Page 27 of Keeping The Virgin

Then he finally runs his fingers through his hair again and mutters, “I don’t like to see you like this, so stop crying.”

“Oh, yes, just as you command, sir. Right away, sir…”

“Stop.”

I glare at him, but my eyes are still glassy. Another tear wiggles down my face.

“Jesus,” he says from between his teeth.

He’s still not leaving, and that gives me some courage. “You said you don’t like to see me this way. What did you mean?”

“In pain. That’s what I meant.”

His blunt admission stuns me, and it’s not just because of what he said. It’s how he said it—as if he’s tormented in some way. But then he just stands there as if he still might tell me to get lost, and I back away from him, then start to take off again.

He catches up in an instant, and when he pulls me to him this time, he envelopes me in a furious embrace, nearly lifting me from the ground in his passion.

My face presses against his, cutting off my breath, and everything stops for me—time, the air around us, the traffic in the street.

Even my heartbeat.

For this blissful moment, with his fingers buried in my hair, with his other arm crushing me to him as he tries to control himself, I see a different Cage than ever before and…

My mind fizzles out as he suddenly scoops me into an unrestrained kiss. No thoughts about him telling me to go away, no worries about how I’m falling for him too hard and too fast…there’s only a blank euphoria closing in on me. His kiss isn’t as commanding as it was yesterday when he first seduced me. It isn’t tender, either. It’s somewhere between desperate and demanding, and as I lose my balance, he catches me again, pressing tinier kisses to the corner of my lips, my cheek, my temple.

Confused and dizzy, I only grasp at his jacket, because I don’t think I can stand up anymore.

He holds me, then presses his lips against my head. “I want you to stay.”

“But—”

“You’re killing me, Karini. I don’t know what the hell to do with you. All I know is that you’re already in my blood, goddammit, and I don’t want you to be.”

I hear that darkness in his voice, and I can imagine that it’s in his eyes. But the truth is that he’s already my addiction, too, and as he cradles me, I bury my face in the crook of his shoulder and neck. He smells so good, like skin and soap, and little by little, I become aware that we’re standing outside where cars are clogging the city street and people are walking by. They’re staring. Someone whistles from a passing bike.

Reality filters in as I whisper, “You’re going to be recognized.” But I don’t want this moment to end. I don’t want anything to take this away from me.

At my comment, the muscles of his back tense under my hands, and I know what he must be thinking—that New York expects him to be their gossip-column Romeo, and that’s the reason he could lose a business deal with Igor Vasiliev. Or maybe he’s thinking about how he constantly mows through all his women, and I’m just the next one in line.

In the end, I have no idea what he’s thinking, and maybe I never will.

But as he pulls away from me, I realize that, somehow, I’m the only woman he sees right now. For some reason, I’ve got him in the palm of my hand, and I have no idea how that even happened. It’s almost as if he’s falling for me as quickly as I’m falling for him.

Hah. Me, a Jane. A plain girl no one would have any reason to notice in a crowd, nothing special. I’ve got to be delusional.

Even so, at his possessive look, a sense of power steals over me, and I speak before I think. “I’m sick of you jerking me around, you know.”

I expect a flash of anger, but he only keeps looking down at me. Then he strokes my cheek. “I meant what I said. I want you to stay.”

“Then why did you tell me this isn’t working out?”

He drops his hand from my face but still keeps a hold of my shoulders. “I’m just under a great deal of stress, Karini. Do you understand?”

I tilt my head, trying to read him, and I finally see why he could be so stressed out. “The possible deal with Igor Vasiliev,” I say.

He smiles slightly, and even though the smile is barely there, it warms my heart that at least I understand this much about him.

Maybe, after he takes me back to his home, I’ll get to understand so much more.

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