed against her ear. “No, I’m not.”
A shiver went through her. “You’re touching me.”
“That’s tricking you?”
No… Yes… That hand at her chest was too close but so achingly far away. “It makes it hard to think.”
“You’re right. It does.” His lips moved against her temple so softly that she wondered if it had been a mistake. “Do you want me to stop?”
She had nothing to blame for her reaction here. She wasn’t fantasizing. All the lights were on, and she knew exactly who was touching her.
“Do you want to touch andthenthink?” he asked. He pulled her robe open enough to slide his hand inside. His hot palm settled on her midsection, above her stomach, but below her breasts. It shouldn’t have been an erogenous zone, but her back arched as much as her constraints would allow.
He rubbed his thumb back and forth. “How about tonight, we get this out of our system? Just be Jeff and Dani? Tomorrow, we’ll see where the cards fall.”
The cards hadn’t been in her favor for a long time, but she craved to be touched. Craved connection.
