Page 185 of Never Die for a Sinner
He winks at me across the room, where he’s speaking with Christian and Paulina. Neither of them seems to notice that his eyes haven’t left me for the last twenty minutes.
As if he knows I’m thinking about what he did to me in the shower earlier, his gaze travels over my body, down the emerald green silk of the dress he picked out. I’m sure it cost a fortune,and I’ve been wary of getting even a speck of dirt on it the entire night.
Heat travels through my blood. It’s insane. I just came three times this afternoon, and yet, I want him again. I always want him. It’s like my libido is on steroids, and nothing can satiate the hunger burning inside me.
Shifting nervously from foot to foot, I turn away, my cheeks hot to the touch. I’m trying to pay attention to what Bella and Mila are saying. I just can’t. It seems I can’t focus on anything other than what I want Levi to do to me, and it’s turning out to be a real problem.
It’s Oak Ridge’s Annual Christmas Party, and the ballroom is packed. Crowded with wealthy guests who spend their holidays here.
Bella and Mila did a phenomenal job. I just don’t think large parties are for me. Especially surrounded by enough wealth to purchase the state of Washington.
I sip my champagne and mingle. Do my best to ignore Levi Cross staring me down across the room, but it’s no use. I’m enthralled with him. Like we’re two magnets drawn together.
Life has been . . . strange. It’s been a week since I was chased, and a week of constant whiplash. One moment, he’s laughing or fucking me. The next, he’s quiet, lost in thoughts he refuses to clue me in on.
I can’t escape the feeling that he’s hiding something from me. Something about my past that he doesn’t want me to know. I don’t want to believe that he could be lying.
—I’m also realistic.
Even if I’m falling for him, he’s still hiding a piece of himself, and I’m struggling to decide if I’m willing to accept him without that missing piece or if I need it all.
I’ve never been in love. To me, love is accepting another person for all their flaws. Every negative characteristic. Every curse or sin. It’s trusting someone to love you so completely that you can show the ugliest parts of yourselves, knowing they’ll take those parts and make them beautiful.
With each passing day, I find myself wondering what could have happened to make him shut the world out. If he’ll ever really let me in, or if we’ll continue this song and dance for the rest of our lives until one of us gives in or ends the contract.
Something tells me it won’t take long.
His gaze finds mine across the room, and I can’t fight the longing in my chest to go to him. I want to be by his side, on his arm. We’ve spent most of the evening together, but it’s not enough.
I want to be in his bed with him on top of me, making me come until I can’t remember my name.
Holding his gaze, I look back at his sister and Mila.
Then, I start heading for the back hall of the lodge.
I’m only out of sight for a second when I feel his presence.
“Miss me, baby girl?”
I don’t answer him, instead, turning and raising to my tiptoes before crushing my lips to his. He groans, his hands instantly coming to my hips before slipping lower to cup my ass. His tongue collides with mine, and he pushes me back into the wall like he doesn’t give a single fuck about where we are or who could see us.
“Fuck sweetheart,” he rasps against my neck.
“I want you,” I breathe, my head falling back to give him more access when he sucks on the pulse point below my ear. It feels so good that the heat already rushing through my veins turns to a full-on ache.
“Thought we were going to wait until tonight? Make it last?”
I shake my head, reaching between us to cup him through his pants. He hisses out a curse under his breath when I find him long and hard.
“I don’t want to wait,” I breathe, nipping the scar on his lip when he lifts his mouth back to mine.
His gaze searches mine for a moment, almost sinister. Like he’s captured heaven in the palm of his hands and now he’s planning to ruin it for anyone but himself.
In a lot of ways, he already has.
“You’re dangerous, Ava Lynn,” he mutters gruffly.
My stomach bottoms out at his words, my body hot and feverish. This is absolute madness, but I blame him for my lack of self-control where he’s concerned.
