Lib Novel Page 37
“You thought what? Let me guess, you were watching the cameras and conveniently saw what happened, and it had nothing to do with me?”
“Aris told me,” he mutters, tucking his knife back into his belt and taking a step toward me. When he looks up, and his eyes lock on mine, a pull like nothing I’ve ever felt pushing deep in my stomach.
He must feel it, too, because he takes a step back, his eyes wide.
The mating bond. The blood-bond. We can only resist them for so long. At that thought, my stomach churns, but my blood pumps harder in my body, wanting, wanting, wanting.
“Olivia,” Byron says, his voice low, still backing up, his head shaking, and I realize he can smell my arousal. I swallow, hard, but there’s nothing I can do.
I’ve always been attracted to him, but this, now, is something bordering on desperation, like that sweet pain, pushing on that loose tooth.
“Byron,” I whisper, and I hate how the word comes out as a whimper. He looks away, his jaw ticking, and I stop moving toward him, swaying slightly with the force of how hard my heart beats in my chest.
“It’s a bad idea, Liv,” he says, his voice raw. “You know it’s a bad idea.”
“I’m losing my fucking mind,” I whisper, “aren’t you? Or are you really not attracted to me?”
He lets out a deranged laugh, his head tipped up to the sky, his pale throat flashing in the moonlight. I want to bite him there, tackle him to the ground right here, right now, drape my body over his, tangle our legs and arms and limbs and souls together.
“Of course I am,” he says, stepping toward me, his eyes going dark. “It’s never been a question of if I’m attracted to you.”
“Then what?” I ask, tipping my head up, hoping to look defiant, but realizing I’ve just drawn his lips closer to mine. He keeps walking forward, but when I try to back up, I bump against a tree. His eyes flash as he comes near to me, as close as he can be without touching, the fabric of our shirts brushing.
“Then…it’s complicated,” he growls.
“What is so complicated about it?” I whisper, closing my eyes when my lips brush against his. We are playing with fire. I remind myself that just an hour ago, I was prepared to leave town, but now here I am, held completely still by the chance of getting to touch Byron.
It’s pathetic. I don’t care.
“Olivia,” he sighs, letting his head drop so his lips meet my bare chest. I gasp like I’ve been plunged into an ice bath, the touch is so explosive.
Something that, with anyone else, would feel just nice, like my body exploding with him.
He kisses my chest, slowly drawing the zipper of my hoodie down my chest, revealing the camisole I’d worn under my sweater while at the party. He’s breathing deep, like each breath is a fight, his nose dragging along the skin of my collarbone.
So, maybe he doesn’t want to be with me. But he obviously wants me. And for right now, for this exact moment, it’s enough.
Chapter 15 – Byron
Olivia reaches for my hips, grabbing them and pulling my entire body flush against hers, and it’s like something breaks within me. I can’t hold back any longer; if she wants it, I’m hers. Grabbing her hips, I lift her up, letting her wrap her legs around my waist.
In a moment, I’m slipping my hand up her skirt, pushing her panties to the side, my fingers finally, finally touching her again. It’s like a drowning man coming to water, and the way she moves against my hand tells me she feels it, too.
I want everything from her—everything I can get, every single way that I can have her, but right now, my brain is insisting that I stop fucking around and just get my dick inside her. When she fumbles for my belt, undoing my pants and dropping them to the ground around my ankles, a shock of adrenaline goes through me.
This is happening.
When her hand wraps around my dick, I bury my face in the crook of her neck, breathing, biting, tasting her, thrusting into her hand, pleasure sparking behind my eyes. When she squeezes her arm between us, positioning my cock at her entrance, I hesitate for the slightest moment, and I know she feels it.
“I’m on the pill,” she breathes, and I bury myself inside her. She cries out, the noise bouncing off the trees around us, but I don’t care about anything except feeling more of her. She digs her heels into the small of my bag. I grab a handful of her hair and pull her head back, tipping her chin up to kiss and bite at her neck.
She is so beautiful out here, in the moonlight. Ethereal.
“Byron,” Olivia whimpers, and I drop one hand to her hip, holding her there as I lift her, repositioning so I can drive even deeper inside her. And then she’s grasping at me, her hands bunching in the fabric of my shirt, her mouth opening as she comes apart, her eyes fluttering shut, face tipped up to the canopy.
The second she’s done, I pull out of her, breathing hard as I come to the side, using my hand to finish the job. It’s like a mirage in the desert. My body aches to be inside her again, unsatisfied and incomplete.
A moment later, I feel her hands on my chest, pushing me away, and I stumble back, nearly falling over until I regain my balance and yank my jeans up my legs, eyes wide as I stare at her.