Page 131 of Feeling the Heat: Part One
My pulse quickens, and this time I can’t resist backing up. “No, I… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have?—”
He closes the gap between us again. “If you’d stayed, you would’ve heard all my darkest secrets.”
I step back again, stumbling as the back of my thighs bump into the edge of his desk. My mouth falls open in a gasp as he looms over me.
Against any better judgement or sense of self-preservation, I give in to my confusion and his goading. “What secrets?”
His lips downturn. “I don’t think you want to know the answer, Camille.”
My mind races, trying to figure out what it could possibly be. Whatever it is, I have to know. Even if it devastates me. I can’t take the tension between us any longer.
“What secrets, River?”
Surprise flashes behind his eyes, like I’ve called him on a bluff. His mouth opens and closes a few times as he weighs his words. I almost don’t hear his muttered, “fuck it,” before he leans forward, caging me in against the desk with his arms on either side of me.
“You really want to know?” he murmurs as he uses his leg to push my thighs wide enough apart to stand between them. “You want to see how desperate I am?” A pained look twists his handsome face. “Please, Camille. Tell me to back off. Tell me you don’t want me.”
Shocked disbelief makes my jaw drop. “What are you talking about? Y-you hate me.”
River shakes his head ruefully. “How many times do I have to tell you I don’t hate you?” He lifts his hand slowly, using it to push a rogue curl out of my face, his fingertips brushingagainst my skin.
He releases a ragged exhale as he draws his hand back. “I’m obsessed with you. I’ve been from the moment we met, and I’ve kept my distance, but I’m not strong enough to keep pretending unless you tell me you’re not interested. Tell me that so I can move on and stop torturing myself with pointless hope for something more.”
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This isn’t real.
I’m still asleep and this is all a cruel, taunting dream.
There’s no way he wants me.
Why would River be obsessed withme?
I’m not the kind of woman who inspires feverish devotion and battles with self-control.
We’re not scent matches.
He wanted me back when I was still a beta.
That last thought sends a thrill through me. River wanted me when he had nothing to gain from me. It wasn’t because I was an omega and he’s an alpha. It wasn’t because of how well I can take a knot and my scent.
It was just me.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper, not meaning to say the words aloud. I raise my voice, frowning at him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
River chuckles humorlessly. “I’m your boss, Camille. It would’ve been wrong.” His eyes drop to where my thighs arespread to accommodate him, my skirt ridden up and exposing the abundant pale flesh.
My cheeks burn, simultaneously wanting to yank the hem of my skirt back down to cover myself from his assessment, and pull it up further so he can see more.
His jaw works as he continues to stare, the hand gripping the desk inching closer to my thigh, but not touching me. “It’s still wrong. Nothing has changed.”
How can he say that?Everythinghas changed. His pack is courting me, and now he’s told me he wants me too. It hasn’t been dislike and jealousy holding him back, but him wanting to stay professional.
Before I can think better of it, my omega has me speaking, my words barely more than a whisper. “I want you.”
River’s eyes flash up to meet mine, the black of his pupils almost entirely engulfing his irises. A low warning growl rumbles in his chest. “We can’t.”
He’s right, but he’s so wrong.
