“Don’t you think it’s obvious?” she asked. “We shouldn’t be doing this. You could get in trouble with the board. I could be sent away from Camp Durand. And I need this job, Dylan.”
For a moment, he didn’t speak. She held her breath, wondering what he was thinking. His mind seemed so impenetrable to her at times. Her breath hitched when he cradled the side of her head with his spread hand. His thumb rubbed against her temple, the slightly rough pad sending prickles of pleasure beneath her skin.
“No one is going to send you away from Durand because of this. You have my word on that.”
“And you? What about you, and your job?”
“Are you taking care of me?” he growled, sounding dangerous and vaguely amused at once. “Do me a favor, and don’t do it by taking romantic walks on the beach with Thad Schaefer.”
“I’m serious, Dylan!”
“So am I. I’m the largest shareholder and the CEO of Durand. No one is going to send me away, either. Maybe the situation isn’t ideal—”
She snorted, but he ignored her.
“—but that’s not going to keep me from you, Alice.”
She went entirely still, his words affecting her whether she liked it or not. Her chin tilted back. She couldn’t have said whether she kissed him or he kissed her, but their lips were suddenly sliding together, nibbling and plucking in the darkness. Electrical charges seemed to zip beneath her skin, setting her to full, blooming life.
“I’ve decided,” Dylan said next to her lips a moment later. “You’re going to spend the nights with me.”
“Don’t be … such a … tyrant,” she hissed, her mouth closing and making a sandwich of his lower lip. He gave a soft grunt.
“Don’t be such a rebel. Especially when you don’t even know what the hell you’re rebelling against.”
“You expect me to change my nature for you?” she challenged softly, sandwiching his lip again, this time with her teeth. She felt him harden next to her belly at the rough caress. Arousal stabbed at her.
“No,” he said, bending down over her. He grabbed her ass with both hands and sealed their bodies even tighter. Alice arched her back, bowing into him, her body responding of its own accord to his touch. Naturally. “As long as you don’t expect me to change, either,” he said before his mouth settled on hers, firm and forceful.
Possessive.
Her body went hot and liquid beneath that kiss.
“Are you going to keep resisting me, Alice?” he asked her seconds later against her lips while he molded her ass cheeks to his palms. Damn him. He knew perfectly well what he’d done to her with that kiss.
“Maybe,” she whispered edgily.
“Then I might just have to punish you.”
Her body quickened before she even fully understood what he’d said. It was the mere tone of his seductive threat that had done it; the warm hint of humor and, just beneath it, the thrill of steel that was like knuckles tracing her spine or the quick sting of skin against skin.
“Are you afraid?” he asked. Perhaps he’d noticed the hitch in her breath.
“No,” she said honestly. Fear wasn’t what she was experiencing, being pressed up against him as night enfolded them and he rubbed her ass lasciviously. Their hushed, prickly banter was akin to potent foreplay. “But do you really think that’d work?” she persisted mockingly.
He slid one hand down the skin of her bare arm while he cupped a buttock firmly. His hand enfolded hers. She shivered. “Oh, it’ll work,” he said, and she knew he’d felt her reaction.
“I’ll still be a smart-ass,” she assured.
“Changing you isn’t the purpose of a little punishment,” he said, and she heard the smile in his voice, the one that reminded her of a pirate.
Her heart started to race. His sexy threat caused any number of erotic scenarios to pop into her head, each of which left her anxious and breathless. Still … she couldn’t allow him to push her around like this. Just because she wanted him like crazy didn’t mean she trusted him. How could she trust him, when she didn’t even trust herself?
“I’m not going to the castle tonight,” she said shakily.
“Yes, you are,” he corrected.
Her heart throbbed at that. There it was again. That extra jolt of excitement that went through her when she and Dylan were together in the darkness, that charged spike of the forbidden.