Page 131 of Never Die for a Sinner
“Why are you here, Levi? I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Seems you do. Or did you forget someone was following you?” He pauses, cocking his head to the side.
“Yeah,you,” I snap.
“Sweetheart, I don’t need to follow you when I can have you whenever I want you.”
In a flash, I toss my punch in his face.
In the split second after, even the crickets know to be quiet.
A predator’s on the loose.
It doesn’t even faze him. In fact, he grins, and it’s both the most terrifying and hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
The feral smile on his lips is enough to have me backing away when he stalks toward me. Unfortunately, I run right into a tree, effectively caging me in.
“Baby girl, what am I going to do with you?”
“I’m sorry,” I rush, flinching when he gets right in my face. He leans in, his hands on the tree on either side of my head, and try as I might, I can’t help but breathe him in.
“I don’t think you are,” he murmurs, his voice barely above a whisper. Heat slips through my veins as if he’d licked between my thighs, and warmth gathers in my core at the dark, low tenor of his voice. “I think you wanted to do that.”
“Just leave me alone,” I grit, and he smiles. It’s devastating.
“I can’t do that, Ava.”
“Why?” I scoff. “Because of a piece of paper? You could have any girl in the world, yet you’re terrorizing me. I do everything you ask, including forgoing any sense of moral dignity I had, and for what? For you to punish me for doing something I want to do for once?”
“Is that why you came here tonight? To piss me off? Did you want me to remind you of our contract?”
“Fuckthe contract,” I grit, tears burning in my eyes. “All you care about is that stupid contract. You’re so hot and cold it gives me whiplash. One minute, you make me feel like trash. The next, you’re storming in here, demanding I live and breathe for you. What do you want?”
He doesn’t respond, and a rush of anger washes over me. I shove at his chest, letting out a growl.
“What do youwant, Levi?”
Something briefly flashes across his face before it’s wiped away. I can’t place it, but it’s almost as if his gaze softened for a moment.
I know I must have imagined it. Levi Cross doesn’t know what guilt is.
“Did I hurt your feelings?” he asks, and despite myself, my chest aches at the mocking leer in his voice. “You want me to care, sweetheart? Is that it?”
“I don’t want anything from you,” I grit, though it feels like my heart’s going to beat out of my throat.
“You do.” He steps closer. A shiver slips through me at his proximity. “Want me to get down on my knees and show you how I worship you, Ava?”
I blink, closing my eyes when a tear slips out of the corner. “Stop.”
“Want me to go into that party and tell everyone you’remine?”
“Unless you’re getting your dick wet, I’m nothing more than a piece of trash, right? Let’s not act like you care.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he grins, his teeth glinting in the moonlight like a wild animal. “You’re going to wish you hadn’t said that.”
I open my mouth to argue back, but I don’t get the chance before he seals his lips over mine and steals my breath.
He tastes like the punch I threw at him, and the taste mixed with him is intoxicating. Despite myself, my body reacts to him. My hips press against his, silently begging him to touch me, right here, where anyone could see us.
