Page 49 of Dare (Fighting Fate)

My eyes narrowed. I knew the perfect way to give her a release. And if she was looking for that from someone else last night, I wasn’t going to be happy. “What kind of a release?”

“Does it matter?” she challenged.

Holy fucking shit. How did she make me want to take her just by giving me sass? “Yeah, it kinda does.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and she slowly started moving around the couch toward me. “Why does it matter, Eli?”

I shook my head and put my mug on the table beside me. “You know why, Jess. I’ve already told you that I care about you. I don’t like knowing that you’re putting yourself at risk. I don’t want you to be taken advantage of, or anything worse.”

“It’s my life, Eli,” she said, coming face-to-face with me. “I appreciate the fact that you want to protect me, but I’m not yours to protect. You made that decision, not me. And if me going out and having fun is a mistake, then it’s my mistake to make.”

My muscles tightened as I watched her green eyes flare. My dick was seriously straining for her. He wanted out. Now. “Why is it so bad for me to want to keep you safe, Jess?”

“What you did last night was not what friends do, Eli,” she said, closing the gap a little. “It was purgatory. It was somewhere in the middle of hell. And I can’t do it. You have to choose a side. Hell, fucking you once and having you walk away from me would be better than this! At least I’d have something good to remember.”

I stepped forward until our bodies were practically touching. “Don’t tempt me, Jess,” I growled. I said it as a warning, but it sounded more like a plea, even to my own ears.

She shook her head and placed her cup on the table beside mine, defiance radiating from her every pore. “Oh, I’m tempting you. I’m sick of playing the nice girl, Eli. I’m not doing it anymore. You need to make a decision. Right now.”

My jaw clenched as I tilted my head back, trying to retain any control I might’ve had left in me. “You’ve got no idea how hard you’re making this for me, Jess. Do you actually know how much I want you?” I said, my control slipping more with each breath I took. “But I can’t promise you anything right now. Fuck, I want to. I want to promise you the goddamn world. But I can’t.”

Desperation flashed in the depths of her eyes. “Why can’t you just live in the moment, Eli? Why does it need to be about tomorrow, or the next day, or next month? Why can’t it just be about right now—what you want in this very moment?”

My nostrils flared. “Because you deserve more than that. You deserve everything good, Jess, and if I let myself go right now and take you—because I will—and I leave without knowing if I can give you any more, I have to live with that. I have to live knowing I hurt the one person I care about most in this world.”

Silence filled the room as she watched me, absorbing all the words I just spewed into the air. Then she gently tilted her head back and parted her lips. “Shut up and kiss me, Eli.”

And just like that, my control was gone.

Chapter 35

Jess

As Eli crushed his lips to mine, I felt a surge of hope for the first time in a long time. I needed him to give me this one moment, this one little priceless moment in time to show him we could be good together—that I might be a distraction, but I was a damn good one.

Gripping his shirt in my fists, I held him against me, wordlessly letting him know that I was not going to back down. I was going to do everything in my power to make this happen.

My body tightened with need, but at the same time it melted against him, my lips parting, inviting his tongue to take mine, to taste me. As his hands took my face, his fingers twining into my hair, clutching at me, holding me to him as he devoured my kiss, my hands frantically searched for a way inside, under his clothes, to feel the soft warmth of his skin. I breathed a sigh of relief against his lips as they found their way to his stomach, tracing the hard lines of his muscles, stroking the chiseled contours that disappeared into his jeans.

“Eli,” I moaned into his mouth, “I need you so much—”

His kiss grew more forceful, his hands clenching harder, one pulling at my hair, tilting my head back, while the other slid down the side of my neck, his thumb gliding over my jaw, before continuing downward. His fingers trailed the lines of my neck, over my collarbone, until he was cupping my boob, his thumb drawing slow circles over my nipple. A low moan rumbled in my throat as he stroked over my ribs, his hand caressing my stomach, my hip, my butt, pulling me against his hardening cock.

Pulses of awareness and need throbbed between my legs. I didn’t think I had ever wanted anything so badly in all my life. I was desperate to the point of insanity. Sliding one hand up his chest, I slowly traced his pecs before seeking out the muscles in his back, while the other hand moved upwards, over his shirt, until I was clutching at his neck, my fingers straining, pressing, pulling him into me harder again.

Eli groaned, the low timbre of the sound vibrating through me, awakening every nerve ending, driving my need to the breaking point. “Jess,” he growled. With both hands grabbing my butt, he lifted me, pulling me against him before turning and pressing me up against the wall. “I need to fuck you.”

I didn’t know what it was about those words, but as soon as he said them, I felt an instant wetness pool between my legs. “Do it, Eli. Now,” I panted into his mouth.

Crushing his mouth to mine again, he ripped me away from the wall, and started striding for the stairs. I didn’t know how he was going to be able to carry me up there, but at this point in time, I didn’t care.

Wrapping my legs around his hips, I clung to him, my fingers pulling at his hair as I took his frantic kisses, my lips sliding over his, our breaths colliding, hot and heavy. Then he was lowering me, laying me down, his hands shifting as he hovered over me. Grabbing the hem of my tank, he started edging it upward, his breath caressing my skin as he followed the movements with his lips.

Arching my back, I raised my arms above my head, my breath shaking with the anticipation of having him touch my bare breasts. As he gathered the material in his fists, pushing it upward, his tongue lapping at my belly button, I whimpered. Then the cool of the air was on me, my nipples hardening, straining, begging for his touch.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Jess,” he growled as he gazed down at me. “You are so fucking unbelievably perfect.”

I squirmed underneath him, arching and coiling as he dragged my tank over m

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