Page 8 of Possessed By Knox
“You’re here now.” She pushes back to look at me, her eyes swimming with emotions. “Stay with us. Ransom has a spare bedroom you can use, so we can catch up tonight. I want to hear all about your life—school, friends, if you’re seeing anyone…”
I roll my eyes at her words and start for the door. “I don’t have time to date.”
“I don’t doubt that, but you’ve got to drop your guard a little, let someone in,” she says, stepping out and I follow behind, unsurprised to find the cocky bartender standing down the hall, talking to Abby’s boyfriend.
Abby’s partner.
It doesn’t feel right. A criminal?
What kind of future will my little sister have? Christ, I can’t push back the thought of Abby traveling to and from prison to see her boyfriend who’s been locked up for something. No, that’s not the kind of life I want for her. I’ll find a way to take her away from this city and its dangerous men.
“Ready for your test?” the tall, lean man with bright amber eyes asks Abby, running a hand intimately over her shoulder when she steps in front of him.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Abby chirps, sliding her hand into his. I watch the two walk out, smiling so intimately at each other that I realize it’s going to take a shit ton of work to separate those two.
But I have to do it. For my sister’s future, I have to be the bad guy here. [KB13]
“So, I assume the chat went well, seeing as you’re in such a great mood.”
I shift my glare to the man leaning against the wall, watching me with hazel eyes that remind me of the wild. Despite the excited flutter in my stomach as our eyes connect, I hold my scowl. “Why are you still here?”
“I work here,” he says with a chuckle, pushing away from the wall and approaching me. I instinctively back up a step, but he follows until mine is the back leaning against the wall and he’s crowding me. Until he’s all I can see. Until the leather and woody scent clinging to him is all I can smell.
“W-what are you doing?”
“You’re an interesting person, Ruth Chester,” he says, lifting a hand to my face and tugging at the hair that curves around my jaw. “I can’t wait to learn more about you.”
“I don’t plan on being here long enough for you to do that,” I say, biting my lip to swallow down a whimper when his finger skims down my cheek and jaw. Why am I letting him touch me? I should shove away that hand, push him away and create spacebetween us, but I can hardly hear my thoughts through the blood pounding in my ears.
This is new.
This attraction, my body’s reaction to being in close proximity to a man.
I wasn’t lying to Abby when I told her I don’t have time to date. In a few months, I’ll be graduating, and I have a shit ton to do, exams I need to pass and a project paper I need to submit. I don’t have time to be hung up on a man or get lost in the forest green of his eyes.
Snap out of it, Ruth.
But I can’t. The easy smile and amused look from earlier are gone, replaced with heated eyes that turn my nipples hard and send an ache working its way down my body and settling on the sensitive flesh between my thighs. I’m not new to arousal, but it’s not something I’ve ever felt so quickly after meeting someone, and definitely not under these circumstances.
This man is a stranger who lives in the one city I loathe above all others. There are so many strikes against him, so why does my mind choose to focus on his size, his spectacularly large body, his rugged features, granite jawline, and the way his hair falls around his eyes, giving him a feral look, one akin to that of…a wolf, like he said.
Yes, that’s what he reminds me of. Big, strong, intimidating…attractive.
Dangerous.
I place a hand on his chest, taking a moment to revel in the strength of his body before gently nudging him back. No, I can’t allow myself to be sidetracked from what brought me here, nor will I forget that this is the kind of man I’m trying to save my sister from.
“I know what you’re doing,” I say, nudging him further until there’s clear distance between us. I wait a few seconds forthe roaring in my head and the one right between my legs to calm down a bit. “You’re trying to distract me so I forget about taking my sister away. I’m not stupid.”
“Is that so?”
“You were out here with her boyfriend, it’s easy enough to deduce that. He probably bribed you to do it.”
He tilts his head to the side, and his lips slowly stretch into a grin. “I don’t need a bribe to touch you, little bird.” He chuckles. “But let’s say you’re right about it all, why not indulge me?”
I shake my head and turn to leave, but he grabs my wrist to stop me. “Abby has been around us for a little over two months,” he says, and I try to focus on his words and not on the hand touching me. “Aren’t you even a little bit curious?”
“About what?”
