Page 29 of Monsters Wear Crowns
He watched me like a man who alreadyhadme. Like a man whoknewI wasn’t going anywhere. Not yet.
“You’re quiet,” he murmured, his tone edged with amusement. “I think that means you’re considering it.”
Iwas.
Because even as rage simmered beneath my skin, even as every rational part of me whispered that he was dangerous, that he waswrong, my body betrayed me. My skin burned beneath his touch. My stomach clenched at the way he spoke to me–like I was something he couldruinif I let him.
I wanted to know what it would feel like.
I exhaled slowly, tilting my chin up. “And if I am?”
Hunger flashed in his icy eyes. He leaned in, brushing his lips against my ear, just enough to send a slow, aching shiver down my spine and another pulse of need between my thighs.
“Then you’re smarter than I thought,” he murmured.
A quiet war waged inside me. Ihatedthat he had read those books. That he knew exactly what kind of darkness intrigued me. That he hadstudiedme. But…
I couldn’t deny his pull. The way my breath stopped when his fingers trailed lower, teasing the edge of my ribs. The way my blood pulsed violently when he dragged his lips down my jaw, just a breath away from my skin.
Goddammit.
“You think you know me,” I whispered, my voice steady even as my heart threatened to betray me.
His smirk was slow. “I do.”
My fingers curled against the desk behind me. “Then tell me–what am I going to do next?”
Rafe exhaled a quiet laugh, his hands suddenly gripping my waist as he turned me, shoving me back against the window. The cool glass was a shock compared to the heat between us.
“You,” he murmured, sliding a knee between mine, forcing me to feel just how closely he pressed against me. “Are going to let me show you.”
My breath stuttered. “You think I want you?” I challenged, but my voice had lost its bite.
Rafe reached up, dragging his thumb across my bottom lip, pressing just enough to make me gasp.
“Iknowyou do,” he murmured. “And you hate that you can’t stop yourself. You really loved my fingers inside you the other night.”
My mind spun, begging me to escape the danger standing before me. But I didn’t. Instead, I did something far,farworse.
I parted my lips, my tongue flicking out just enough to taste the tip of his thumb. It was instinct. A mistake. A moment of pure, reckless surrender. And I knew the second I did it that I hadlost.
Rafe inhaled sharply, his pupils darkening with something lethal. His fingers flexed against my waist, pressing me harder against the window.
“That’s what I thought,” he murmured, smug as sin.
I clenched my jaw. “Fuck you.”
His grin was razor-sharp. “Oh, sweet girl,” he breathed,tilting my head back,owningthe way I shivered beneath him. “You will.”
I choked down a whimper. Because there was something intoxicating about it–the way heknewwhat I wanted and saw right through every wall I had ever built. I tipped my head back against the glass, my breath shallow, my nails digging into his shirt as he pinned me there.
“Good girl,” Rafe murmured against my skin, his voice a dangerous caress. “Finally done fighting me?”
No.
Yes.
I didn’t know anymore.
