I try to kiss him back, but he’s like a beast. There’s no way I could match his intensity. So I let him feast on me, and I sink into the perverse, erotic way he drinks his taste off my lips.
When we finally break apart, I sway back and his hand wraps around my waist, keeping me standing.
His nose rubs over my hair and an appreciative groan spills from his lips. “Good girl.”
The hairs on my body stand on end and I’m surprised I don’t melt in his embrace.
Damn it. Are those two words supposed to be such a turn-on?
“You owe me at least three dates for that,” I grumble.
My body goes still when something I’ve never witnessed before happens.
Creighton throws his head back and laughs.
It’s heartfelt and happy and causes my toes to curl.
And I think maybe, just maybe, I’m in too deep with this beast.
I’m in so deep that I will try everything in my power to understand him.
Even if he doesn’t like it.
17
CREIGHTON
“Are you ghosting me?”
The question is accompanied by a kick to my side, a poke, and a subtle shove, tumbling me out of bed.
I fall to the ground with a thud and I groan as I sit up, then glare at my deranged cousin.
Landon grins and makes a rectangle with his thumbs and forefingers. “Perfect expression. You’re art material, Cray Cray. How about you model for me?”
“How about you give up asking me that?”
“Not when you could change your mind.” He sits on my bed—the one he kicked me out of—and stares down his nose at me. “You didn’t answer my question. I sense ghosting vibes.”
“Shouldn’t it be me who senses those?” I stand, punch him out of my bed, watch as he falls down, then sit so that I’m the one staring down at him. “You’ve been stalling for the information we agreed on.”
“Not the face, you bloody sod,” he curses while smiling. “And I wasn’t stalling, I was just piecing the puzzle together to form the bigger picture. I can’t reveal anything until all the pieces are where they’re supposed to be.”
Ever since we were kids, Landon and Eli have been obsessed with chess and have done everything under the sun to win. They’ve gone as far as challenging Dad, Uncle, and Grandpa Jonathan. As in, the strongest chess players we know.
They each managed to win against both Uncle and Grandpa—the latter, I think, because he let them.
Dad remains the reigning champion, though.
They also never win against each other. In fact, Eli and Lan are still playing a game they started years ago.
Landon, in particular, has always viewed the world as his chessboard and the people in it as his pawns.
Me included.
And while I don’t give a fuck about that as long as I get what I want, something’s been bugging me since the fire.
Lan watches me carefully before he throws his weight on the bed across from me. Once he’s sure I won’t kick him, he smiles like a creep.