Page 29 of Ranger's Justice

"I think you do," she murmurs. "I think you’re afraid of what happens when you stop holding back."

She has no idea how right she is. My hands fist in her hair, tipping her head back, exposing the delicate line of her throat. My lips trace over her skin, barely touching enough to make her tremble. Her fingers tighten on my shirt, nails biting into my chest. She’s trying to hold on, trying to control this. She can’t.

Neither can I. One second, I’m fighting it. The next, I mean to possess her.

My mouth crashes into hers, rough, demanding, pulling a sharp gasp from her lips before she melts against me. I swallow that sound, deepening the kiss, letting the hunger I’ve been denying take over.

Cassidy matches me, fire for fire, her hands fisting in my hair, dragging me closer. I lift her effortlessly, pinning her tighter against the wall as she wraps her legs around my waist.

She’s a perfect fit against me. Too perfect.

Her body presses into mine, soft and hot, her scent wrapping around me, making it impossible to think. My lips trail down her throat, my teeth grazing her skin, marking her in a way she doesn’t even realize yet.

"You push too hard," I mutter against her pulse.

She jerks my head back, her green eyes wild, challenging. "And you like it."

Damn right, I do. My growl vibrates against her skin. My hand grips her jaw, angling her face as I kiss her again, deeper this time.

Cassidy gasps into my mouth, her body arching into me, her nails biting into my shoulders.

She’s reckless, wild, mine.

My fingers trail up her thigh, gripping her tighter, pressing her into me. She moans, a sound that makes my vision go dark, makes me want to strip her bare and take her right here against this damn wall.

But I stop myself. Just barely. My forehead drops against hers, my breathing harsh, my pulse a steady, punishing beat.

I need to walk away. I need to stop this before it goes too far. Because if I don’t, there won’t be any turning back. I set her on her feet—wanting and needing to put distance between us but knowing I won’t. I can’t.

Cassidy stares up at me, lips swollen, breath unsteady, her fingers still gripping my shirt like she’s afraid I’ll disappear if she lets go.

Her voice is breathless, barely controlled. "This changes nothing."

My gaze locks with hers. "You don’t believe that any more than I do,” I growl.

Silence stretches between us.

I know what’s going through her head. Confusion. Fear. Maybe even denial. People don’t wake up expecting to find out the world isn’t what they thought it was. That monsters exist, not in fairy tales or nightmares, but in the shape of men who walk among them. Men like me. I hear her breath catch, her fingers going still on her thigh before she finally speaks.

“Rush,” she whispers, like she’s still testing the word, still trying to find solid ground. “What are we doing?”

I turn slowly, locking eyes with her.

She’s waiting for something—maybe an explanation, maybe an excuse. But there’s something else in her gaze, something soft beneath the fire. Something that makes my gut tighten.

“What we’ve both been wanting to do since I pulled you out of that warehouse,” I growl, my voice lower, rougher than I mean for it to be. The Texas drawl thickens when I lose control, and right now, it’s practically dripping off me.

My hands find her hips, gripping them firmly, pulling her flush against me. She molds her body against mine as if she were made for me. The soft curve of her belly presses into my hard abs, her chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths. She knows what’s coming.

She reaches up, fingers threading into my hair, pulling me down to her. The second our lips meet, I stop thinking.

It’s fire. Pure, burning heat, searing through me like a brand. She gasps into my mouth as I deepen the kiss, dominating her with every stroke of my tongue, every rough scrape of my teeth against her lower lip. She meets me head-on, her nails raking against my scalp, her body arching into mine.

I don’t hold back. I press against the small of her back, pinning her between me and the wall. She’s all heat and need, all reckless hunger, and it’s driving me straight to the edge.

CHAPTER 8

RUSH

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