Page 71 of All We Need

There’s no need to check who it is. “Goback to the party.”

“No,”Boothresponds immediately, voice tense.

“No?”Ilaugh, and hang my head in exasperation, my back to him. “I’msureHarrietis looking for you.Don’tmake her wait.”

His returning chuckle is humorless. “You’reunbelievable.”

“I beg your pardon?”Iwhip my head over my shoulder.

“You heard me.”Hetakes one long stride forward, hand running along the shiny worktops. “Jealouslyis a new look for you, huh?Howdoes it feel?”

“You’re deluded.”Ibristle.Facinghim fully,Iignore his smug expression. “I’min no mood,Booth.”

Another step.

“What are you going to do, fire me?Triedthat once, and you went back on your word so fast,Igot motion sickness.”

My hands twitch with the need to wipe that smile off his face.

“You’re pushing your luck.Nowget out of my way.”Myanger simmers below the surface.

He holds his hands out to the side. “I’mnot stopping you.You’refree to go.Butanswer me this first.”

Slowly, he eats up the space between us, until the tips of myManolosbrush his boots.

“Spit it out.”Ihate that he sees right through me.Itmakes me feel weak.Predictable.Outof control.

“IfI’dkissed you at midnight, what would you have done?”

Spontaneously combusted.Meltedinto his embrace.Neverwanted it to stop.

“I wouldn’t have let it go that far,”Ilie.

His lips turn down and head cocks to the side. “Liar.”

“Imbecile.”

“Beg me.”

“Bite me.”

“Only if you ask nicely.”

The insults bounce back and forth, each pass filling the room with an electric energy.

Worried my next words will push us past the brink of no return,Isnap my mouth shut.Avertingmy gaze,Ilock eyes with the kitchen door and march past him.

I’m a foot away from freedom when strong hands encompass my waist and pull me flush to a firm chest.

I feel every hard plane of his body.Thebeating of his heart pulses all the way down to my toes.Alittle fight leaves me when he arranges my hair in his fist to coast his lips down the side of my throat.

“You wantmeto beg, is that it?Saythe word andI’lldrop to my knees right here.”Whenhis teeth skim my wild pulse, my legs threaten to buckle. “Iknow whatIwant,Alessandra, and it’s you.I’lltake anything.Once, twice, a hundred times—whatever you’ll give me.Denyit all you want, but knowing an ounce of you was jealous is a highIcan’t come down from.”

My hips push back, all sense lost when his cock nestles against my ass.Hissing, he buries his face in my neck, hands skimming up my rib cage until his thumbs brush the underside of my breasts.

“ShouldIhave reason to be jealous?”Theremaining rational part of my brain asks.

“If you had asked, you would knowHarryis one of my best friends.Wedated in high school, swapped virginities, and that was it.Nothingclose to romantic since we were seventeen.”Hiscandor is obvious, andIflush at my overreaction.

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