Page 21 of Mine

I was tired of being perfect.

I wanted to be ruined. There were so many things I’d missed out on sexually, I was certain of it. Maybe Salt could show me things I hadn’t experienced. I wanted to find out, even though it was a bad idea.

The temptation was too great.

But, I still tried to put up a fight. “You’re potentially signing with my label. You’re nothing like me.”

“I don’t want you to sign me,” he bit back. “You didn’t like my music?—”

“That’s not true,” I gasped. It wasn’t true at all. His music had made me lose my fucking mind. “Your music was good, Salt. I’m not just saying that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have told Tommy to set a meeting with you next week.”

He shook his head at me. “No. You didn’t get it.”

My temper reared its ugly head and I grabbed his jaw, noting the way his nostrils flared at my sudden touch. “You’re a goddamn incubus,” I growled. “Yourmusicmade me want to come in front of god and everyone. It made me want to lose everything. It wasdangerous.”

He braced his forearm above me against the wall, his very presence swallowing me whole. “You wouldn’t survive my appetite.”

I glowered. “Why wouldn’t I? I’m older than you. More experienced, right?”

His laugh was brutal and abrupt. “Do you know what an incubus feeds off of?”

My breath caught.

“Say it,” he whispered. “Say the word. It must feel so dirty on those perfect lips.”

“Sex,” I snapped. “Sexisn’t a dirty word. I’m not a prude.”

Another teasing smile pricked like a thorn. “Then why did every muscle in your body tense?Sex. Is that what you want, Pepper? Do you want sex? Do you want to be fucked? Does your pussy crave a cock that’ll make her weep?”

I stared at him. I was lost. I was so lost in him. Who was this stranger? This singer? Thisdemon?

“Answer me.”

What am I doing?“My…” I trailed off, swallowing down the burn in my throat. “My ex-husband never enjoyed sex with me. I thought there was something wrong with me. I just want to know if there’s something wrong with me? Maybe I’m bad at this?—”

His eyes immediately softened. Fuck, I hated that look. Everyone always looked at me like that when they found out Jeff left me, or in this case, that our long marriage wasn’t satisfying in the way it should have been. I shook my head, shoving him away hard enough that he took a step back.

“Don’t pity me. Don’t look at me like that. This was stupid, this was?—”

“Pepper.Stop.”

Another command. One that made me freeze in place, unable to look at him. The doors to my building were only a few feet away. I could go in, go upstairs, and never see him again.

I could end this before it even started.

“Look at me.”

I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to be seen. If he looked at me right now, I’d shatter. I’d break. And I couldn’t break. I wasn’t breakable, I wasn’t?—

“Look at me, Pepper. Right now.”

I shivered, then finally looked at him. He stood so close again, his entire presence sucking me in.

“I haven’t wanted to fuck someone this badly in my entire life,” he whispered. “So you’re not doing anything wrong. I want you. I want your submission.”

I frowned. “I’m not?—”

“I mean in the bedroom,” he corrected. “Outside the bedroom, I doubt anyone could truly tell you what to do. But behind closed doors, in my arms, vulnerable.Needy.”

---