I forced her face up to mine by wrapping my fingers around her throat, and I kissed her gently, teasing my tongue against her lips. Her labored breaths collided and mixed with mine, and I wanted to swallow every rush of air from her mouth.
“You shouldn’t have come back,” I murmured against her lips. “You should have walked away while you had the chance.”
“Why?” Her voice was low and soft. Breathy.
“Because you won’t get that chance again.” My tongue lapped against hers, exploring her taste while my hand remained between her legs—wet and slick.
“I want to take you to my room, Dahlia. I want to take my sweet time worshiping every inch of your body until you beg me to fuck you.”
Her body went rigid and her breathing stopped, no longer moving across my lips. “I can’t do this.” She pulled back, but I kept her in place, kept her from pulling away from me.
“What’s wrong?”
She shuddered, and her lower lip quivered.
“Jesus, Wraith. What’s wrong? What did I do?”
“Let go of me!” She yanked to the side, and I loosened my grip around her. “This was a mistake.” Her voice trembled as she fastened the button of her jeans. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, and she kept moving back, farther and farther away from me.
“Wraith, stop. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Nothing.” She placed a palm on her forehead, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears. There was no trace of the blush she had on her cheeks earlier, her face pale and expression pained. “I have to go. This was…oh, God, this was a mistake.”
“Wraith, calm down.” I moved closer, and she kept shaking her head like I was a goddamn disease about to infect her if I got any closer. “Wraith.”
“I have to go.” A tear slipped down her cheek, and that one drop of sadness cracked through my chest.
“What the fuck is happening right now?” I was confused, my mind spinning at a million miles an hour. “What is going on?”
“Nothing. Just…I have to go.” She got on her bike and started the ignition. My attempt at stopping her failed when she pulled into the street, speeding off without even putting on her lid.
“Jesus Christ!” I hauled ass and jumped on my bike, pulling out my phone. She managed to get away from me before, but not this time. Not again.
10
Wraith
The air slicedlike icy blades across my skin. It was summer, but my body was cold, my hair flapping in the wind as I sped down the road, not caring that I wasn’t wearing my helmet. In fact, getting my head cracked open on the sidewalk would probably be less painful than what I was feeling now.
I let him kiss me.
I let him touch me.
I let him get under my skin and take control of my body.
The worst part? I liked it.
I liked feeling his lips against mine. His hands against my skin. I liked how his warm breath feathered across my flesh, and how it set free a thousand butterflies inside my stomach.
I wasn’t supposed to like it so much. I’d never liked or wanted a man’s touch like I did his. It was all wrong. It shouldn’t have happened this way.
Scattered thoughts wrapped around my throat, making it hard to breathe. Every feeling that swirled around inside me was conflicting, creating havoc which slammed against my ribs. Onyx wasn’t supposed to be the one to make me feel what I was feeling while he was touching me. He wasn’t meant to be the man who would thaw the ice in my veins, yet he did it without even trying—without knowing he had to.
God, nothing made sense.
I swerved to the right, burning rubber as I sped through the streets. A glimpse in my side mirror was all it took for my heart to leap out of my chest. The light behind me was from a motorcycle. It was him. I just knew it.
Part of me wanted to slow down, to let him catch up with me. But I knew the best thing for me right now was to get away from him. He was dangerous. A complication that had the potential to ruin what was left of me.