Page 19 of Reckless Games

Adam is an enigma.

On the outside, he’s cold and closed off. He refuses to talk about himself or answer my questions. In bed, he’s a man in complete control. Unwavering and demanding. But standing here in the snow, with the whispers of mid-winter around us, something in his eyes edges on vulnerability. And I can’t figure out how it’s possible for his roughness to coexist with the hint of gentleness.

“Come on.” He laces his fingers through mine and pulls me along beside him.

From the corner of my eye, a flash of red catches my attention, and I look to see Stella in the arms of her boy toy, watching me with wide eyes.

She mouthsWhat?But I just shake my head and keep walking.

While Adam was busy with work, I’ve been hanging out with Stella, and I still haven’t mentioned Adam. Disappearing with him into the woods now, I know there’s no more avoiding it. The next time I see her I’m going to have to explain everything.

Most of the people out here don’t notice as he pulls me away. They’re too distracted with whatever they’re doing. But as we pass a man in a gray snowsuit, I feel his attention focused on me and Adam, and I wonder if Adam notices.

Something about Adam feels forbidden. It’s bad enough to play his holiday games without handing over complete control of myself and my body to him. But I can’t help it.

“Where are you taking me?” I ask as he pulls me into the tree line.

Something between a snowball fight and a party rages on in the clearing behind us, slowly fading in the distance as Adam pulls me into the cover of the forest. The pine trees cloak us from the sun, hiding us like the walls of Midnight Manor hide our sins.

And I aimlessly follow a man who could be the end of me into the depths of a dark forest.

When we reach a break in the trees, Adam spins me until he has me pinned against one of them.

His lips find the pulse at my throat, pushing the line of where my white winter coat has me bundled up. I try to grab at his jacket with my hands, but my gloves get in the way of my ability to handle his zipper.

Everything is in the way in this frozen forest.

But the heat of his mouth on my skin lights a campfire of warmth in the pit of me.

“Adam.”

“Yes, baby girl?” He continues kissing the path of my neck, his body pinning me against the tree.

His teeth nip at the soft skin between my neck and jaw, and I can’t help but moan. “I need you.”

A chuckle that tickles my neck escapes his lips as he drags them over me. The scruff on his jaw raking my bare skin and making me shiver.

“Such a naughty fucking girl beneath your sweetness.” He pulls back and spins me around until I’m facing the tree, pinning me against it.

My fingers dig against the tree trunk, fighting to find their grip. The roughness presses my cheek as Adam holds me in place.

“You’d like me to strip you naked right here and fuck you in the snow, wouldn’t you?” Adam runs his lips over the shell of my ear. “You’d like to come on my cock right now, even if you’d freeze to death in the process.”

I moan as his mouth grazes over my neck again. “Yes.”

“Then too bad, I’m not ready to let you go yet.”

I’m not sure what he’s holding onto. My body, my weakness for him, my vulnerability. Here in the silence of the snowy forest, I hand him all of it. And yet, he still holds me a fraction away.

“Spread your legs, baby girl.”

“But you said—”

“I’m not going to fuck you right now.” Adam trails his hands to my hips. “As much as I’d love to, I’m not joking. You’d freeze to death out here. And I can’t allow that to happen. But it doesn’t mean I can’t give you a little gift.”

He skims his hands down further, tapping my legs.

“Wider.”

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