Page 79 of Sinner

“I’m supposed to hate you,” I told him as a rush of emotions pushed me to a steep precipice, a cliff I could easily drop off.

“Do you?”

“I don’t know what to think.”

“Look me in the eyes and tell me you still believe I had anything to do with Shanna’s death.” Xander’s voice was imploring, yet even darker than before. The look in his eyes was filled with emotions, but I couldn’t read what they were.

“Why would my father lie?”

For the first time since I’d met him, his expression softened. “To protect you. I don’t blame him. I’m not a good man and he knows that. However, hurting Shanna was never my intention.”

He was offering me a way out if that’s what I wanted. This had nothing to do with the game or with Sinner. I was standing in a room with Xander Blackwell, a tortured man.

But he wasn’t the monster I’d made him out to be.

Surrender.

“Tell me what you want, Jessica.” He narrowed his eyes, his chest rising and falling.

The spiral of emotions would be difficult to explain to anyone, but the desire that I couldn’t squelch would never be understood.

And I honestly didn’t care. “This. I want this.”

As Xander cupped both sides of my face, rubbing my jaw, the rough pads of his thumbs scintillated my core. The flash of heat was unlike what I’d experienced before with him during the hunt. Or during the feast after he’d broken the boundaries of my home.

My pulse was still high and I darted my eyes back and forth across his. There was something about him that I couldn’t deny. The hatred still existed, but the desire was much stronger, the sensations driving out everything else.

He crowded my space, adding more pressure to his firm hold. I was captured by him, his power and his dominant personality. As Xander slowly lowered his head, I was certain my heart had stopped beating altogether.

“I will always protect you,” he muttered just before capturing my lips. There was no movement for a few seconds, no sound other than the rapid beating of my heart echoing in my ears.

A small part of me knew I should push him away, but the larger part, the one that had taken over every rational thought wanted something else altogether. I gripped his wrists, digging my nails into his skin as he swept his tongue inside. His hold was commanding yet tender.

Every move he made was slow and easy, allowing me to become used to what he was doing.

But I knew in the back of my mind this was just the beginning. He wasn’t a gentle lover, not by any standards. There were no masks, no sense of the anonymity that had protected both of us from the truth of reality. This was hard, cold, and would soon be brutal.

As if reading my mind, he rolled one arm around my waist, lifting me onto my toes. I slid my hands up along his muscular arms, marveling in the feel of them as the heat continued to build. His actions slowly became more controlling as he crawled his other hand around to the back of my neck.

I was going nowhere until he was finished with me.

Or until I was finished with him.

The thought brought another wave of tingles as the kiss continued. His tongue dominated mine in a dance of superiority, but he would never allow anyone else to win.

He jerked me as close to his body was possible and I ground my hips against his. His cock pressed against my stomach and I shivered from the realization of how large he was, his shaft throbbing just as my pulse was doing. Rapid and hard. Unforgiving.

Xander’s actions became rougher and I slid my arms around his neck, clamping one hand around his thick strands of hair while raking my nails down his back.

I felt his hand tugging at the zipper on my dress, slowly rolling it down. The cool air in the room couldn’t erase the explosive heat furrowing between us.

Suddenly, he broke the kiss, backing away completely.

I dragged my tongue across my bottom lip, uncertain what to expect.

“Remove your dress for me.” His command was as dark as the man, so husky my legs were quaking.

The way he was staring at me was as if the man would devour me whole. I’d never seen a man’s eyes glow the way his were doing.

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