Page 39 of Worth the Trouble

Wrapping her long hair around my fist, I tug on it, tilting her head so I can bring my mouth to her ear. “My world would eat you alive.Iwould eat you alive. Whatever you’re looking for, I won’t be the one to give it to you.”

“Try me,” she says with a dark smile.

“Want to know something real?” I can’t help but chuckle. “How about this—Want to know why I haven’t fucked you yet? Because all it would take is one time for me to get you out of my system. And even an asshole like me knows you’re a girl who deserves more than that. I’m not a good guy. I don’t stick around. I don’t feel guilt, and I don’t look back.”

I release my grip on her hair and feel her body tense, either from my cruel statement or the fact that my fingers are digging into the soft flesh of her thigh. But she needs to know there’s nothing good left in me and to stop looking for it. There’s a reason I don’t do relationships. I’m vile, poisonous to a girl like her.

Her eyes close as she relaxes her head against my shoulder. “You really believe that?”

“I know it.”

She tips her face toward me once more, opening her eyes and digging her stare into my own. “I don’t need you to love me, Rome. There’s nothing left to love.”

Lili closes her eyes again and lets out the sweetest exhale as she tips her forehead to me and relaxes.

Nothing left to love?

Maybe I’ve had her wrong this entire time. Because while holding her feels like trying to contain an exploding universe in my palms, she sees herself as a shell of a person. And maybe that’s what draws us to each other when we both should know better. She’s the calm in the center of my storm, and I’m a hurricane raging hard enough for her to finally feel something.

“I’m fucked up,” I whisper, resting my chin on the top of her head.

She sighs. “I know.”

But it doesn’t make her pull away. Nothing seems to. My words, my world, my actions. She sees right through all of them and comes back for more.

“Touch me.” She tilts her hips, putting the pressure of my hand directly on her pussy. “Get it out of both of our systems.”

It’s a sad statement. Because I think if we were different people with different histories and different lives, it would change the ending inevitably laid out before us.

Lili releases my hand and slides it down to my thigh, holding me on either side like she’s handing herself over to me. It’s not a smart move, but I can’t help but be intoxicated by the pure innocence of it.

Drawing one of my hands up to her neck, I tip her chin up, so I can bury my nose in the sweet smell of her neck and feel her heart racing on my lips. I drag my fingers between her legs and put pressure on her pussy. She tries to lift her hips to meet me, but I hold her down, grinding her ass against my dick.

I feel like I’m going to rip free as her perfect ass cheeks rub against me. But I’m not going to let myself. I don’t lose control for a woman, and I’m not about to hand that power over to her. The wrecking is mine alone tonight.

I slide her panties to the side and drag my thumb over her slickness. Fuck, she’s hot and ready and begging for my touch.

“Open your eyes.” I grip her jaw and force her gaze forward.

Her eyes go wide when they open, and she’s met with the sight of the now fully nude woman dancing on the stage like she forgot we weren’t alone.

“Should we….”

Her words cut off in a moan as I slip a finger into her. She’s tight. Her pussy shivers as she adjusts to my finger, and I roll my thumb over her clit.

I’m a selfish lover because I don’t give a fuck about the women I take to bed. But as I slide another finger into Lili and she loses her breath, I want to learn what makes every inch of her desperate.

“You like toying with the devil, sweetheart?” I whisper in her ear, slowing my thumb on her clit to torture her. “Good. Because angels like you are so much fun to mess up.”

“Rome.” My name is a beautiful moan it feels like she’s chasing.

“Spread your legs wider.”

She does, the slit to her dress falling open, and even if it’s dark, we both know the dancer can see what we’re doing from up on stage.

“Be a good girl and show her what I do to you.” I curl my fingers inside Lili’s pussy and her whole body shakes. “Show her what happens when you don’t run like I warned you to. Let her watch you get all hot and needy.”

“Yes.” Lili’s breaths quicken as my thumb moves over her.

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