Page 25 of Relentless (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 2)

Her response is nothing but an annoyed grunt while she continues to watch.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“You are talking to me,” she replies deadpan.

“Privately?” She doesn’t move a muscle at my plea. “Please?”

“Oh, did the mighty Titan Levi Marsh deign ask me politely?” she says with her voice dripping sarcasm so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“I did. I’ll drop to my knees, too, if you don’t come with me now.” I lean in and whisper in her ear, “You would definitely like that.” I let my lips brush the shell of her ear and give myself a mental fist bump when I notice the little shiver she does. She still wants me. I can work with that.

She stares me down for another minute, but when I start to bend my knees, she grabs me by the arm and yanks me toward the pool house. “Fine. You win, come on.”

We walk around the back where we’re blocked on three sides by the pool house and a row of hedges.

“What?” She spins and slaps her hands on her hips, tilting her head back because I have a solid foot on her and I’m standing close.

“You snuck out this morning and avoided me all day.”

“I wasn’t avoiding you,” she rolls her eyes. “We agreed it was a one-night thing one time, scratching an itch.”

“Ummm, no.” I shake my head. “I said give me one night. At no point did I say it would be a one-time thing.”

“Semantics.” She takes a step away from me. I’m not having that, so I wrap one of my hands around her waist. “Don’t touch me, someone might see us.”

“No one can see us, and even if they did, it’s none of their business.” I pull her sunglasses off, so I can see her eyes. “Did you not like last night?”

“Obviously.” Her eyes get watery, and she blinks the tears away. “It doesn’t matter though. I have enough to deal with when Mom is on me about everything I do, everything I eat, everything I wear. I cannot risk this happening and her finding out. Or worse, my dad who would freak the fuck out and probably send me to boarding school in a different country or something.”

“I’ll be your buffer.”

“You can’t be.” A tear slips free from her pretty eyes, and I wipe it with my thumb. She gives in for a second and rests her cheek in my palm. “It’s friends or nothing right now.”

The only thing holding my heart together is her addition of ‘right now’ to that statement. “Then I’ll take you however I can get you. For now.”

She wraps her arms around my waist and holds me tight. “Thank you.”

“You really like Oliver?”

“I could, maybe. He’s been kind so far.” She says while we’re still holding each other.

“If that changes, I want you to tell me, okay?” I will kick his ass. “And I want twice-a-month movie nights with you. They don’t have to end like last night, but I want that time with you. And you wear my jersey for every game.”

“I can do that.”

“One last kiss?”

She nods after a quick scan to make sure we’re still alone and rises onto her toes. Her lips meet mine and immediately part. I bend and lift her by the thighs because if this is the last taste of her I’m going to get,for now,it’s going to be the only thing she thinks about. Every time she kisses Oliver, I want her to think about me, my hands on her body, my tongue gliding against hers, my teeth sinking into her lips, and my dick grinding against her perfect little pussy. I lock this feeling, this memory, away, so I can reach it for it whenever I need. We stay connected, feeding off each other until a crash inside the pool house startles us, and she pulls away.

Her eyes are a dark, swirling steel gray with the pupils blown out with desire. I’m sure I look just as intense. She swipes her thumb against my lips to remove her lip gloss and then does her own. She starts to walk away but stops when I call out to her.

“Ives,” I adjust my cock, “we’re not over. Not even close.”

She nods and walks around the corner, without looking back.

9

IVY

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