Page 6 of Make Me, Break Me

Dex rubbed a scarred hand over his jaw. "They need to be taken down a rung."

My gaze shot up in an alarm, catching and holding his. "Don't get yourself into any trouble. I know you're bored as batshit with your coursework, but come on. Taking on a full team? As if you could do that."

No matter his skill level at whatever fighting game he played, if he touched one of the teams, he’d end up bleeding out on the ground in some remote location. The fight club rumors weren’t the only active ones on campus.

"Is that what you think?" He raised an eyebrow, a cocky little smirk decorating his stunning face.

That’s not playing fair.

"Even you aren’t that fucking stupid." Ignoring my twitching ovaries, I closed my eyes and kept walking for a few steps. My footfalls echoed on alone. I opened my eyes and pivoted. Dex had stopped a few paces behind me. "What's wrong?"

“This. Us.” His intense stare pierced me as he prowled forward, closing the distance between us.

My hands hit his chest right over his heart, the ridges of muscle evident beneath the fine black cotton button down shirt he wore. Always he dressed in black on black. It suited him far too well. Something else I was certain he was aware of. I took afull step backward in a hasty retreat before he stopped, looming over me. A predatory gleam full of sin and seduction lit his hooded gaze.

"What the hell are you doing?" I whispered. “We don’t fuck around during the week.”

We don’t do anything during the week.And sure as fuck never in front of anyone else.

My rules, my game. That’s how we played.

Until it looked like he wanted to change the rules.

Dex pinned me with a hard stare, the dark fire in his eyes present after his fight burning there now. "You don't have a clue what I'm capable of," he groused.

Before I could make a choice to move, his calloused, scarred hands closed around my hips, jerking me into him. His hard body crushed to mine, his mouth searing a path against my lips that ignited desire in me on command. Pleasure unfurled low in my belly as he kissed me like a starved man intent on his final meal. The insults, the banter—that was just how we played. But the moment his mouth touched mine, my defenses scattered. My hatred dissolved at the intimate contact and I sank into his touch, melting against him.

It was like he had trained my body to respond to his whim. And I hated that too, but I couldn't bring myself to do anything about him right now. Not with the way he held me to him—possessive, dangerous. Capable of everything he promised.

And I wanted more of him.

Shots of arousal trickled up my thighs, leaving me a hot, wet mess in the middle of the commons. As though reading my mind, Dex slid hand down my lower back and over the curve of my ass, pulling me into his erection that pressed through his jeans against my stomach.

"We don't do this, Dex," I panted into his mouth, trying to ignore the chatter around us.

They don’t care. We’re just another couple.

But while I sat low on the social ladder, Dex was the polar opposite—adored, emulated. Untouchable. He was never seen with anyone, not even at parties.

…Until right now.

I wanted to snap at him, call him for everything under the sun for destroying the camouflage I spent years putting into action to not be seen. Instead, I clung to his shirt and played with the buttons like I might flick each one open right there and spread my hands across the familiar inked skin canvas inside.

The world shrank to just us then expanded, my awareness of others potentially watching our public display unsettling me until I wanted to hide in his arms—and I refused to do that.

“I want more of you,” he grated the words against my lips, barely letting me up for air as I swallowed his.

My brow furrowed as I tried to follow his train of thought, too heady with his kisses to think straight. "What do you mean? Do you want a Wednesday night, too?"

He had to mean midweek. It couldn’t be any earlier, or his bruises and cuts would be right there on display, and he wouldn’t be able to deny fighting any longer.

He wouldn’t be able to lie to me, still.

I'd never seen anything as sexy or arousing as watching Dex in that cage, destroying the often much older and hardened fighters he took on. I watched him tear through each man who opposed him. He dropped them all and still had enough energy to rile the crowd into a frenzy afterward.

I'd gone home to a little frenzy of my own.

Dex breathed hard against my mouth until we were sharing the same breath. "This, us. I need to see you more than once a week. I want to take you out for dinner. Tonight. And next week. Cook breakfast for you in the morning." He pressed kisses alongmy jaw, nipped at the corner of my mouth until I moaned softly for him.

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