Page 46 of Reckless Temptation

She shook her head, scowling deeply. “No. Now. Here.”

Fuck, she didn’t know what she was asking for. If I approached Sabrina again tonight, I wasn’t sure how it would end up. The most burning question and most urgent unfinished business I had with her was the fact that she hadn’t kissed me back. That she’d clung to her morals or ethics or whatever she ruled by. Telling menoand fighting a dying battle of keeping me away from her… Well, that only ensured that I wanted her more.

“Never mind.” She gritted her teeth. “I’ll handle it. If her car is outside the perimeter fence, anything could ‘happen’ to it.”

Haven’t you done enough for one day? Isn’t she suffering already?

“Tiff—”

“Don’t call me that.”

“What the hell are you going to do?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t think that I was starting to get concerned about the girl she instructed me to ruin.

“I’ll have her car towed. Then she’ll have to walk home in the storm that’s coming.” She smiled and nodded once, as if to confirm her plans with herself.

Goddammit.

“Tiff—”

She narrowed her eyes at me before spinning on her heel and hurrying out of the room.

I rubbed my hand over my face, peeved and worried. Sabrina had already gone through hell to get here, and now she’d have to, what, walk home?

Warring between this nagging need to protect Sabrina and also bring her down enough that my stepsister would be satisfied, I paced in the room and debated what to do. I couldn’t stand around and let her walk all the way home, not in her condition and without food. But I wasn’t confident about controlling myself around her if I approached her again.

Things were too tense now. The air felt raw between us, like the electricity coursing from us would spark so hot that we’d catch on fire.

Deep down, that possessive need to be near her kicked in.

She wasn’t walking home, not when I was around.

Yet, I knew that the second I found her in the house, she would put me on the spot and demand to know why I was here.

Fuck it all.

I hurried out of the room and sought her out.

George and the other professors were still talking to a few students in the dining room, but Sabrina wasn’t there.

I turned, whipping my head around to face the front door. And I caught a glimpse of her exiting.

Running after her, I gave chase. The drive from the circle in front of the house stretched long and far to the main gate that had been left locked and barring her from driving up close. She wouldn’t slip away that quickly. It was more than a couple of minutes of a walk, even for someone who wasn’t hungry and tired from a long day of trying to make a car run again.

Twenty yards from the front steps, she picked up her pace. She had to have heard me running after her, just knowing it would be me. So, I hurried to sprint and close the distance between us. How she could run in those heels was beyond me, but I didn’t care. If she wanted to try to get away from me, it would only make me chase harder and faster.

“No, Nick.”

I reached out for her, grabbing her hand as she pumped her arms to get away. We weren’t anywhere near the side of the mansion where the dining room was located. If someone was watching out the windows, we had adequate distance between us that no one would see through the trees placed along the drive.

Now that I had her, she stopped. Skidding to a halt, she wrenched her arm to free it from my grasp.

“Wait.”

“No, I want nothing to do with you!”

I pulled on her hand, whirling her around to face me. Using too much force, I practically hauled her against me. She crashed against my chest and let out a harsh breath at the sudden impact. But as soon as she could get her grounding, she jerked to evade me.

“Sabrina—”

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