Page 44 of Cruel Devotion

I silenced her with another kiss, holding her hips as I pushed her against the wall of books. “I’m not.” High on kissing her, on tasting the sweet, minty tang of her mouth, I dove in again and again, growling against her lips. “I’m not bullying you.”

“You’re…” She swallowed, gazing up at me with fear and trust, a complicated combination that showed how inexperienced she was but how desperate she felt to keep kissing me.

“I’m not making fun of you either.” I cupped her face, tilting it up for a better angle, and I crushed my lips over hers again.

“You’re…” She gasped when we broke for air again. “You’re…”

“I’m enjoying the fact that I’m your first.” Again, I brushed my mouth over hers. “Your first anything.”

She whimpered with need, trying to lower her head and escape my reach. “But I don’t forgive you.”

“You won’t forgive me for kissing you?” I whispered as I snaked my arm around her back. “I’m not sorry.”

I kissed her again and parted her lips. Arching up to push against me, she proved she wasn’t either. She couldn’t get enough, and I felt like a fucking god and a devil to be the one to show her how this worked. How lust could feel so good.

“You won’t forgive me for bullying you?” I asked as she clutched the front of my shirt like she was afraid she’d fall if she didn’t hold on. “I’m sorry, Haley.”

I devoured her, sucking on her tongue and relishing every bit of her sweet, addicting taste.

“You won’t forgive me for not realizing what we’ve been missing out on?” I gripped her ass, needing something to grab and ground myself on. I wanted to feel all of her and never let go. “Very sorry.”

All this time, she’d been here. She’d always been in the background. And I never once thought that she’d be the one girl who’d make me weak in the knees. The one woman who’d make me this desperate.

When she broke for air, panting as she stared at me, she shook her head. “I still hate you.”

“Damn,” I joked. “That’s a bummer.”

She proved that she couldn’t mean it when I closed my mouth over hers and she kissed back even harder. Revved by her eagerness, the stark desire she couldn’t hide, I nipped her lip before I broke the kiss.

A sweet gasp left her. She narrowed her eyes, almost as if she couldn’t imagine that I’d done that.

“You’re still an ass and?—”

I kissed her again, dueling with her tongue and nipping her again. Harder. She arched into me.

Fuck. She’s into this? She likes it hard? A little pain?

After I’d nip her lip again, I’d lick away the sting. And each time, she clung to me tighter. Keeping her arms around my neck, she didn’t flinch. She didn’t retreat. No matter how rough I was, bruising her lips until they were kiss-stung and swollen, she stayed trapped under this desire with me.

This wasus, the reality of how perfectly we could mesh and meet in the middle, with a little hatred and a lot of pent-up heat.

“This isn’t an act,” I whispered against her lips, needing her to fully understand that.

Because deep down, I knew it was kind of true.

I’d only started to win her over because of that dare.

This need to claim her and push her was something else.

“This is…” She broke away, gasping and inhaling ragged breaths as she stared at me. In her eyes, wide open with shock and confusion, she regarded me with alarm.

Shaking her head, she slipped away and stumbled to retreat. “This…”

Whatever she planned to finish saying was a mystery. She turned and nearly ran down the aisle, leaving me standing there to catch my breath and wonder how much of a mistake it was to cave to my desire for her.

15

HALEY

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