I jerked from his hold and spun around to face him. “Finn, I’m just trying to—”
“I know exactly what you’re trying to do and you shouldn’t.”
“I shouldn’t help you?”
“You shouldn’t care. Not about a man like me.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t deserve it and I can’t reciprocate. You’ve got a good heart and that doesn’t belong anywhere near a brutal bastard like me.”
His words were painful to hear, the way he spoke about himself so harshly, the utter defeat there.
Ignoring his self-deprecating warnings, I stepped up close and cupped his face in my hands. He hissed and tensed at my touch, but he looked too shocked by it to actually do, or say, a thing about it.
“What made you this way?”
He flinched at my question. “Too much,” he croaked out, averting his eyes.
Gently, I guided his face back to me. He looked wary, unsure of himself. I’d never seen him this way before.
“You need to talk about it, get it off your chest.”
His expression hardened. “Never.”
“When you came to the clubhouse, you weren’t just suffering physically. I saw it. I saw your mental anguish. You were hurting and alone.” I stroked my thumb over his cheek. “And you still are. You need to let someone in, Finn.”
He grasped my hands, easing them off his face, holding them between us. “I’m your protection detail.”
“You’re more than that to me. I thought you picked up on that at the clubhouse.”
He released me abruptly and turned away. “You need to go,” he grunted. “Now, Ashley.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Don’t push me here. Go back to your room.”
“No.”
“Fuck.”
The next thing I knew, he was growling and lunging at me.
My breath whooshed from my lungs as my back hit the door, just narrowly avoiding the metal doorknob. His eyes locked with mine briefly, but oh-so-intensely.
And then he dipped his head, his lips smothering mine.
I barely had a chance to acclimate to it when he swept his tongue over my bottom lip, demanding entry with an arousing insistence.
I parted my lips, opening for him.
He tasted me like a man starved, his experienced tongue gliding smoothly, sensually, along mine, making me moan out.
My knees had turned to jelly, my body trembling. I grasped his biceps for support.
His large hands grabbed hold of my ass, jerking me hard against him. A sexy rumble sounded in his throat as he kneaded my cheeks and ground his rock-hard dick against me, angling himself perfectly to rub right against my clit.
Sparks of pleasure shot through me.
I squirmed in his hold, my breath coming in harsh pants, forcing me to break from the kiss so I could gulp in much-needed air.
His hands dropped from my ass all of sudden.
I felt him fumbling behind me.
The door opened and he eased me aside so he could open it fully.
“Go,” he rasped.
“What?” I cried, completely confused by his sudden turnabout. “Are you serious?”
He turned his head, refusing to look at me as he told me, “Get away from me.”
“But I—”
“Go!” he thundered.
I jumped, adrenaline shooting down my spine.
Stumbling in my haste and my sex-dazed state, I clutched the door frame for support as I pushed myself out of the room.
I gave it a hard kick, before hurrying down the hall.
My mind was awhirl.
I was stunned, mortified, and shaken.
I really hadn’t expected that when I’d stumbled into his room.
It had just… happened.
And I had no idea what to do with it.
7
~Wraith~
PUNISHING PRESSURE.
Scathing heat.
It was exactly what I needed right now.
The shower water raining down on my skin gave me the bite of pain that I craved, that jarring effect that helped me to obtain a sharp focus on the immediate, to pull me from other thoughts plaguing my overburdened mind.
I felt like absolute shit.
I hadn’t been able to go back to sleep after Ashley’s interruption last night.
That, coupled with my pounding head, courtesy of the hangover trying to pull me under from way too much bourbon, had me fantasizing about crawling back into bed and shutting out everything and everyone for the next week.
Given that wasn’t possible with everything I had on my plate, I just had to suck it up and get a grip.
I was pretty sure I was going to be in for it with her this morning. I deserved it with the dickish way I’d tossed her out so abruptly.
There just hadn’t been time to warn her or explain before I’d shoved her out of my room. I’d had to put immediate distance between us. For her own good. I’d been right on the edge.
I’d had to protect her from me, because in that moment when our lips had clashed, I’d wanted her. Those soft lips of hers, her tantalizing taste, her intense responsiveness to the slightest touch from me. The heady combination had shot my good sense to hell.
She called to me in a way I’d never experienced before.
I wanted to believe it was just the fallout from going so long without getting my dick wet. But the truth was, I hadn’t felt the need to seek out anyone else to take the edge off. I’d been fine taking matters into my own hands. But, Ashley, fuck, she’d had me hard for her in an instant. I’d wanted to devour every inch of her, lay her down, spread her open to me and fuck her with my tongue until she was coming apart around me. Just the thought of sinking inside her, her walls squeezing my cock so fucking tight while those sweet moans she’d made last night sounded in my ears, almost had me coming down the shower drain.
But I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t.
I’d told her she was safe here. My home was her sanctuary.
It was even more than just her father’s orders to protect her. She had an uncanny ability of awakening some sort of white knight complex in me. Knight? I was more like the villain who would sully everything good in her if I allowed
