Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 26999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
I make my spine stiff. “Why are you here, Creed?”
“You’re in danger,” he warns softly.
I bristle, indignant at the entire idea. “If I’m in danger, it’s from you.”
“And yet, here you stand,” he points out, challenge etched in his chiseled features.
“To protect everyone else in that building,” I counter.
He arches a disbelieving brow. “So, you bravely put yourself in harm’s way.” It’s not a question, and one corner of his far-too-inviting mouth lifts. “Or maybe you simply remember I’m the kind of ‘dangerous’ you enjoy.”
It’s a familiar sensual taunt he’s used in the past, and unbidden, the words conjure an image of Creed’s hard body pressed tightly against mine, of his hand sliding up my dress. I squeeze my eyes shut and silently curse. Realization over my reaction pops my eyes open, accusation in the sharp look I cast on him. How powerful has Creed become? Can he place such a thought in my mind?
He laughs and holds up his hands. “Don’t look at me like that, Addie. Whatever thoughts that wickedly lovely mind of yours conjured up were all your own. And don’t tell me they weren’t wicked. We both know you have a way with creative imagery.” His hands slowly lower, those sensual lips lifting at the corners ever-so-slightly. “I do believe I’d like to hear what you were thinking now.”
“Oh, they were wicked thoughts, all right,” I declare. “And they were, indeed, full of creative imagery. I’ve had two years to contemplate all kinds of interesting ways to kill a GTECH as powerful as you.”
“And I’ve had two years to dream of touching you again.” He inhales deeply, his broad chest expanding. “You still want me. I can smell your arousal.”
My cheeks heat. “This is insane. I shouldn’t have come out here.” I turn and start to walk away, but quickly regret the action. Damn him. Damn him! I will not retreat. I’ve waited too long for this confrontation.
I whirl around to face him and suck in a breath as I find him in close pursuit. I barely keep my hands from settling on his chest as I steady myself. We’re now toe-to-toe, so close again that my body aches, so close that I could lean forward and touch him. And I hate myself for how much I want to touch him.
“What makes you think you have the right to say such things to me?” I demand, frustrated with the tremble in my voice. “You followed Julian and his Zodius movement. You tried to kill my father.” My words rasp deeper, my fingers curling in my palms.
“If I had wanted your father dead, he’d be dead.”
I swallow hard at the lethal quality in his voice and grind my teeth at the memory of Creed holding a blade to my father’s neck. “I was there. I saw the blade at his throat. I saw the blood.” The memory shakes me, and I step backward, a mistake when I’m so close to the edge of the stairs. I stumble, losing my balance and almost taking a tumble. Creed reaches for me, steadying me as if he were my protector, and now we’re thighs pressed to thighs and hips pressed to hips. The world disappears. The man and everything he’d meant to me reappears. In those few seconds, I both revel in the feel of him close to me again and silently cry at the loss of what can never be again.
“Let go,” I whisper, but I don’t push him away. I mean to, but I just don’t, and his eyes burn with defiance, just as my body burns with his touch. Desperation kicks in, and I shove against him. “Let go, Creed!”
He doesn’t let me go.
He pulls me closer and kisses me, one hand threading through my hair and the other molding my hips more firmly to his. His tongue possessively presses past my lips, coaxing a response. I try to resist, my hands firmly pressed to his chest, but heat sears my palms and spreads warmth up my arms. The taste of him, so wildly Creed, rushes through me like a gust of hot, sensual wind. Consuming me. Melting me. Oh God, melting my resistance.
And just when I am lost, when I’m beyond holding back, he releases me and steps wide, placing space between us. Giving me the space that I both want and hate in the same instant. Panting, I hug myself against the ache in my body and the heat of his stare.
“My response means nothing,” I whisper weakly. “It’s the mark.”
“You kissed me like that before that mark ever existed,” he reminded me. “And we both know it.” His voice softens, as do his eyes. “I didn’t betray you, Addie. When it was clear that the renegades could not defeat Julian, we, meaning the renegades, needed someone on the inside of Julian’s operation. I was X2 positive. Julian believed I had reason to follow him.”