Shit, the last thing I’d wanted was to get feelings tied up between us, but there was no denying that whatever this was, it wasn’t just a casual fuck, and I wasn’t sure it ever had been. But that didn’t matter—it still didn’t mean anything more could happen. That was just the way it had to be, and maybe I should’ve cut this off sooner, but it was better to let the angel go now than make things even more complicated.
Like he could tell the way my thoughts had gone, Halo pushed me away suddenly, using the strength of his hand against my mouth and using the other one to shove at my chest. I wasn’t letting him go so easily, though, and batted his hand away, grabbing for his hips. I curled my fingers around his belt loops and pulled him back toward me, but he gripped hard on my biceps, holding me at arm’s length.
I didn’t want to be at arm’s length. I wanted him to be in my arms, which was the goddamn problem. Because more than anything in that moment, I wanted to kiss those angry lips until he opened up for me. I wanted to tangle my fingers in his hair and tug his head back so I could run my tongue down his neck to the hollow at the base of his throat. And then I wanted his body under mine, arching up against me as we connected in the deepest way I knew how.
But I didn’t just want those things. I needed them. I needed him.
He still had a firm grip on my arms, but that didn’t matter, because I unhooked my fingers from his belt loops and brought my hands up between us, holding his face between my palms as I dove in for the kiss I craved. The move took Halo by surprise, because he froze, and the thought crossed my mind that I might’ve gone too far, that he might well punch me, but fuck it. It’d be worth it, and I deserved worse.
When he finally realized what was happening, Halo ripped his mouth away from mine, his breathing coming hard as he looked at me with a mixture of confusion and outrage.
But he didn’t throw a punch. He didn’t walk away. So I reached for him again, entwining my fingers in his hair as I crashed my lips back on his, but he was ready for me this time, and he pushed me away before I got a good taste of him.
Halo took a couple of steps back and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, sending me a clear message that I didn’t buy for a second. Why? Because the arousal in his jeans told me different.
I prowled forward as he backed up again, but because he kept his eyes on mine, he didn’t notice the wall behind him until his ass bumped up against it.
He could’ve moved. He could’ve told me to stay the fuck away. He could’ve thrown that punch I was still waiting for. Instead, he watched me walk toward him, and when he was close enough for me to touch, Halo surprised me by grabbing two handfuls of my shirt, balling his fists in the material. He didn’t push me away, but he didn’t pull me forward either. I could sense his hesitation, the war being waged in his mind, so I did the only thing I could do. I forced his hand by licking my lower lip, and when his eyes dropped to the movement, something in him snapped.
Halo jerked me forward and attacked my mouth with surprising force, taking my lips in a brutal kiss that made my head spin.
This battle of wills had just begun.
Forty
Halo
ANGER. HURT. LUST. As the three emotions battled for supremacy, I twisted my hands in Viper’s shirt and scraped my teeth along his lower lip. The lip he’d taunted me with, knowing there’d be no way I could resist.
I twisted my fingers around the material and for one second imagined it was his skin I was sinking my nails into, that he could feel the bite of pain I was so desperately trying to inflict in that moment because…how fucking dare he do this to me.
How dare he come here after everything he’d said tonight and make me want him again. But he had, and I did. I wanted him so badly that I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and taking hold of him, even though I knew this was it. That this was our goodbye. I could read the apology in his eyes: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for things to end this way. But that didn’t stop me from drawing him in.
Closer… Closer… I wanted him so close that Viper would never be able to forget the way it felt to have me touch him, kiss him, consume him the way he did me, and then? Then I’d let him go. Just the way he wanted it.