He shouldn’t. If I could get away with it, I’d chew through his fucking neck.
“I’m serious, Meredith. If you fucking bite me, there will be dire consequences.”
Oh, dire consequences. I’m shaking in my boots. What’s he going to do? Keep me handcuffed to this bed until I piss myself and starve to death? He can’t. Matthew won’t let him. My stepbrother and I may hate each other, but we’re still family and there’s an unspoken agreement between us.
Matthew won’t try to snuff me out until I become a danger to his family or too much of a burden to him.
And I don’t think we’ve reached that point yet.
It takes every ounce of my willpower to keep from snapping at Simon as he just stands there, fingering the keys in his hands. I want to yell at him what’s taking him so long? Is he that much of a pussy? Scared of a little woman handcuffed to a bed?
But that’s probably exactly what he wants so I keep myself under control. Promising myself I’ll pay him back for this.
Finally, he takes a step closer and leans over the bed. Angling himself in a way that avoids any part of his body getting near my face.
Going for the hand closest to him, he grabs my arm roughly in one hand while the other unlocks it.
As soon as the handcuff opens, I just let my hand drop. What I really want to do is claw his fucking eyes out, but that won’t get my other wrist unlocked, will it?
Simon hesitates. In order to unlock my other wrist, he’s going to have to lean across my body to do it.
I’d bask in his hesitation if I wasn’t so worried it would stop him.
Simon glances down at my face, but I just stare at him. He keeps his gaze trained on my face as he slowly leans over me.
The bed dips as one of his knees comes down on top of it. I flex the fingers in my free hand and roll my wrist to work some of the stiffness out of it.
Simon’s face looms closer and closer.
So close, it would take no effort at all to lean up and bite him again.
I don’t know why, but I have this unexplainable urge to sink my teeth into him. There’s just something in him that brings out all these primal urges in me.
No other man has ever affected me in such a way. No other man has ever made me feel so much that I can’t contain it.
I stare into his face, into his eyes. Without his glasses, he doesn’t seem so closed off. It’s almost like a barrier has been removed between us.
Grabbing my cuffed arm, he struggles with trying to unlock it without looking at it.
The corners of my lips start to tip up of their own volition.
His eyes lock on my mouth and an unmistakable flash of heat, of want, flares inside them.
Oh shit, maybe I wasn’t wrong earlier… maybe he does want me.
Partly out of curiosity, and partly because I just want to fuck with him, I arch up and close the little distance between us.
Before he can react, I press my lips against his in an experimental kiss.
He immediately freezes and his eyes widen.
A zap flows through me so strong I jerk back.
What the hell was that?
My heart starts to race, beating a frantic rhythm inside my chest.
I was only trying to fuck with him. I wasn’t actually expecting to feel something…
Simon growls low in his throat and I watch in growing horror as the expression on his face darkens.
I try to pull away, to escape, but it’s too late.
He grabs me by the hair and yanks me back.
Fuck. I pushed too far and something inside him has snapped.
His eyes flash and I experience a moment of pure terror as he growls out my name in a slow caress, “Meredith.”
Before I can take a breath, before I can tell him no, don’t, or even beg please, his mouth crushes against my mouth in a soul-shattering kiss.
I don’t want this, I don’t, I have to remind myself as my entire body lights up, coming alive under the press of his lips.
I don’t like him, I fucking hate him, I repeat inside my head as I close my eyes and try to fight back the unwanted sensations.
But it’s no use. Closing my eyes only seems to heighten my awareness and all the sharp sensations flowing through me like a current.
A current that is directly connected to him.
This is nothing like the times I’ve kissed all those other men. Those kisses were so cold and repulsive I could remain in my head.
When his tongue sweeps into my mouth and meets my tongue, my bones want to melt into the bed.
This is madness. Utter fucking madness.