He turned to face me, taking a step into my space. "Why did you do it?"
I wanted to take a step back, but I wasn't going to give him the goddamn satisfaction, and I was already against the wall. "I didn't do anything. If that was you who stopped the lift, start it again. I don't do well with small spaces."
"I'll start it up again when you tell me why you fucking did it."
I just lifted my chin and glowered at him. "I don't know what you're talking about. I think we both have things to do."
"Why do you have to be like this? Why did you tell her?"
This time my brow did furrow. "I genuinely don't know what you're talking about. Honestly. So we can keep playing this cryptic game, or you can start the lift."
"We move when you answer my questions, Nyla. Why did you call Livy?"
My gaze searched his. "Are you serious right now? You could be in real fucking trouble. I called her to help. Hell, I guess I was too late."
It was his turn to frown. "What are you talking about?"
"Are you arriving now to take care of that ledger?"
The muscle in his jaw ticked. "I am."
"Then you're too late. Amelia's going to meet me here in less than an hour. I'm supposed to keep this guy distracted while she gets a warrant. Interpol's coming after him. If they get their hands on that ledger, you're so—"
He shook his head. "No, we got it yesterday. We've had the pages that were added re-altered. They point at those we know were involved in the human trafficking."
Relief flooded my veins, and I gripped the metal bar behind me to steady myself. "Jesus. You really got it?"
"I’d advise you not to ask how."
"No, I'm not going to do that. Because God knows what you'd tell me."
"I won't tell you anything. You can't be trusted."
Me? I couldn’t be trusted? "And you know what, neither can you. You're a grade-A arsehole. All I have ever done is try to protect you. And this is how you repay me? Fuck you, East. Your dick's not that nice. Not nice enough to put up with this shit."
There would be times in the future that I'd look back on that moment and wonder why I'd used that particular phrasing. Because with us locked in this tiny lift, him so close, I did not need to be thinking about his dick and the silky-smooth perfection of it. The heavy length, how it hit all of those dark secret places inside me. I didn't need to think about that. Nope, not at all.
Except, I did know all those things. And he was standing so close I could smell him. I could practically smell the arousal, the need, the desperation. "Back off, East."
"No, I don't think I will. You're a naughty little girl."
"I'm not into playing your little games. So back the fuck off. If you got the ledger, I don't know how you’re going to replace it. But whatever you have planned, I can't help you and I won't be involved."
But he made no move to make the lift start again. Instead, he stood so close, too close. Was he sniffing me?
He leaned closer angled his head just a little, leaning in so that his nose tickled the hairs along my neck. "You smell like honeysuckle, and I want to bury my face in your neck and to make you work those thighs as you straddle me. I dream of pounding into you until both of us are screaming. That's what I fucking want from you."
I stubbornly shook my head. "You can't have it. You tried to break me."
"If I wanted to break you, you'd be done already."
"Fuck off."
"I know you'd like to help me with that."
I shoved at his chest. "I hate you."
"Oh, the feeling's mutual, sweetheart. But ever since I watched you touch yourself and sink those delicate pretty fingers into your sweet wet pussy, all I've been thinking about is your taste and how I miss it."
"You're doing this because you miss my taste?"
He blinked as if he couldn't believe his own words. "Yes. I am." The furrow on his brow only grew deeper.
"Well, I'm not doing this. You broke me. You did it deliberately and did it coldly. So you don't get to shag me. Never again. I'm not letting you touch me."
He leaned in closer then, still sniffing, and a shiver ran through my body. And I knew I was weak. If he touched me, I was done for. Completely done.
"Are you sure about that? Because I think you miss me just as much as I miss you."
East
Sniffing her was a mistake. An unmitigated, absolute catastrophe. Because now she was looking at me with her big hazel eyes, blinking, daring me, and there was nothing I could do except bloody give in.
I didn't wait for her permission; I didn't ask if she wanted this. I just crushed my lips to hers and moaned as her flavor hit my tongue.
I knew I was angry, too angry to do this gently. And so I waited. Waited for her to consent to being punished.
Oh yeah, sure, if that's what you think you're doing.
It was exactly what I was doing. I was punishing her and myself. Her for breaking me, me for letting her.
When her lips parted and her body molded against mine, I growled, dragging her against me, my hands over her ass, cupping her hard.
I didn't know how to find any gentleness within me. I didn't know how to find anything soft or easy. She had betrayed me. She had broken me. I had let her in, and she was a Trojan horse.
And for that she needed to pay.
Our kiss was all tongue and teeth and grunts and groans as her hands tugged
