Page 15 of Ruthless Savage

The corner of my mouth tips up, and as it does, I toss the alcohol down my throat and gulp it down. My insides burn, but the sweetness nicely masks the liquor.

His nostrils flare, and the intensity written on his features sends my pulse thumping. He’s always so stoic. I like getting a rise out of him, even when it’s miniscule. It shows I can make him react. And the more I try, the harder he will have to work to fight it.

I drop the cup on the table.

“More,” I tell Karen while my eyes remain fixated on his, and the small shake of his head, telling me to stop, has me popping a brow and smirking.

“That’s my girl!” Karen gets all giddy as she makes me another drink.

When she’s done, I drink that too and…well…that one, I’m definitely feeling.

“Did you add more alcohol to this one?” I cough out into her ear, hoping he doesn’t notice.

“Hell yeah, I did! Maybe if you’re a little drunk and wobbly, he’ll have a reason to touch you. Then who knows what’ll happen?” She winks.

“You’re worse than Kayla.”

She also thinks it’s a good idea for me to make Devlin jealous.

“That I am.” She tilts up her chin and grins. “I just want you happy, and you haven’t stopped talking about that man since the moment you transferred. So, Mission: Fuck Your Bodyguard is in full swing.”

I laugh, shaking my head. She’s always been supportive of my infatuation with a man I have no business crushing on.

Karen doesn’t know who my family is. All I told her was that my father is a businessman in Boston and he has always been overprotective, so of course he wouldn’t allow me to attend college in New York without eyes. She easily bought it.

“Ladies!” Adam and Camden, two guys I know from some classes, pass by, giving us both a hug.

I’ve grown suspicious of everyone. It’s hard to trust people with everything my family and I have gone through. But I have to be a normal person too.

The guys make their own drinks while Adam gives me sheepish glances. His tall, rugged athletic vibe would potentially interest me, especially with his pretty-boy looks, but there’s only one man I want. The one who’s currently staring a hole into the back of my head. I don’t have to look behind me to know he is.

“Wanna dance?” Adam asks.

Of course I don’t. He’s not Devlin.

As though hearing the question, I find Devlin moving up a few steps from the corner of my eye, only a few feet between us now.

I want to say no. I should. I don’t want to lead a guy on. But it’s just a dance, not a marriage proposal.

“You better say yes,” Karen whispers into my ear. “Devlin is going to lose his shit with some guy being all up on your ass looking the way you do.”

“You think?”

“Hell yeah, I do!”

Adam comes to stand next to me, his body a bit taller than my five-four. Not like Devlin, who is a good foot taller.

I let out a wistful sigh. Will I always compare every man against him? What is it about Devlin that makes me like him?

He’s barely said much to me in the years he’s been my bodyguard, but when he does… Those moments are what I wait for.

I know behind that rough exterior is a man who wants someone to love him. Why can’t that be me? Why won’t he allow it?

Because you’re eighteen and he’s thirty-five, and your father would probably hang him for it, especially if he takes your virginity.

My virginity is like a gift for my future husband. This patriarchal nonsense has me wanting to sleep with just about anyone so that maybe whoever my father finds for me will no longer want me. I don’t want a man who values my purity more than me.

Would Devlin care? I doubt it. He doesn’t seem like the type. But I’ve saved myself for him anyway.

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