Page 21 of Bake the Town Red

He’s taking what’s his.

The counter digs into my belly and one of my Chucks lifts off the floor.

He doesn’t stop at that. No.

This new Tyler I’ve been watching for years is the rugged, ruthless version of the young man who dragged me out from the pits of hell years ago.

This one has been stalking me for years. Has been writing a goddamn blog about me.

This one is cruel.

His lips pry mine open. His tongue lashes in, and mine strikes back. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m doing it anyway. I need him. I need the taste of him branded into my head. It’s coffee and dark chocolate with a hint of sea salt in it. It’s him.

And he doesn’t hold back. Tyler’s fire consumes me. His lust is so strong that I’m being burned at the stake.

My hands fling to his neck. Fingertips desperate to study the veins cording it. To touch the loud pulse beneath his skin, searching for another sign of life. A proof I’m really touching him.

My thumbs brush his scruff, and he groans into my mouth.

Maybe he’s done pretending he’s mad.

Maybe he’ll have me.

When he finally breaks our kiss, he doesn’t let go of my neck. His forehead stays right where it is.

If I was a timid, frightened girl, I would’ve kept my eyes closed. I’d be smart and avoid what I might find in his gaze.

But I’m the motherfucking devil. I fear no one.

Eyes open. Heart in my throat.

I stare back at him.

“No, little savage. You were wrong. The past isn’t in the past.” Not even Tyler Price, his cruel eyes, and his crueler words, could scare me. “It’s here. I feel it better now, around you. You’re an infection that’s killing me slowly. Every day I die a little more because of you. You’re a disease that never—fucking ever—leaves.”

“You don’t mean that. Not in a bad way.” I don’t call him a coward. He’s brave. Brave for saying mean words. Brave for pushing the love of his life away to protect her. “I won’t leave because you want me with you.”

“You will leave. I told you that I’m walking away after this, and I am. I’m going. Do you hear?”

“No.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Tyler

This kiss. I’ll never recover from it. Fucking ever.

The hold it has on me. That’s why I stay put. Why I can’t do the right thing and walk away.

I fucking love her. How did I ever leave in the first place?

From the moment her family moved into the building when she was five, our connection was an easy one. A natural one. I’d always wanted a little sister or brother, but my parents passed away early on.

She and Ian had been my siblings ever since that day.

She’s the furthest thing from a sister now. Hasn’t been for years.

I’m obsessed. In love. Insane over her.

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