Page 147 of Vicious Addictions

I swallow hard and quicken my pace, pretending I didn’t hear him.

“Mina, stop.”

Again, I hurry my steps, thankful when I reach the staircase of the large mansion. But before I can grab onto the rail, two strong hands grab my waist and hurl my body into a nearby room. Jude quickly closes the door behind us and pins me against it.

“The silent treatment? Really? Is that what I deserve after what I just did for you? Even after I went against my father’s wishes for you?”

“No one asked you to do that.”

“No, but it was what you wanted. Please tell me that killing Dimitri has earned me enough favor with you to at least warrant a glance in my direction.”

With his arm braced above my head, I lock eyes with him, my rage building as his free hand slides behind my back, locks the door, and then tosses the key to the floor.

“There. I’m looking at you. Happy?”

“No, not like this,” he whispers, his gaze falling to my lips as he eats the tiny distance between us, pressing his chest against mine.

“Like this,” he says, running the back of his knuckles against my cheek.

I don’t say a word, my expression lethal, while inside, I’m burning alive with a simple touch.

“Is this how it will always be between us? Will you always hate me?”

“Yes,” I state flatly, keeping my disdainful expression in place while I stare in awe at the gold flecks of his eyes.

“I can’t accept that, Mina.”

“I couldn’t care less.”

“Yes, you can. You do care.”

“No, I don’t,” I state matter-of-factly.

“If you truly didn’t care, you would have left by now,” he whispers softly, brushing my hair away from my eyes and tugging a strand behind my ear. “You wouldn’t even allow me to bring you into this room.”

“Who says I intend to stay?”

“Ah, but that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Don’t you want to?” he asks as he leans closer. “Don’t you want to stay here with me?” I don’t dare answer that minefield of a question. Not that I could find my voice right now when his nose shoves itself into my hair and then trails down my neck, taking a whiff of my perfume.

“Fuck, I missed this. Your scent… it smells like coming home.”

My knee-jerk reaction is to kick him in the balls for even uttering such nonsense, especially after all the misery he put me through. But that’s my broken heart talking. My body is perfectly fine staying exactly where it is.

“Did you miss me at all?” he continues to woo.

“No,” I spit out, but when he presses a tender kiss on the hollow of my neck, my body arches to meet his warmth.

“Liar.” He smiles into the crook of my neck.

I grind my back molars at the little chuckle he lets out when my body begins to melt to his.

“Mina,” he whispers again before closing his eyes to pepper the slope of my neck with one tender kiss after another. “Tell me that you missed me. Tell me you missed how I used to touch you… kiss you. Tell me that I’m not alone in this. That you yearn for me as I yearn for you.”

“Who’s the liar now?” I breathe out erratically, his kiss, paired with his words, starting to make my brain foggy.

“I’m not lying, love. I missed you. So fucking much.”

“Don’t call me that,” I demand through gritted teeth, the endearment snapping me out of my hazy, lust-filled fog. “Never call me that again.”

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