Page 70 of Under Pressure

This will be the last time. I can’t compartmentalize it, can’t pretend it’s only a physical thing. Not with the way she’s looking at me. Not with the way I fear I’m gazing right back at her, my breath catching at how she seems to see right through me, able to tell what’s going on inside, even if I don’t fully understand it myself.

I kiss her so I don’t have to look at her, but this time is deeper than anything we’ve shared before, our mouths connected as intensely as our bodies. That familiar tingle races down my spine, signaling I’m close, but I hold it at bay, wanting to see if she’ll come twice for me.

I slide my hand in between us, finding her clit with my thumb, circling it carefully. She digs her heels into the mattress, bringing her hands to my shoulders to clutch at me, her low whimpers spurring me on.

I come first, groaning in her ear, unable to stop the rush of emotion that comes along with it. How soft she is pressed against me. How sweet her sighs sound. How goddamn amazing her pussy feels clenching me, drawing it out until I’ve poured everything into her. More than I was willing to give in the first place.

I pull out and continue to rub her clit, watching her face transform as her climax overtakes her, tears leaking out her eyes as she squeezes them shut, panting harshly. She blindly gropes for me, pulling me in close when she finds me, her shuddering breaths gradually easing.

I roll onto my back and she curls herself around me, my hand lazily playing in her hair.

“I’ve never felt so powerful,” she whispers. “So alive, almost out of my own body.”

She looks over at me as if she expects me to reciprocate, but I close my eyes, unable to say anything. To admit to her how much I liked it, crave something like that again, anything she wants to do to me. “You are powerful,” I tell her instead. She has too much power. Over me.

This is no longer a matter of sleeping with a girl to get her out of my system, the chase wearing off after I’ve caught her. Because I’m uncovering more sides to Mia every time I’m with her, surprised more at her tonight than any other. Who knew a seductress lies inside her? One that has me wanting more. So much more.

I unconsciously rub at my wrists where the tie rubbed at me before realizing what I’m doing, and wrap an arm around her as she snuggles more deeply into my side, her hand lying on my chest directly over my heart.

I soak the novel experience up while I can, basking in her presence, letting myself be weak for just a while longer. But this is it. I’ll continue to be her friend, but I can’t let her in like this again.

If I do, she’ll never leave.

Chapter Twenty

Mia

“Put more power behind it.You’re barely hitting me.” Tyler holds his hands up and motions for me to try it again.

I wipe the sweat out of my eye with the back of my forearm, narrowing my gaze at him. “You probably don’t feel it because all your nerve endings are dead in your hands from punching with no gloves.”

He grins briefly before returning his face to a neutral expression. “You said you wanted to box. I’m trying to help.”

I nod, raising my arms again, his words from our fight in the lab the other day running through my mind.I need to focus on my own stuff.

I appreciate him taking time to continue helping me, even though I insisted when we came here he was welcome to do his own thing.

I use as much force as I can to hit the mitt on his hand, pleased with myself as I knock it backwards, but all he says is, “You’re too slow bringing your arm back. You left yourself wide open for me to break through.”

“You know, I respond to positive reinforcement better than negative.” I smile sweetly, earning another brief grin.

“And you should know I don’t do positive reinforcement.”

“You did in bed last time,” I flirt playfully.

It doesn’t get the response I want, though. Instead, all emotion shuts down on his face.

I instantly step toward him. “Tyler—”

“Still having to fight girls?” that same guy from before drawls, coming upon us. With his shaved head, thick neck, and tattoos running down both arms, he sets me on edge. It’s more than just his appearance, though. It’s the energy he puts off, like he’s mad at the world and wants to take it out on anyone he can get his hands on.

Tyler can give off that same vibe sometimes, but with him it’s contained, reserved within him and under control. I’ve never feared for my safety around him.

Tyler gazes steadily at me, merely saying, “Not now, Erickson,” not even glancing his way.

The man blows out a breath, visibly annoyed, then turns to me. I instinctively shrink under his shrewd gaze, despite what Tyler said about not giving in to him. I know he’s a bully, but I can’t help how my body reacts. I’ve never done well with confrontation. Tyler seems to be the only one I can talk back to.

“And what about you?” Erickson asks me, his upper lip curling. “You think you’re some kind of boxer? Jenkins had to get permission for you to be here, like you’re something special.”

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