Page 43 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

I want to hate the way Lily smells and looks. I want to hate that she is in my car right now, and that I have to waste a perfectly good afternoon off from football practice driving her home.

But I don’t. I can’t.

“Why do you look like you’re constipated?”

I look over in surprise. She is staring at me, her lips parted slightly.

I consider lying. Telling her to fuck off and leaving her on the side of the road.

But I decide the truth might be more effective. If I want to tear down her innocent walls, giving her a peek into my depravity should do the trick.

“The thought of you in the shower made me hard,” I say coolly.

I glance down at my crotch and then readjust, trying to ease the tension.

Her eyes go wide as my excitement becomes obvious. After a few seconds, she turns away and stares through the windshield.

“You’re fucked up.”

“Understatement.”

Lily brushes her hair away from her face, gathering it in a bundle at the base of her neck, and takes a deep breath.

“What do you want from me, Finn?”

She never told me where she lived, so I’m driving aimlessly, barely paying attention to the roads.

I shrug. “Everything.”

Once again, the truth lands better than any lie ever could.

I want everything from Lily.

When I’m done, I don’t want there to be anything left.

Destruction. Wreckage. Ruin.

“What does that even mean?” She presses her closed fists into her eyes. “If you want my dignity, you got it. Self-respect? Yours. Self-control? Long gone.”

“Are you saying you can’t control yourself around me?”

It shouldn’t matter, but the idea makes me smile.

“Don’t smirk like you’re surprised.” She groans. “I’m not the kind of girl who regularly has sex in public restrooms.”

“We didn’t have sex,” I corrected her. “You didn’t even touch me.”

She bobs her head back and forth, agreeing with the technicality, and then she stiffens. I feel her turn towards me slowly.

I can’t help but glance away from the road and meet her eyes.

I’m unprepared for what I see there.

Lust.

Her lips are parted, and I can see her tongue pressing against the back of her teeth. She drags her eyes from my face to my chest and then lower, lower, back to the tent in my jeans.

The traffic light turns green, forcing me to fix my gaze back on the road, so I don’t see her reach across the console. I’m not prepared at all when her palm presses against the ache between my legs.

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