Page 26 of Proof

I cursed myself as soon as the words were out.

Weird obsession? Why the hell was I openingthatparticular can of worms?

“Would that be the weird obsession that makes me a murderer or the weird obsession that hadyoupinningmeagainst my car and jamming your tongue down my throat like a drunken anteater?”

His words stung.

And proved how fucked up in the head I was.

There I was sitting in the motel room of a guy who’d murdered three innocent people before trying to take my life, and I was upset about his criticism of my inexperienced kissing.

“What, no snappy comeback?” Cass asked.

I could feel his presence as he moved around the bed. I just had to keep a straight face and figure out the quickest way to get myself out of the room. If I called Sully and asked him to come and get me, he’d wonder what I was doing with Cass. Of course, he probably already knew if the cops had called about getting our statement. Boone might have also told him. None of it would explain what I was doing in a cheap motel room with Cass, though.

I was surprised when Cass went to the door and opened it before shutting it again. Did he actually look relieved at the fact that the door opened? What outcome had he been expecting?

I dropped my eyes again because the muscles rippling along his back were way too much of a distraction.

As Cass moved toward the window, I realized he was going to reach the little stack of clothes on the table he’d laid out for me before I was. While I could live with my pants the way they were, I needed a shirt, and I had no clue where mine was.

I quickly stood so I could grab the clothes myself but immediately regretted it. The world spun crazily. I managed to stay on my feet but by the time I came to my senses, Cass was sitting at the table. He’d put a T-shirt on, though it wasn’t the one he’d set aside for me. His intense stare had butterfliesdancing in my stomach and goose bumps dotting my forearms and the back of my neck.

I’d been in fight-or-flight mode from the moment I’d realized where I was and who I was with. I’d chosen to fight. Well, with words anyway. Now I was choosing flight. The state of my hardening cock was getting harder to conceal. Maybe if I went straight from wherever the hell I was to Tank’s, I could forget everything about today.

The idea of some guy shoving his dick into me made me physically ill, but not for the right reason. The true reason I didn’t want a stranger’s dick anywhere near me was sitting not five feet from me. I didn’t wantsomeguy. I wanted Cass. My body didn’t care about what he’d done. All it knew was the taste of raw, unbridled need. It was painful and humiliating to finally understand for the first time what the force of true attraction really was.

I climbed to my feet more slowly this time around and took several steps forward so I could grab the shirt off the pile of clothes on the table. I had to keep my eyes on the prize because if I looked at Cass, I’d lose the ability to focus on anything but him. I managed to reach the table without looking at him even once but the second I reached my arm out, hard fingers wrapped around my wrist and held on with a steely grip.

“Let go,” I snapped as I yanked my arm back, but there was no escaping the hold he had on me. I was strong but I wasn’tCassstrong.

I could feel Cass’s eyes boring a tunnel through me.

“Is that it, JJ?” he asked carefully as he pulled me forward a few inches.

I opened my mouth to once again order him to release me, but before I could even get a word out, he was on his feet and walking me backwards until my back hit the outdated wallpaper behind me. He grabbed both my wrists and pinned my arms nextto my head. I could have fought harder than I did, but I was too busy raging an internal war between my brain and my body.

“Has no one else gotten a taste of you?” he asked, his voice smooth and knowing.

I could feel tears stinging the backs of my eyes as shame, humiliation, and desire collided.

“I’ve been fucked by more guys than I can count,” I spat in a last-ditch effort to save myself. I swore I saw something flare to life in Cass’s stunningly blue eyes but then it was gone.

He dropped his head until his lips were nearly brushing mine. I felt like I was going to explode then and there.

“That’s not what I asked,” Cass pointed out. “Am I the first guy you’ve kissed? The first person?” His voice sounded growly and possessive. My dick wept with joy. God, if he shifted his hips just a little, he’d know a kiss wasn’t all I wanted…needed.

My resistance began to shred like threads of a rope that was stretched to its limit.

A really thin, weak rope.

“Cass,” I whispered in desperation.

But what was I more desperate for? For him to let me go or for him not to?

“Answer me,” Cass demanded.

I could feel the electricity firing inside of me but this time it wasn’t along the track the bullet had taken. No, that part of me was just fine. No blinding light, no stabbing pain.

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