Page 36 of Wicked Dreams

His eyes are level with my throat at this angle, but he raises his chin to meet my gaze. Everything in me is screaming to get out. Being trapped by him only heightens it, until my skin crawls and I grip the edge of the counter with all my strength.

“Caleb, please,” I whisper.

“Please?” He watches me. “Since when doespleasework?”

Please don’t tell them, Margo.

His voice echoes out of the recesses of my mind, so loud that I flinch.

“One day I’m going to fuck you on this counter.” His voice is low.

My body is a live wire, I just can’t tell if it’s the good kind or bad. One spark, and I’ll set this whole house on fire. One touch, and Caleb and I will go up in flames. His words are brazen, crass… but I’m leaning toward him instead of away.

“You’re going to enjoy it,” he continues. “Even knowing what happened here. Because all you’ll be able to think about is my dick in your pussy, spreading you wide. Hitting every. Fucking. Nerve.”

One of his hands comes up and palms my breast. It’s like he finally gave in to the earlier urge, and now he squeezes. Feels every bit of its weight in his palm. His tongue flicks out, wetting his lips, and he undoes the buttons of my shirt. He starts at the bottom, working his way up.

“Stop.” I hate how everything inside me is alive in a way that it hasn’t been in a really fucking long time. So much hate, I don’t want him to touch me ever again.

Have I been numb before this?

Floating in oblivion?

Frozen?

He’s barely touching me now, just his fingertips grazing my stomach as each button slips free and the shirt parts more and more.

“Admit you’re attracted to me,” he breathes, “and I’ll stop.”

I bite my lip. It’s dumb, really, because I don’t even believe that he’s telling me the truth. Before, he said I had no choice but to play his game. Now he’s dangling freedom as a carrot, and a tiny, terrified part of me screams to say whatever I need to in order to escape. To claim my sanity back, because he’s slowly walking us to the cliff’s edge.

Once I fall, there will be no going back.

“Admit you like it, and I’ll stop,” he repeats.

He focuses on my bra, tugging my shirt open wider. Just the top button is left connected. My chest rises and falls quickly with my rapid breaths. He hasn’t touched me, and I’m already spiraling.

First kiss, now this?

Trailing a finger over the swell of my breast, raising goosebumps on my skin, he hooks his nail in the top of the cup. He digs in and pulls it down without hesitation. It exposes my breast, nipple pebbling under his attention.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

All I need to do is say stop.

Stop.

But I don’t. I’m too curious, too fascinated, to put an end to this.

He leans down and touches his lips to the flesh just above my nipple. And then he bites, sucking hard, and my whole body stiffens. My back arches, lifting my chest to him by accident. His mouth brings pleasure and pain wrapped together. Building until I can’t take it anymore.

“S-stop.” I push at his head, and my skin pulls before he releases his teeth’s hold.

For a split second, I imagine he will ignore me and continue. He’ll push me past where I think the line in the sand should be.

But then he lifts his head, his wet lips so close to mine we’re only a moment away from kissing. His blue eyes laser in on mine, taking in whatever emotions are written on my face, and steps back.

He smirks. “Afraid?”

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