Page 22 of Dangerous Strokes

I’m screwed.

Is he what I expected?

No.

He is more, so much more. He’s the promise of everything I fantasized about and everything a man like him would never give a woman like me. I’m not falling, I can’t fall. I’m leaving soon.

But he called mehis woman.

No! Goddamn it, Annika! It was the heat of the moment and he was just proving a point. Focus!

“Ronan, stop.” I pull my hand from his and break free.

He turns to me, the look in his eyes filled with a desperation that takes me aback. It’s… feral. Raw. Angry.

“I’m not using you.” I have no idea why I just said that. I could smack myself right now.

He cocks his head as he treads water, his gaze unchanged.

“Then what are you doing?”

“It’s already set. Your money will be returned tonight. If it’s not already in your account.”

He scoffs and shakes his head.

“So that’s it? You had your little fun. You brought me here so you can see how I fit against you, and now you quite literally paid me for it?”

“What?! No!” I almost shout, in shock at the sudden switch in him.

“Then what do you want, Annika? You said you came after me because you crave more. What do you crave, little witch? It’s not just my hands on you, my tongue on your skin, my thick cock inside that tight little pussy. It’s not just that orgasm you saved for me.”

The water I’m submerged in has nothing to do with the sleekness between my folds or the shudder that turns the fabric of my bra into sandpaper against my peaked nipples. I shake myself mentally, because the answer to his question seems harder to put together than I thought.

“You felt like… you would notice me in the background, see me in the shadows. You felt like, if I ran, you would actually chase me.”

I drop my gaze, shaking my head.

Pathetic—this is how it feels—fucking pathetic. A ball of self-pity and insecurities thrown in this goddamn pond for a man I’ve known for a couple of weeks and seen three times. I have no idea what the hell is going on with me, how a simple image of him on a screen sent me down this rabbit hole of cravings and potential destruction. Hanna was right. All of this is a stupid fantasy that could go sideways.

I don’t know this man. He could be anything… he could be all kinds of wrong.

A shudder explodes up my spine, prickles spreading all over my skin when I look back up at him. Because his gaze spells words I couldn’t possibly say out loud.Desirewouldn’t be a good enough word.Cravingis not quite right. But there’s a blaze spreading in the blue of his irises, and it envelops me in its heat.

“It would be impossible not to see you in the shadows. You don’t blend, Annika, you fucking shine.”

RONAN

I may be going insane,but fuck if I care right now.

A piece of her looks broken, and I yearn to mend it. She thinks she’s invisible. Jesus, she doesn’t notice all the people who can’t take their eyes off of her.

Maybe she only notices the right ones.

I’m swimming closer, pulled toward that abyss filled with nothing but her, enjoying the way her features brighten as my words sink in. The silence between us is intense, begging for no interruption, nothing but exchanged gazes. It makes me want to sink into that abyss all on my own.

So, I do.

I let the water swallow me, pushing through the sting in my eyes so I can see as I grip her waist and pull her down with me. She fights me for a few moments before I stop her right in front of me, and by God… she’s a nymph, dangerously beautiful with her soft hair flowing around her.

---