The sight of her half-lidded eyes shining up at me and those pouty lips of hers parted and panting had blood thickening my cock between her open legs.
She was begging me to kiss her, and it was doing ridiculous things to my head. Both of them.
She wanted me. Me.
And not because I was the only person in the room like last night when she needed comfort.This was different.
This was a filthy craving branded with my name in it. This was her wanting me and my fucked up all to herself so she could roll around in it and see how messy we could get together.
So we could see how many shades of fucked up we could bleed from each other until nasty bruises and empty shells were all that were left.
“Scarlett,” I roughed up her name in warning as she squeezed her thighs around my hips, encouraging my fall into insanity.
She was a temptress on motherfucking steroids, purposefully tunneling my vision on her lips as she sighed warm citrus breath between mine hovering right over hers.
I went into a full-body clench, almost crumbling the sink clenched between my hands as I death-gripped it.
Goddammit.
No. No.
Scarlett Avery was too fucking smart for her own good, and it was going to be the end of both of us. My little masochist knew exactly the deprivation she was asking for, and I refused to give it to her.
I wouldn't touch her. I wouldn’t hurt and break her.
I wouldn’t be the sadistic monster who slayed the lonely angel.
“Get yourself cleaned up,” I rumbled, detached and low. “I’ll be waiting next to the door.”
Her tight grip on the front of my shirt loosened, but I still could barely breathe. Clarity swept a disappointed sheen across her stare as she rolled her lips together. She blinked up at me, wielding a look like I was missing the point, and it broke her damned heart.
My heels caught on the bathroom floor as Scarlett gave a half-hearted shove against my chest, pushing me away. She shook her head as she hopped off the sink, pulling down the hem of her jean shorts.
Angling for the door, she turned over her slender shoulder to me.
“Life is too arbitrary to be cautious, James. Fear won’t matter when you’re dead.”
Then she unlocked the door and met a red-faced Demitri on the other side. He tossed me a glare and slipped an arm around Scarlett’s waist and she let him.
They walked away together.