Page 20 of Wicked Games We Play

His words were harsher than they’d ever been, and I was conflicted with how I felt about that. “You don’t have to be so… so…”

“Amazing and everything you’ve ever wanted?” He smirked, grinding his hips against mine. His lips brushed against the side of my neck and I could feel my knees grow weak. I was so aroused—my pussy throbbed, begging for attention.

I turned my head, inhaling deeply. “No! So crude and hard.”

“You like it when I’m hard,” he chuckled, brushing his knuckles against my cheek before tucking a loose piece of hair behind my ear.

“Ugh! That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You’re… intense. Possessive. Like the men in my freaking romance books.” I tried to push him away, but he was too strong, and did I really want the distance between us, anyway? A whimper escaped my lips as I felt the heat of his tongue trail up the side of my neck, stopping in the soft valley behind my ear.

“And tell me that’s not what you want in a man?” Noah whispered, pulling my earlobe into his mouth with his teeth.

“It’s not!” I shrieked, my voice cracking, knowing that I was lying to myself. Placing both hands on Noah’s chest, I gave him a small shove to back him up, knowing that I was wasting time when I should have been driving toward my date.

My date with a very attractive man, who would likely be very forgettable.

Oliver was thirty-two and an investment banker who lived in Ridgewood with his dog. He loved to hike and have family barbecues; he had a few nieces and nephews, and his parents still lived nearby in the retirement community on the outskirts of town. That was the extent of my knowledge of Oliver—we had only been talking for a couple of days. He wasn’t anyone that I would actually want to pursue anything with, but a date or two and some no-strings attached sex sounded like exactly what I needed.

“I beg to differ, Lily. My brashness turns you on.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep better at night,” I quipped. Noah continued to stare at me, a smirk pulling on his lips. My eyes followed the movement, and without meaning to, my tongue darted out to wet my own.

He dipped his head, pressing his forehead against mine. “Reach under your skirt and dip your finger into that sweet wetness then, Lily. Show me I don’t turn you on just the way I am. You don’t want soft and agreeable. Youhadthat. So tell me, just how wet did you get for him? How wet will you get forthis guyyou’re about to meet? Go ahead. Let’s see just how slick you are for me right now and then you can compare my effect on you to the effect of other men.”

His words shouldn’t have shocked me, but still they somehow took me by surprise. “That’s not fair,” I snapped. “I did what I had to do for my son, and that was by staying in my marriage. I won’t compare apples and oranges. Besides—” I pushed my manicured finger into his chest. “You’re not my anything, so it doesn’t matter.”

He roared a laugh and spun me effortlessly and pinned my front against my white SUV, his large hand holding both of my wrists. His breath was against my ear again, sending chills through me with his whispers. “We’ll see about that. Why don’t you stop playing these games, Lily, and just admit to yourself that you want me just as much as I want you?”

“Because, dammit, I have no interest in being anyone’s girlfriend.”

“That’s the thing, Lils. I don’t want to just make you my girlfriend. One day, I will make you my wife. So go ahead, take more time, my beautiful flower, because you and I will be together whether it be now or later.” A cool metal wrapped around each of my wrists, and I went still as the bite of handcuffs sliced into my skin, the click of them engaging, making me bite my cheek.

“Whatever happened to courtship?” I hissed. “Do you really think this is the way to win me over? Youtellingme that I’ll be yours and putting me in handcuffs?”

He roared with laughter, his hand letting go of my now cuffed wrists and snaked around to the top of my skirt. Placing his palm against my stomach, he pulled me closer.

My hands had no choice but to rub against his length, and I fought the urge to grab it and twist to cause some pain.

“Courted? You want to be courted? Baby, you lost the chance to be courted when you picked another man over me ten years ago.” The bitterness rolled off his tongue and realization hit me like a ton of bricks; he was still angry with me from all those years ago.

Were our games just a way for him to get back at me for closing the door on him back when we were teenagers? Was this all just pent-up teenage angst? It was feeling that way, and I wasn’t sure this was a game that I could stand to play for much longer.

It was getting hurtful. Messy. I didn’t like this version of our games at all.

CHAPTERELEVEN

“You never really wanted me anyway, Noah. What you liked was the chase and now that you’re able to chase me again, that’s what you’re doing. It’s never been about me,” she seethed, her blue eyes darkening as she turned to look at me behind her shoulder.

“Never been about you,” I said with a tinge of bitterness, the words tasting sour on my tongue. I nodded slowly. “Right.”

She eyed me with skepticism, her eyes growing so heated with fire that I debated on throwing her in my unmarked SUV and taking her to go grab some marshmallows and chocolate. Finally, she looked away, thrashing her wrists against the cuffs as she spat, “See what I mean! You don’t even try to deny it. Fuck this Noah, fuck you.”

I laughed, loving that she was making it so easy to bait her, too. Once I realized she was serious about going on a date tonight, I needed to rein in my feelings. I knew she could see my sadness by the way she hesitated when I asked her if she was seriously going on a date. I quickly masked that emotion with another game of push and pull, and right now she was giving me the ammunition to spin her words into a glossed over humor.

“Gladly, baby. You want it here, or should we go back to my place?” Running my hand down her arm, I watched her skin pebble beneath my touch. The way her body responded to me showed me how much I affected her.

“Take these handcuffs off, Noah. You can’t arrest me. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I’m not arresting you, Flower. I’m simply reminding you. You will never not be mine,” I told her, peeling my body off of hers. She turned around slowly, and I swept my eyes over her entire body appreciatively while she spun in place. The way her thighs pressed together beneath that sexy as fuck tight skirt she had on had me stifling a groan.

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