Page 31 of Ink & Stardust

“Or what?” I challenge.

“I’m just trying to help you.” He steps into me, the size of him overwhelming my personal space. I can’t bring myself to step back, even though I know I should.

“I don’t want your help.” I stand my ground.

“Too bad.” He grits his teeth in a way that’s way sexier than it should be.

“Why?”

“Why what?” He dips, his face so close to mine, too close, and yet still way too far away.

“Why do you care?”

“Who says I do?” His words sting, but I don’t let it show.

“Then why not just leave me alone?”

“I wish it were that simple.” His forehead creases in a way that makes me want to reach up and smooth my thumb across it.

“Why?” I ask again.

“Why what?” The corner of his mouth tips.

“Why isn’t it that simple?”

He leans in even closer, our lips a whisper apart, and I swear I stop breathing.

“Because I can’t seem to stay away from you.”

That’s all it takes.

That one sentence.

That one look.

And I’m putty in his hands.

“Then don’t.” My words barely break the surface, but he hears them just the same.

“Keep looking at me like that, and I won’t be able to stop myself.”

His words don’t deter me. If anything, they egg me on.

“From doing what?” I ask simply because I want to know what he’ll say. The way he’s looking at me is pretty clear.

His lips move to my ear.

“From taking you into one of these back rooms and fucking you until you can’t walk straight for a week.”

A full-body shiver runs through me.

“So do it then,” I practically beg.

I know I’m not in my right mind. Even drunk, I can think of a million reasons why I should walk away right now, but for the life of me, I can’t get a single muscle to move.

“Lyric.” God, the way he says my name. Like silk and barbed wire, smooth but jagged at the edges. “You don’t mean what you’re saying.” He pulls back just enough to meet my gaze.

“What if I do?”

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