Page 19 of Forbidden Cravings

“Riley’s not yours anymore, Mason. She’s a grown woman and another man besides her brother owns her now.”

“He doesn’t own her,” I grumbled.

“Keep telling yourself that, but when she accepts his offer, maybe you’ll realize he does.”

I rolled my neck, trying to relieve the tension those words caused, compounding what was already there from the sexy brunette in front of me.

“Regardless, you’re not going out, not to the club, and not in that.”

She gave me a challenging look, her eyes daring as they sparkled in the light. “I’m not yours, Mason. I’m going out with my friend for a few drinks and maybe I’ll find a man who can relieve the clenching between my legs that you repeatedly cause and never satisfy.”

The thought sent a seething envy through me, one I didn’t like, an uncontrollable one that was about to explode. She waited for me to say something, but my emotions were churning too powerfully to even gather my words. The situation had me torn. Left wanting her, wanting no other man to touch her or even look at her, but unable to lay the claim I wanted on her because of Tyson.

She turned, thinking she’d gotten the last word, that she’d somehow put me in my place, but she hadn’t read me right because if anything, my need to contain her free spirit was ripping through me. I stormed over to her as she reached the entrance to the foyer, grabbed her by the back of the neck and forced her against the wall, pressing my body into her back. The rapid breaths that were escaping her increased the inferno that was building in me. And when she brought her hands up the wall, her body quivering as she pushed her ass against my dick, it twitched with the need to take her. To throw my loyalty to the wind and fuck her until she came undone around me.

“You are mine, Casey.” The words had come out and there was no way to take them back now.

“Then take me, bring me your force and your power. Own me, Mason.”

The seductive way she said it ignited the need for her, and I took her arms, guiding them above her head and holding them by her wrists. She sighed, a sound that gripped me, seeping into my soul. I slid my hand up her thigh, the soft skin stirring the craving I had for her. It was like a storm thundering through my body, and ignoring it was almost too painful.

“Please, Mason,” she cried, and I moved up her ass, sliding my finger along the line of her thong.

“You’re definitely not going out with that on,” I said against her ear.

“Then take it off me.”

Shit, she was driving me mad. I was driving us both mad because I couldn’t keep my hands off her. Dropping my head to her neck, I removed my hand. She let out a whimper that gripped me differently, hurting me with the sound. I needed to stop because I was confusing her as much as I was confusing myself. But I couldn’t stop my need for her.

As if she read my internal thoughts, she whispered, “Let me go, Mason. It’s for the best. I’m only here two more days and then I’ll be gone. I won’t come back.”

The idea of never seeing her again was gut-wrenching in a way that I hadn’t expected, one that went deeper than a physical craving for her body, and I wondered about it.

“I’ll avoid you until I leave. I can even stay someplace else.”

“No,” I said quickly, releasing her wrists. Flipping her around to look at me, I leaned my hand on the wall above her. Her hazel eyes were so sad I wanted to relieve that sadness, to see her cheerful smile again. “You’ll stay here. Nowhere else.”

Seeing her like that triggered something in me that softened me, and I brushed a curl back, bringing my thumb down her cheek. I didn’t know what was happening to me, but the need to touch her was transforming to more because I hated how sad she looked, hated that I’d caused her pain.

Her eyes searched mine, the hazel in them dimmed to a brownish hue, the sparkle gone.

“I don’t think I can let you go, Casey.”

The inhale she took was ragged. “Then claim me.”

I gave her a lopsided grin, pushing away the softness that didn’t sit comfortably on my skin. “I already have.”

“Am I staying here tonight because I’ll be in your room coming around your dick?”

Fuck, she was dirty in an adorable way that continued to break me more each time.

“No.”

Her smile dropped, and she shoved away from the wall, her hand pushing my chest back. “Then I’m going out. I’m done, Mason. You have my panties soaked and my nipples aching so badly to be touched that I need to be away from you.”

“What the fuck, Casey?”

“What the fuck? Are you serious?” That cute disposition morphed, and a small tigress stood before me, one who only twisted my craving for her. “You are a mess, Mason. Figure out what you want because you have two days and then I’m gone. I won’t be back. I’m not going through this again. If I need to fuck every man I meet to get you out of my system, then I will. But I’m not playing this game anymore.”