Page 117 of Hexed
I’m so lost in my thoughts that it takes me a minute to realize that now it’s just Enzo and me, alone again, in a dark, empty hallway.
I turn to leave.
“No words for me, piccola sirena?”
His voice stops me in my tracks, and I close my eyes. “I can’t do this with you.”
He walks up behind me, and his body heat envelops me like a cloak, sending pinpricks of pleasure skittering along my arms and down my legs. “Do what?”
“Youknowwhat,” I reply.
He presses in even closer until I’m suffocating from the feel of him. Still, though, we aren’t touching. I turn until I’m facing the wall, trying to get some space.
Enzo follows.
“You came here with someone else,” he accuses.
“You’reengaged,” I exclaim. “You have no right. Absolutely no right to do this.”
His hands come out and cage me in, pressing against the wall, and my fingers curl into fists.
“Don’t touch me,” I plead.
He’s silent for a moment, and then says, “I won’t.”
But he moves in closer, his front brushing against my back.
There are sounds coming from just inside the main ballroom, and my heart pitches into my throat, my anxiety going haywire. Anyone could walk out at any moment, and I’m tryingsohard to keep myself from making a mistake.
If we give in…
It’s wrong. Even if I can’tstandAria. Even if it feels like he’s the only person on earth who has ever understood me.
Even if he’s the only one who cares.
He’s notmine, and he won’t ever be.
His forehead drops against the back of my head, rolling back and forth, and I stiffen like a board to keep myself frozen in place.
“I won’t,” he repeats. “But I want to, so fucking bad that it feels like I can’t breathe.”
“Well, sometimes what we want doesn’t matter.” I try to make my voice sound stern, but I don’t think it works based on the way it wobbles as it hits the air.
His face lowers until it’s next to my ear. “Sometimes…it feels like you’re the only thing that does.”
THIRTY
VENESA
“You okay?”Athena asks, standing next to me in the back of the ballroom.
“Yeah,” I reply distractedly.
I’m not okay. Not by a long shot, but she doesn’t need to know that.
“Just a lot on my mind.” I look at her, but I don’t think she buys it because she narrows her eyes and then leans in until she’s close enough to whisper dirty words in my ear, and while normally I’m all for the sexual appetite she brings—it’s the only reason I keep her around—I can’t help but notice the difference in the way my body feels when I’m with Athena as opposed to Enzo.
Maybe that’s why I don’t hear what she said. I’m too focused on someone else.
