Page 12 of Under Pressure

But he had to be.

He retreated slightly, but the way she moaned his name onto his lips again drew him back in. He allowed himself one last chance to taste her, taste the ‘one that got away’. Feeling her tight waist matched by soft hips, he needed to squeeze her harder and harder until he made her scream. He knew he should stop before he lost it and he did just that.

“Please,” she pleaded, just as he liked. “Please… Matteo.”

Then he realized she was pushing him away. And using his Christian name was a sure-fire way to bring him to his senses. He gazed into her eyes and his assessment wasn’t good. She was still as pissed off as she’d ever been. In fact, it was worse. He’d stepped over the line.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kendra gasped, clearly at a loss. She blinked her big, blue eyes rapidly at him, likely in shock.

His mouth dropped as she pushed herself back on the chaise, clearly trying to process what he’d done. It was goddamn strange, but he couldn’t ignore how something in him felt stretched as she moved away and formed a chasm between them. He ran his gaze up and down the raw, natural beauty he’d thought about every day for a fucking year, wondering what the hell had just come over him and where he’d lost control.

“Well?” Kendra pressed, folding her arms protectively once again as she sat in front of him, pert and stubborn.

“Well, what?”

She narrowed her eyes on him, waiting for his response. It was clear that she wasn’t willing to play games anymore. He bit into the inside his cheek, self-punishing. How the fuck had he ever landed her? She was so damn analytical, so damn smart.

And I’m just a fucking idiot.

“I didn’t plan that.” Delta straightened his back, compartmentalizing.

“Yeah, sure—I wasn’t born yesterday. How the fuck do I know it wasn’t you who ran me off the road, just to have a chance to play the hero role?”

Fury flushed to the tip of his tongue, but he held back. He flexed every muscle in his body, controlling his response, and chose to pivot the conversation. He threw out the olive branch, deciding he had to do something.

“Let’s cut a deal.”

Taken aback, she darted her eyes back and forth across his face, a wrinkle appearing between her brows.

“A deal?”

“I’ll watch out for you until we can figure out what the hell happened tonight with the car,” he offered, knowing full well who was going to benefit more from the situation.

“And in return?” she reacted, searching him for the second shoe to drop. “You’ll stay the fuck away?”

Christ. That was a damn good question. He clenched his teeth so hard they hurt, reeling in her contempt. He tried to answer in the affirmative that she’d requested but couldn’t. Staying away was no longer an option, at least for the short term.

With his silence, she then tilted her head, adding, “So, what do you want in return?”

“To teach you a lesson.”

“Always so selfless, Matteo. A veritable knight in shining armor.”

Dismissing him, she snapped her eyebrows together disapprovingly. She then simply shook her head, obviously bitter as hell. His muscles involuntarily flinched with her slight, driving a blaze of pain up his scar.

Without thinking, he grabbed her arm, yanking her into him and threatening to kiss her again if she kept it up. He welcomed the seeming fear spreading across her face—the fear that he’d do something neither of them could stop. It was a barbaric tactic, but the way she made him feel caused him to do those kinds of things.

It drove him wild to know that he could turn her on just as much as she could him. When he gripped her harder, she blinked rapidly, her eyelashes flickering and biting her lip. He let himself breathe her in. She was so much more than she ever gave herself credit for, he thought, as he absorbed every last freckle on her sun-kissed nose.

“You can’t do this alone,” he concluded. “You know you can’t.”

“I can”—she pulled back, snarling—“and you’d better get it straight. I don’t want your lecture. I don’t like you. And you are not welcome in my life.”

She made to stand, wobbling and struggling to catch her balance on her feet. He lunged, reflexively reaching, gripping her waist to prevent her from falling face first onto her patio stones.

“For fuck’s sake, Kendra.”

Of course, she irritably pushed him away, a fraught cry escaping her throat. She was clearly desperate to be on her own two feet—to be alone. He heard that as he watched her stumble toward her back door. His mind running at a thousand miles per second, he accepted that he couldn’t let her handle things alone. He’d seen enough in one day to trigger deep concern.

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