Page 20 of Possess Me! (I Want You To)

Why do you say that?

He was honestly fascinating. I couldn’t help but poke, curious to see if I could get him to react. Unpredictable. Even more unpredictable than I was.

“A gut feeling I guess? I don’t know.” Luca shuddered. “I just…” His cheeks grew pink again and he began to shuffle in this awkward little dance that made me bite my tongue. “I just know, okay? Maybe that’s dumb of me but…”

Following your instincts isn’t dumb.

“Thank you! That’s the first nice thing you’ve said to me.” Luca’s grin wilted as quickly as it had come. With a sigh he slunk his way to the cluttered yellow counter, unknowingly walking right toward me. He leaned his back against it, with all of his considerable, long-legged weight, his head dropping in defeat. Up close like this I could count the freckles on his nose.

He was taller than me, by a fair margin. I cocked my head as a wayward pink curl that snuggled around the shell of his ear broke free. He exhaled raggedly. He had no idea how close our bodies were, and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to.

If he knew, he’d move.

The single window cast beams of sunlight, painting Luca’s sun kissed skin gold as the potted plants that sat in a string atop the run down cabinetry drooped their leaves toward him. The long slope of his nose scrunched up in disgust as his lashes practically glowed.

He was a walking contradiction. As pretty as he was masculine. Probably unaware of how obscene his muscular ass looked in his clearly borrowed pajama pants. Blind to the fact that the way his broad shoulders pulled his violet robe taut was even more provocative than if he’d been wearing nothing but his freckles.

Everything about him screamed fuck me.

“It’s just my luck that I’ve had a fucking audience during the worst two weeks of my life.”

An unfamiliar feeling bubbled up inside me.

Guilt?

Guilt.

I’d never felt that before.

It sucked.

That sucks.

“Nah.” Luca shrugged, tipping his head back, the long line of his throat exposed in the light. I wanted to lick the sweat glistening on his skin as his Adam’s apple bobbed. Desire for him made me both dazed and ravenous. “I guess it’s not that bad. I mean, now that you’ve seen me at my lowest, at least I don’t have to lie to you, right?”

Do you lie often?

“Often enough.” Luca grimaced, then back-pedaled. “Not about anything important, though. Just normal stuff. People are like, ‘Are you okay?’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m fucking fantastic! Thanks!’ Even though on the inside I actually want to die.”

Wow.

The more Luca spoke, the more animated he became. His sadness seeped away. It was like watching the sun peep through clouds on a stormy day. “Actually the more I think about it, having you around might be kinda nice. Cuz even though it’s gross you’ve seen me snotty and emotional, at least with you I don’t have to pretend like I’m happy, you know?”

Oh.

“So yeah. Um, hi. Please don’t murder me in my sleep. My name’s Luca—in case you didn’t already know that—and I’m a twenty-four-year-old hot mess with trust issues.”

I didn’t ask.

“Dick.” Luca laughed, more genuinely this time. His eyes flickered with emotion and he blew his bangs out of his face with a sigh. “Please, for the love of all things unholy, at least give me your name?”

Maybe it was the fact he’d said please.

Maybe it was because when he moved like that all I could think about was how stunning he’d looked with his fingers shoved down his throat and his cock tucked hot-wet and pleasure-sweet between his long, capable fingers.

Prudence.

“Prudence?” He blinked, brow furrowing, “That’s a weird name.”

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