Page 155 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

I lean in a little, forcing her back against the trunk. “Do you think about the day we met, Olivia?”

She’s silent for a long time. More lightning cracks through the sky, followed by the low rumbling of encroaching thunder. She doesn’t even seem to register when the first few drops of rain fall on us through the leaves.

“Yes,” she whispers.

“What do you think about?”

I can practically hear her heartbeat thudding frantically against her chest. I press my palm against it to feel it. It reverberates through me like the steady thrum of drums.

“I think about the kiss. The first one, when we were in the lounge in the airport. I wanted it so bad. I’ve never felt that before. I’ve never wanted something that much.”

“And how did it feel when you got it?”

She shakes her head, trying to break eye contact.

But I grab her chin and force her eyes to mine. “No,” I growl. “You will look at me. Now, answer the question. How did you feel?”

“I felt… strange. Like I was floating out of my body.”

Rain patters against the leaves above us, but neither one of us moves.

“You still want me,” I tell her softly. “But you’re afraid.”

She nods slowly, not even bothering to fight back anymore. “Men like you… you’ll just use me and discard me. You’ve said as much yourself. For a year, I’m the most valuable thing in your world. And the day that year ends, I’m worthless.”

“Why worry about the future when you have now?”

She shakes her head and reaches up to push my hand away from her face. But instead, her fingers become entangled with mine.

“Because I’m not like you,” she whispers.

“No,” I agree. “You’re not like me.”

Maybe that’s why I can’t get you out of my head.

Her fingers are still entwined in mine. When she shivers, I feel it run through her entire body and then mine in turn.

“You’re going to destroy me,” she murmurs.

“Only if you let me.”

Confusion passes over her face. She has no idea what I mean. She doesn’t have the tools or the experience to understand.

Which means she’ll have to learn the hard way.

I push off the tree and leave her huddled against the tree trunk. When I take one slow step backwards, the curtain of rain swallows me up.

Olivia watches me the whole time, her eyes hungry and desperate. If I were the kind of man who wore my heart on my sleeve, she’d see that I feel the same. That this game we’re playing has grown far more tense than I ever anticipated.

That I am addicted to the woman I swore to break.

But despite the aching need pounding through me right now, I refuse to give in. I refuse to yield. I refuse to bend.

If she wants this, she’ll have to come to me.

And when I take one last look into her heartbroken eyes, I see my answer.

She will.

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