‘What exactly isthis?’
 
 ‘Raise your leg over my hip,’ he whispered, brushing his mouth on mine, so unhurriedly that the gesture seemed somehow seductive.
 
 ‘Noooo,’ I whispered back.
 
 ‘Yesssss,’ that devilish smile that wouldn’t let me get away, squeezing a hand beneath my thighs and spreading them apart so I could get my leg on top of his. ‘Just stay still and no one will know.’
 
 I thought it wasn’t about standing still. Besides ‘I don’t want you to be like them,’ I buried my head against his chest hoping I could get him to empathize. Not that he had a heart to empathize with.
 
 ‘It’s not about me being in any way. It’s about the adrenaline.’ I could feel him unzipping his pants and freeing his erection, so eager that it seemed to be poking me in the stomach. ‘You won’t find this kind of thrill anywhere else,’ he drove his fingers to grind on my silky skin which seemed to be in the exact same stage he’d left it that morning. Aroused. Sensitive. And fucking drenched.
 
 He let a muffled groan out, finding out his devastating effect on me. And it seemed it worked both ways, ‘What the fuck did you do to me?’ He sounded somewhat annoyed but resigned, chewing on my bottom lip.
 
 I raised my eyes to drown into his own while he slid his hand between my thighs again, reaching for my posterior so he could get me to fit his length. I froze, feeling again that all eyes were on me. My lips stopped working and my body suddenly became rigid.
 
 ‘It’s ok. It’s ok, Bea. Just relax. No one is going to know.’ Maybe he was right because he was barely moving, but hot beads of sweat were making room on my forehead. I nestled my head into his chest, pretending to be asleep. That was the best I could do, since continuing kissing him would draw even more attention.
 
 For some reason, he felt enlarged. Maybe it was just because of the almost nonexistent motion, allowing me to feel every vein probing at my walls. I was all too aware of everything surrounding us, and at the same time careless about everything else. He had succeeded to entrap me in his moment, melting his lips on top of my head while moving as gently as he was breathing.
 
 ‘You’re fucking beautiful Mouse, did you know that?’
 
 I wanted to scream because of his words. Because they didn’t hide anything false within them. That wasn’t a lie. He didn’t need any lies to get me to submit to him. He was just stating the truth as he saw it. And the fact that he could be so gentle yet so ruthless when it came to what I wanted, was making me understand he was never going to change.
 
 In a way, I wanted to feel some discomfort. To stop the hushed moans that were echoing against his chest as I felt him twitch within me. I thought it would be impossible to find ecstasy at that rhythm, but a spasm crept up on me. It was his presence combined with the adrenaline. And then those damn fingers. The fingers that began moving against my clit.
 
 ‘No,’ I arched against his hand to catch it between our pelvises. The action did more harm than good since the fingers began moving faster and he rearranged himself, pushing deeper within.
 
 ‘Shush,’ he kissed the top of my head again, driving his fingers into a vicious assault stronger and stronger, faster and faster until that twitching sensation ripped through me, contracting my core so hard that I could hear his throat vibrating with a roar. He needed just a couple of deep pushes to cum. Thrusts that had me biting his shirt, trying to keep quiet.
 
 At that moment, I perfectly understood why he was seeking— the thrill. The outstanding adrenaline awakening your senses, multiplying the sensations and bringing them to a boundary where they almost become impossible to handle.
 
 ‘Christ, that felt so fucking good,’ he whispered, continuing to kiss the top of my head. ‘You ok?’ His hand snuck under my chin, trying to get me to look at him.
 
 I wasn’t okay.
 
 I was disappointed with him but mostly, in myself. Of who I’d become, enjoying something so fundamentally wrong.
 
 ‘Why do you even care?’ I broke all eye contact, turning my back on him. ‘Zip up, I have to use the bathroom.’
 
 I left as soon as I felt him rearrange himself, rushing to the ladies room. I couldn’t breathe. I felt like the whole world was choking me, refusing to accept that I could somehow integrate into their madness.
 
 ‘Hey, where are you going? You look like you’re about to faint,’ Irina snuck up on me just when I finished cleaning myself up and I was leaving the bathroom.
 
 ‘How do you do this!? All of this?’ I asked. I needed to know what made things work for her.
 
 ‘Simple. I never sayno. Makes everything a hell of a lot easier,’ she arched her plump lips into a smile.
 
 ‘Leave,’ a harsh tone made her evaporate as her presence was replaced by Camden’s.
 
 The guy owned all the good looks in the book, gorgeous to all people’s opinion, yet hiding something so diabolical that it was making my body churn. ‘Next time, I might join you on that couch,’ he grinned.
 
 Fuck, he knew!
 
 My cheeks were about to explode with shame and the swearing addressed to Cole began pouring in.
 
 ‘If you ever want to hang out with the big boys, you know where to find me.’ He winked, implying exactly what I thought he did, as I almost ran away from the bathroom.
 
 I went straight outside to catch my breath and cool down, but Cole managed to track me down before I even got a chance to realize how freezing cold it really was on the porch.