Page 28 of Guarded By the Phantom

He made a show of opening it, still out of my reach, and showed me the front page. “It says it’s the property of this library. Wanna get it? Climb me.”

The absolute, goddamn, ridiculous… asshole. There, I said it. Well, thought it. Same thing.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked, my anger burning so hot, it shocked me.

I was about to lose my shit, and it was thrilling and terrifying all at once. I wasalwaysin control. Always! But Phantom had worn me down all morning, and I was out of resources.

“I like having fun. This is fun,” he said, his skeletal face grinning obnoxiously. “And I really should read this book, doll. You want me to catch him, don’t you?”

“I need it more!” I hissed, stomping my foot. “Give it back! I saw it first!”

“Get it, then.” He cackled, waving the book tauntingly above his head.

Well, I had enough. Not even sure what I was about to do, I pushed into his personal bubble until our bodies were flush, his widely planted feet bracketing mine. I grabbed his face in both hands and tugged it down until my nose almost touched the hole where his would be.

He gasped, and I dug my fingers into the sides of his head, shocked by how warm it was to the touch. It wasn’t like his body, armored and cold. This was like touching a living, breathing person, albeit a bony one.

I stared vehemently into the depths of his eye sockets. There was a faint glow there, something silvery that suddenly flared brighter. I squeezed his face with all my might, breathing hard as waves of heat and cold rushed down my back. My anger burst and shifted, becoming something else, equally intense.

“Give. Me. My. Book.”

“What book?” he asked, the faintest tremor in his voice.

I grunted with annoyance. “The book in your hand! Give it to me. Right now!”

Something fell with a muffled thud. I stared into Phantom’s silver eyes that glowed in the depths of his sockets like wills-o’-the-wisp, taunting and mesmerizing. It hit me, then. His eyes glowed, just like my would-be-killer’s, and it seemed like a strange sort of irony.

“I’m afraid I dropped it,” he whispered hoarsely, his throat clicking as if it was completely dry. “You’re so pink, doll. Why are you so pink?”

I swallowed. My throat was dry, too, and I didn’t know why. I only knew our faces were so close, I smelled his breath, dark with a hint of smoke. I felt the heat of his bone under my fingers.Bone.I touched the bare bone of his skull, and it should be disgusting, it should be weird, but my fingers tingled with something like hunger.

Like I wanted to slide them across his face to map out his features in a soft caress.

With a sudden gasp, I pulled back, my hands falling off him. I blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the odd daze that came over me. Phantom stood motionless, his eyes glowing faintly, trained on me.

The book lay on the floor by his foot, and I dove down to snatch it. When I straightened, he was suddenly behind me. He moved so fast, I didn’t get a chance to react.

In the span of a second, my face was pressed into a bookcase, my body sandwiched between it and his front. I made a choked sound, something like a plea, and he pressed me harder into the books, his breath harsh in my ear.

“What are you doing to me, huh? This isn’t normal. I shouldn’t feel… You did something!”

“I didn’t do anything,” I said, my voice a breathy whisper, because my throat closed up.

I felt him everywhere. His hips were flush with my butt, his feet on either side of my feet, his arm pressing down on my nape. Hot shivers trembled down my spine, and I feltweakin a way I hadn’t felt ever before. That weakness was liquid and golden, and it felt like I could finally breathe, even though I choked on my every frantic inhale.

I probably should have screamed for him to let go. But the thing was… I didn’t want to.

“So pink,” he said again, making absolutely no sense.

More shivers tumbled down my back. His voice was a low, masculine rumble, right in my ear and so close, his breath caressed the shell.

“You’re driving me crazy, doll,” he murmured, lower still.

I shivered. “Likewise, you… you total jerk.”

He pressed closer, his hips crushing my ass, and then suddenly, he was gone. My back was cold from his touch, more shivers running through my body. I pressed into the bookcase, desperately trying to catch my breath.

“She’s doing book yoga. Don’t mind her,” Phantom said, his voice sounding almost normal.

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