Page 81 of Facing Off
It doesn’t matter that I was quaking on the floor,mentally whimpering about how everything hurt, praying to be transported to a soft surface mere seconds ago.
Because how dare he manhandle me into resting?!
“Sonya,” Hughes grunts, stopping. “Did you just try and bite me?”
No.
Fine, yes.
“I’ll do something even worse if you don’t let me go!”
“Baby, I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”
I entertain screaming as loudly as I can into his ear. I’m about to, when he shifts his hold and I…whimper. Only because my sore hip doesn’t like this new position.
I’m lowered so fast to my feet the room practically swims. “Are you hurt?”
Hughes doesn’t wait for me to answer, he’s already inspecting every inch of my body. Eyes growing wild, his palms skim over my skin as if afraid to aggravate anything further. It’s thorough and businesslike how Hughes checks me over, but his hands look so big as they search for injuries. The sight of them makes me throb between my legs. God, I was exhausted and a mess seconds ago, and now what? I’m a mess in a different way?
My thighs clench. This is a wild thought, but what happens if I let him explore me for real? I have a feeling it would blow my mind. He’d have the skills to make me lose myself and forget about everything hard that’s been happening in my life. I could finally let go.
This warning flickers in my head—a reminder that so many other women have probably thought the same thing. Based on his reputation, I’m sure he’s been able to get whoever he wants in the past, so even if wedid,somehow in a far-fetched reality, have sex, it wouldn’t be anything special tohim.
My whole body tenses. I don’t want to become anothermember of that Adrian Hughes fanbase. My deeply ingrained sense of self-preservation tells me it would make things so complicated, and with everything else going on, I can’t afford that. So I have to pull myself back before I do something stupid like start touching him back.
I jerk away and run. Back to my original spot in the gym, breathing heavily.
Hughes stares at me, frozen, hands hanging in the air.
We stare each other down. I’m attempting to glare daggers at him, but it’s not working. That’s because when my attempted kidnapper finally reanimates, it knocks me more off-balance. Seeing him slowly stalk towards me stirs more dangerous arousal in my belly.
I move my arms into a fighting pose.
He chuckles, surprised. Then his arms go up, too.
Yes.Let’s go.We’re doing this.
I’m ready to battle, to face off. It’s another way for us to release all the pent up energy crackling between us. My muscles vibrate with a new urge. I could just tackle Hughes to the ground right now.
He grins and moves before I can blink. Instead of lunging, he lifts his hands in surrender. “I give up!” he declares dramatically, his blue eyes sparkling.
I blink. “No, fight me for real.”
He laughs, then shakes his head, his blue eyes growing more serious. “Not a chance in hell.”
I want to run again, because how he’s looking at me, so visibly worried, is something I can’t stand. It makes me ache in a way that has nothing to do with how hard I’ve pushed my body today. It makes me want to do strange, confusing things. Like, lean forward and rest my forehead on his shoulder.
I swallow. “Stop. I’m fine. You don’t have to get yourself so worked up.”
Instead of answering, Hughes captures my hand and holds it up. As if they make his point.
That’s because it…kind of does.
There’s a tremor to my fingers. I’m that exhausted.
“Darling, darling, darling.” His voice is soft, stern, unhappy. “It seems like you can’t be left alone, unsupervised.”
It doesn’t matter that my limbs are jelly or that I don’t want to move another muscle for the rest of the day, because I won’t agree with him. I can’t. Not when every time I fight to keep my walls raised high against Hughes, he starts climbing them, and why doesn’t that bother me as much as it used to? That alone is scary, and the reason why my tone is so snarky when I retort, “I can keep going for as long as I want to. I will keep going?—”
