Page 52 of My Ruthless Opponent

I twist my wrists to escape his deathly grip which is getting tighter.

I wince. And he sobers up as if realizing that his strong hold is probably bruising my skin.

“Fuck. Relax, princess. Can’t you take a fucking joke?” He grunts when I stomp on his feet. But it hurts me more as I am barefoot while his foot is covered in boots.

“Enough.” He yanks me tighter against him.

He releases my wrists only to capture them in one hand. The fingers of his free hand drive in my hair.

I am about to knee him in the balls when he goes ahead and shocks me with his words.

“I am sorry, Hannah. I crossed a line. I shouldn’t have poked you like that.” His long fingers that are in my hair gently massage my scalp while his eyes hold mine with sincerity.

Raleigh is acting strange. He apologized to me. Tome. It never happened before. But then, Raleigh didn’t offend me like this before. We had heated arguments a lot but this is different.

His uncontrived apology startled me so much that I went still in his hold.

And now that I am not livid anymore to draw blood, I notice that my nipples are hard as granite. A result of our chests rubbing together.

I swallow hard, the sudden dryness of my throat and the ache between my legs snatching away my ability to think.

A minute later when I still don’t make a move to struggle or hit him, he releases my wrists and the grip in my hair disappears.

He doesn’t remove his touch entirely. No, his hands slide down and settle on my hips.

Reaching up, I make a feeble attempt to push him away but instead, I find my palms plastering to his steely, warm chest. I take an unsteady breath.

Fuck, I am turned on. Suddenly, my body is very much aware of him and now instead of pushing him away, I’m tracing the ridge of his chest.

I stare into his eyes. Does he feel the same?

There is a thin line between love and hate. I have heard about it plenty from my own team member, Brielle. She has a habit of teasing me with that phrase every time I had fights with Raleigh. But she never mentioned lust!

“Hannah?”

“Hmm?”

“Are we good?” He asks as his gaze searches my face.

I only nod. Because I don’t trust my voice right now.

I lick my lips and his eyes follow the little gesture. Keeping his gaze trained on my lips he says something which drawsmyattention to his lips.

What the hell? Now I am thinking about what his kiss would feel like? Would he kiss me with all the hate he has for me? Will the kiss be searing hot?

The fierce curiosity of what his kiss would feel like makes me go on my tip-toes.

Unconsciously, my eyes fall shut as I inch closer to his lips.

How the hell did I go from wanting to slap his face to chasing his lips?

Raleigh steals my ability to breathe by inching closer to my lips.

A shiver courses through me when his lips brush lightly against mine. The contact is so quick that I think it was my imagination.

A snort from Raleigh, followed by a deep chuckle makes me open my eyes with a frown.

His shoulders shake with silent laughter.

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