hair as he crowded against her feminine little body, fighting to get closer. He needed to stop, to pull away, but he couldn’t do either. It was like standing at the edge of a towering cliff, with a violent wind rushing against your face while frothing waves crashed against the jagged rocks below, knowing damn well that your next move would change your life. You could either soar over the edge of that cliff and suffer the consequences, or step back. Could take the step backward to safety…or the one so dangerous it could change you forever.
Nothing in their situation was different. He still didn’t trust her, and despite what she said about choosing him regardless of the letter she’d claimed to find, Ashe knew she was only there with him because someone else had manipulated the situation. Someone who might be helping her…or who might well be the enemy, considering how quickly those Lycans had found her. Juliana might need his help, but she didn’t trust him any more than he trusted her. Hell, she didn’t even like him. They were a bad mistake just waiting to happen. But maybe…maybe he’d been going about the whole thing in the wrong way. Maybe he should just get his fill while he had the chance.
Are you mad? What kind of screwed-up plan is that? What if it’s so good you can’t walk away?
It was a risk, yeah. But what were his alternatives?
Screw it, he decided, tearing his mouth from hers, grabbing her pack and dragging her along behind him as he quickly headed out of the park, her delicate wrist gripped in his hand once again. If he was going to be in hell, he might as well give himself a taste of what he was suffering for.
After all, what was the point in suffering if you never took the time to enjoy the sin?
* * *
I T TOOK NO MORE THAN ten minutes to reach the swanky, historic hotel where Ashe had been staying for the past week. But they didn’t make it any farther than the elevator before he choked out a graveled curse, dropped the pack again, then immediately reached over and pushed the stop button, bringing the elevator to a standstill. A quick jab with his fist broke the dark lens of the camera in the upper right corner of the lift, a yank of the wires deftly severing the camera’s connection. He knew for a fact, after having studied the hotel’s security during his stay, that the on-the-clock guards always retreated to the break room at this time of the evening for their dinner and sports highlights on television, leaving the cameras unattended. By the time they realized the camera had been disabled, he and Juliana would be long gone.
“Why did you do that?” she whispered unsteadily, backing into a far corner of the elevator as he turned toward her. Her eyes were rapidly flashing between shock and fear, but her scent was pure, mouthwatering desire, making him crazed.
Crowding against her, Ashe pinned her into the corner, his hands braced on the mirrored walls he avoided with his eyes, not wanting to face the raging lust he knew he’d see carved into his features at that precise moment. “I need this again,” he grated, lowering his head and taking her mouth in another raw, dominating kiss as she gasped against his lips, her hands flattening against his chest. He turned his head to the side, going at her from a deeper angle, needing more.
In the past, he’d never cared all that much about kissing, figuring there were better things he and a woman could be doing with their mouths when they were alone together—but he couldn’t get enough of Juliana’s soft lips. Could not get his fill. They were so smooth, so lush, the inside of her mouth so sweet and addictive.
Considering the location, he might have had a chance in hell of finding control, if hers hadn’t started to slip. But suddenly she was kissing him back, making sexy little sounds in the back of her throat that drove him over the edge. Having to touch her, Ashe slipped his hands inside the jacket, onto her hips, his fingers gripping
Learning to Kill: Stories