Page 26 of Claiming Veronica

“What?” Veronica’s voice startled me. “What do you mean he was there for me.” Anger infused her eyes, and she moved to wiggle off the desk. I scooted closer and settled my arms on either side of her, close enough that her gardenia scent floated my way. It was funny that she thought she could get away.

“That’s right. He was there for you, Veronica. Victor was looking to take out his rival.” It still made my blood run cold that he had been able to breach the house. I’d even warned my brother, but he hadn’t made a difference. It made me a little angry that Pike hadn’t taken more precautions.

The room was too still, too thick, with everything unspoken between us, but I didn’t mind. I’d grown used to silence—relished it, even.

I glanced up, catching her eyes on me—wide, uncertain, and far too trusting for her own good. She didn’t know me. Not really. But here she was, letting me care for her despite everything she knew. If I had my way, I’d always be the one taking care of her. I tried to anchor myself in the chair, but she was so close, the plastic of the cheap office chair beneath me and filtered sunlight hazy around me. It was all I could not to leap at her, wrap her in my arms, and bury myself in her.

“A rival?” Her eyes looked to me in question, and her nose wrinkled in confusion. “Look. I don’t understand what you’re talking about, but I need to get back home. My sister will be looking for me.”

“You can go in a minute, but I want one thing clear, Veronica,” I said quietly, the words slipping out, low and direct. I felt her breath catch, the pulse in her wrist fluttering against my palm.

“What?”

“This.” I tightened my hand imperceptibly. “This is happening, little liar.”

She hesitated, her brow furrowing in confusion. “I don’t even know you.” Her voice was soft, but the edge of it cracked with something else—fear,curiosity, maybe a mix of both. “You can’t just decide something like that.”

I smirked, letting my eyes flick back to hers. “I can do anything I want,” I said stubbornly. “I’d bet that you know lots of stuff about me. I’d say that you were poking your nose into things you shouldn’t already. Everything you could find.”

There was no way that during Victor’s rampage in Morinrock, Veronica wasn’t digging into Pike’s past. Pike’s past included me and all the baggage that followed.

“Tell me what you know,” I prodded, tucking a curl behind her ear, unable to keep my hands off her a second longer and brushing her cheek as I did so. The tell-tale inhale of her breath as my fingers brushed against the smoothness of her cheek could have been fear, but I could almost smell her arousal, sense the clenching of her thighs.

“I know that your parents died in a car accident when you were little. You were put into foster care together, and Lonnie Kent was your first placement, but there were three others. You were both sent back to Kent in the end. That was where you supposedly drowned in his pond at five, and Pike was sent to another home here in Arizona.”

Hereyes stayed on mine as she recited her little facts, but her mouth tightened each time she said Kent’s name. Her fingers twisted together in her lap.

“What else do you know?” I prompted. She knew more, and I wanted her to say it.

“You were both abused. There were mentions in reports that you had issues with mental health,” she said quietly. “Tearing eyes out of magazines and poking them out of dolls and stuff. You and Pike were denied placements because of it. That’s all I could find.”

“Seems like a lot.”

“Doesn’t seem like much,” she mumbled.

Veronica was smart. Smart enough to know that I wasn’t just some mystery she could solve all at once. I wasn’t Victor or Pike. I was something else entirely, something she couldn’t place yet. And that’s what drew her in—the unknown—the mystery.

She shifted on the desk, watching me carefully as if trying to understand what I was thinking and wanted.

“I’m not sure this is smart,” she admitted finally, her voice barely above a whisper. “Whatever this is,” sheadded. She looked scared and a little flushed.

Good. She should be scared. I was dangerous, and she knew it. But that fear—that tiny flicker of uncertainty—didn’t stop her from being here and letting me close. I’d watched her long enough to know she wasn’t like anyone else. She was going to be reckless. And she would like it.

“That’s not going to stop me,” I said, pushing my thumb over the meaty part of her thigh where the stocking met skin. The peachy softness was like silk. “You haven’t lived yet, Veronica.” I leaned a little closer.

Her breath hitched again, and she looked away, her hair falling across her face as if it could shield her from what was happening between us. But it couldn’t.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” she whispered, more to herself than to me, as I caressed her slowly.

I stood, moving slowly until I was right in front of her, close enough that her legs brushed against mine, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from her skin. She stayed still, her body tense but not pulling back, her eyes dilating with unmistakable desire.

“I’m going to change your mind,” I said, my voice low and dark, teasing the edges of her resolve. “Don’t doubt it.” Bending low, I licked along her throat, laving my tongue against her skin until I reached her earlobe — that small piece of flesh had beckoned me.

Her whimper sounded against the side of my cheek, music to my ears. This wasn’t pain or fear; this was desire. My little moon goddess wanted me. Pulling the flesh into my mouth, I sucked it and rolled it in my mouth, imagining it was her clit. God, I could explode in my pants right now.

Pulling back from her, I eyed her critically. Her eyes were glazed, her chest heaved, and her throat was flushed. I’d barely touched her — yet.

“I’ll see you later, angel. Drive safe.” Forcing myself, I walked away without a glance.

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