Page 74 of Through the Flames
Soft blue-green light from his monitors illuminated him from behind like a kind of fucked-up halo, while strings of code scrolled across them like alien scripture.
How he made any sense of this stuff was beyond me.
A single lamp pooled amber across the edge of the bed, casting long shadows across the hardwood floor. His chair creaked as he leaned back slightly, like he was settling in for the show.
Taking a deep breath, the faint smell of his soap laced with something metallic and dark hit me, making something deep in my core tighten.
Fantastic. My vagina just clocked in for the night shift.
The sheets and cover were folded with unnerving precision, every line so sharp it was like the bed had been forced to bend to the will of its owner. Sitting on them felt like an intrusion.
Hunter wasn’t even touching me — yet — and still my body was reacting like his eyes raking over me were a visceral touch.
Could he hear my heart beating? It was all I could hear, pounding in my ears, hammering against my ribs.
This room felt like him, controlled andperfect, like it was daring me to mess it up. Why did this feel like it’d been waiting for me?
He wasn’t supposed to want me. Not like this. Hell, I wasn’t even sure he liked me twenty minutes ago.
I swallowed hard, watching his eyes track the movement in my throat hungrily. How was I just seeing this for the first time?Has he always looked at me like this?
This whole situation was insane … and fuckinghot.
Apparently my type was ‘emotionally unhinged control freaks with murder eyes.’
I clenched my thighs, the sudden onslaught of lust taking me by surprise. Something restless was coiling deep inside me.
It was like some kind of energy was building up, and I needed to burn it off before it consumed me.
The silence stretched, like we were perched on the edge of something massive. Something you didn’t come back from, the point of no return.
I should’ve felt disgusted. Ashamed. Trapped. Instead, my body was throwing a goddamn parade and all I felt waswanted.
“Soooo, what now? You gonna break out a contract, or is this just acasualagreement?” My voice sounded a bit more shaky than I would’ve liked, but fuck, I needed a moment to process all this.
Hunter got up, grabbed the back of his shirt and wordlessly pulled it over his head, and tossed it on the chair behind him. My last three brain cells had just left the chat.
Wide-eyed and so fucking turned on I could barely think straight, I watched as he stretched his neck from side to side, like he’d just returned from war.
Unable to stop myself, my gaze dropped, taking in the planes and ridges of hard, thick muscle. Had he bulked up?
He’d always been massive, so it was difficult to tell, but I was almost certain he wasn’t as shredded as he used to be, which somehow made him even hotter. My throat suddenly felt dry.
The tiny smirk now playing around his lips should be illegal. Heat was throbbing in my core, my panties starting to stick to my pussy.
“Let’s go over a few things,” he murmured, his voice still quiet and oozing control, while I was over here falling apart just because he was fucking looking at me.
“You’re very calm for someone who just strong-armed me into a sex pact,” I managed to choke out.
A laugh I hadn’t expected burst out of him and God, it wasbeautiful. His painfully handsome face lit up, and I watched in awe as it completely transformed his features.
A sudden wave of possessiveness crashed into me.
I’d never seen him laugh, actually laugh, before, and oddly enough, I wanted to keep it to myself.
He’d laughed because of something I said. Let me see him like this, and I didn’t want anyone else to see it. I wanted it to belong tome, only me.
“You don’t lock the door. Ever. I come in when I want, how I want.” His voice was level, matter-of-fact, like he was telling me water was wet. No question, no wiggle room.
