Page 39 of Rebel Hawke

Those smoky bourbon eyes follow me as I move over to her and cage her in with my hands on either side of her head. Staring down at the woman who was my best friend and now has become my obsession, thinking about how close Satriano stood to her minutes ago, my heart rattles violently against my ribcage.

Anger still heats my blood, but it’s desire, need for this woman, to know she’s safe and secure in my arms, that overpowers the fury directed at him.

The fear in her gaze twists my gut, knowing I might still be the cause of it. That she might still be wary due to how she saw me react. “Why do you look so scared, Little Bird?”

She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and considers me for a moment before she releases it—soft, pink, and so fucking enticing it takes every ounce of my willpower not to suck on it right now. “Because Christ, Atlas, this is really fast…”

Fast?

It feels like I’ve wanted this forever.

Like a millennium has passed since I last pressed my lips to hers back at the gym.

Likeeonssince I first kissed her after saying, “I do.”

I grin at her and take her cheek in my palm as the cab ascends. “Is it?”

Dipping my head, I feather my lips over hers. Barely a flicker of contact. A fleeting taste and promise of what’s to come.

She releases a little sigh into my mouth. “I haven’t even been back for a week…”

I kiss her again, harder this time, silencing that voice inside her head that wants to question all of this, that wants some sort of logical answer when this isn’t logic. This is something far more powerful than that. Something that can’t be so easily tossed aside.

“A week, huh?” I kiss the sensitive skin behind her ear. “It feels like so much longer.”

She shakes her head, trembling against me and pressing her hands flat against my chest. “Nope, definitely a week tomorrow.”

“Mmm.” I nod, flicking my tongue over that spot and making her twitch. “Then I’ve been stroking my cock for six days, thinking about you already…”

Her body goes rigid. “What?”

I pull back, sliding my hand down to grip her chin, tilting it up toward me. “I wasn’t fucking kidding before. Since the moment I walked into the studio and saw you, I haven’t been able to get you out of my fucking head.”

Her lips gape open, but the elevator reaches the top floor, comes to a jolting halt, and the doors slide open before she can respond.

“Come on.”

Releasing her chin, I grab her hand and tug her after me down the short hallway to the door on the right that leads into my condo.

She glances at the one across the hall. “Isaac’s place?”

I nod as I throw open my door.

Her wide eyes meet mine. “You don’t keep it locked?”

Chuckling, I usher her in and let the door close behind me. “No one’s getting up here without the security code, and they also need it to get down.”

She turns back to look at me, only a few steps into my domain. Her lips twist. “So, you’re saying I’m trapped here unless you give me the code?”

I grin at her as I advance slowly. “13581.”

“What?”

“The code—13581. If you don’t want to be here, if you don’t wantthis, Wren”—I shake my head—“I’m not going to keep you here. But I am going to tell you right now that if you say ‘yes,’ you’re going to stay for a long time because I’m going to fuck you on every surface of this condo and probably not let you out of my bed for days.”

Inhaling sharply, she retreats a step, a pink blush rising up her neck and across her cheeks. Offset against her pale skin and dark hair, it makes her look ten times sexier, which I didn’t even think was possible.

“Atlas, I’m not—” she releases a heavy exhale.

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