Page 14 of Phantom Mine

Wrong thing to say.

“Can I get up now?” I try.

“No,” he grunts in response. “In fact, you should get used to being on your knees for me.”

My mind bristles at the suggestive tone he uses. My body, however, leans into his touch as the hand at my neck moves, the backs of his fingers trailing gently down the column of my throat to my collarbone. My breath hitches when they move further down still, brushing softly over the cording. He doesn’t touch my skin but goosebumps still erupt across my breasts at his closeness.

His eyes follow the journey his fingers take, his gaze hooding when he notices the way my flesh raises at the mere suggestion of his caress.

“Take it off,” he orders hoarsely.

“W-what?” I stutter, sure I’ve misheard him.

He curls a finger through the loop holding the cording together, gaze intently fixed on my chest.

“If you want to dance here, take this off and show me.”

A finger slips beneath the cording and traces the valley between my breasts. It’s barely the ghost of a touch but I gasp.

His eyes jerk back up to mine at the erotic sound. His pupils expand slowly as his eyes turn heavy. The look on his face is so viciously carnal, it’s almost impossible to keep the contact going. Something tells me that if I look away, he’ll snap.

As it is, I’m not certain that he won’t pounce once I start stripping.

My breathing grows shallow, the air thinning with every taut, passing second. I’m still kneeling on the stage and he stands in front of it, towering over me. We seem frozen in a moment in time, our gazes locked together, waiting for me to make a decision.

Tired of waiting, he makes it for me.

His finger trails back up the valley of my breasts, drawing a rattled breath from my lips in the process.

Something dark and unidentifiable stirs behind my ribcage at the way his face contracts with lust.

His hand journeys to my shoulder where his finger hooks underneath the top edge of my bodysuit’s sleeve.

He watches me with eyes that miss nothing as he slowly starts to drag the fabric over the rounded slope of my shoulder. It stretches tautly. Like a living metaphor for the tension between us, I fear it’s about to snap. His eyes never move from their intense examination of my face as he pulls it down my upper arm.

My heart is thumping so high in my throat, I’m afraid it’s going to beat right out of my mouth and fall to the floor between us.

If I don’t stop him soon, he’s going to bring the fabric down low enough that my breast will fall out.

My lips part and he pauses but I…

I say nothing.

His eyes turn pitch black and I see it in his gaze. He’s going to lunge for me. He’s going to pin me to the floor and fuck me senseless. He’s going to shove his tongue between my lips and between my l—

“Boss.”

The stranger stiffens, his face shadowing and his jaw locking. He releases me and shoves his hands in his pockets, my hair unraveling slowly from around his fist and falling in waves around my shoulders. And then he breaks our eye contact, looking over his shoulder at whoever interrupted us. He steps away, adding distance between us.

Immediately, it’s like a spell is broken. I sag in relief, my heart racing. All of a sudden, my thoughts – mysanity– comerushing back in and the horror of what I almost let happen washes over me.

I think the men exchange words, but I don’t hear them. There’s a sick feeling in my belly, one that rivals the still cooling lust, and I lean forward, holding my weight on my palms.

How do I keep failing Adriana at every turn?

The stranger turns back towards me, his eyes catching on my half lowered sleeve. When he pulls it back up into its original position, I flinch.

I don’t need to glance at his face to know he’s not happy with my reaction.

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