Olivia couldn’t control the shiver running through her. She licked her lips, and his gaze moved to her mouth, a gleam of something in it. Suddenly, he seemed feral, dangerous in a way she hadn’t realized until now.
Being so drawn to her twin’s man had been gut wrenchingly cruel, but there had been one strand of sanity that had shielded her from toppling all the way. Now there was nothing. Nothing to stop the deceitful hope mushrooming inside her. Nothing between her stupid heart and an abyss of pain.
The light blue dress shirt hugged the contours of his chest, the glimpse of curling chest hair through the opening drawing her gaze. She breathed and his tangy scent filled her. When had he moved so unbearably close? She dragged her gaze upward, the sexy slant to his mouth knocking the breath out of her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
His thumb moved over her jaw, toward her mouth. His upper lip curled. “Because I wanted to hold on to the illusion of control for a little longer.”
Her breath hitched somewhere in her throat. She clasped his wrists to push him away, only he pulled her closer. Her breasts grazed his chest and she jerked, frissons of awareness coating her skin.
His gaze came alive with a lick of desire. And she shuddered from top to toe. Every breath she drew felt ragged, demanding, her whole body in a state of utter anticipation. “Alexander? Please don’t.”
His hand snaked around her waist, moved over her hip. He buried his mouth in the crook of her neck and smiled. “You minx,” he breathed into her skin. “You deserve it for all the times you taunted me.”
She moaned and threw her head back, the whisper of his hot mouth driving her wild. Her legs gave out under her. He dragged his lips upward in an openmouthed kiss that sent bolts of fiery need to her core.
She stared at him, at the tight, angular jaw, at the desire darkening his eyes to a dusky blue, arousal stamped onto every inch of his arresting features. His mouth descended on hers as her breath halted in her throat. Waves upon waves of sensation piled up inside as his lips brushed hers, soft and warm, testing, exploring. The taste of him sent erotic tingles through her body, all the way to her toes.
It was a moment she had imagined so many times, dreamed of, waking up tangled in her sweat-soaked sheets, aching and throbbing. But more than that, she had craved Alexander conceding to the desire between them, his dismissal of the attraction as something beneath him grating on her, while she absolutely lacked any kind of defense mechanism.
Her body thrummed with arousal, her nerves finely tuned strings, but she pushed him back, a monumental feat given her body craved only what he could give. “Why?”
He licked the seam of her mouth and she groaned.
“God, that’s all I’ve wanted to do—”
His words were as potent as his kiss.
“Why was it over?” she said loudly, as if her words could pierce the haze of need enveloping her.
His lashes fanned down over his expression. His hands moved over her back, setting a fire over her bare skin. He gripped her hips and pulled her closer so that his erection rubbed against her belly. Her stomach quivered, her sex was clenched and tight, ready for what lay against her belly. She groaned as his hands moved over her breasts, his fingers brushing against their tight tips. “I need to look at you. I’m going to taste every inch of you.”
It was blatant seduction to shut her up.
It felt unbearably good. His words sent erotic tingles rolling over her skin. Not that he didn’t want her. The hard ridge of manhood under her palm, the groan that fell from his mouth as she rubbed herself against it was enough proof. But he was also using it to evade her...
She threw her head back as he kissed the birthmark on the slope of her breast, his tongue licking it, drawing circles around it. Her nipples tightened into almost-painful points, crying for the hot slide of his tongue. “That birthmark has been driving me crazy.”
She fought the spiral of desire sucking her downward, pushed her fingers up his nape into his hair and tugged hard. Until he was gazing into her eyes. The sculpted lines of his face more pronounced, his breathing harsh, he smiled, the dark amusement in his gaze winding her up. “If you like it rough,” he rasped, his fingers equally tight on her nape. “I’ll give it you, Liv. I will drive you to the edge until you’re begging for release.”
It felt so good to hold him like that, to feel her need mirrored in his tight, hard body. Because with every ragged breath, she knew that he was letting her do that, letting her hold on to the illusion that she was driving this, whatever it was that was blazing between them. She shivered. She had never been so out of depth with a man as she was with Alexander. He could so easily unravel her. And the realization only spurred her on. “I want the truth,” she said, and groaned as he cupped her butt and ground his arousal into her.