“This is the most you’ve ever talked to me, Theo Alistair,” she says quietly.

She leans forward and presses her lips to my sternum. That’s our height difference—I tower over her. I don’t hate her lips on me, though.

“The most you’ve ever anything. Looked at me. Spoke to me. Thought about me.”

“So?” I’ve got an erection straining against my jockstrap. It’s an annoying sensation. “You need to get on your knees if you’re going to put your lips on me.”

“This is monumental.” She tips her head back. “Me, touching you, I mean.”

Her finger keeps moving, back and forth, driving me nuts.

“Is this how you want our first sexual encounter to be? In a dirty locker room that smells like sweat?”

I choke. “First? Only.”

She shrugs. “I’m like a drug.”

I grab her wrist and push it away from me, suddenly done with this—all of it. She’s managed to twist the whole damn situation, and I hate that I’m getting harder because of it. I want her weird logic. I want to ram into her here.

“What makes you think you’re worth more than a dirty locker room?” I ask.

One side of her lips quirk up.

I don’t even know her. I don’t want to know her. I don’t want to touch her.

I release her suddenly, and she cradles her arm against her stomach.

Her wrist is bright red. My grip…

“It’s okay,” she says. “A little pain just makes it worth it.”

And then she lifts onto her toes and kisses my throat.

The screech of metal fills my brain, the taste of blood. I must’ve bit my tongue or something, but nothing hurts. Nothing except the echo of noise in my ears.

I back away. “Stop.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop fucking messing with my head.”

She drops her arms and has the gall to look upset.

Who is this chick?

“Fine,” she says lightly.

She’s not bothered by it. At all. It’s like I’m the only one in danger of losing control—and she’s just tempting me to do it. Hell, part of me thinks she’d just see the monster inside me and smile again. Or it could scare her off when she least expects it.

Give her a reason to fear me.

The more I think through that idea, the more I like it. I’ll throw what I can at her, see how she responds. And if she disappears, all the better. I don’t need the distraction she brings.

“Fine,” I growl.

11

Lux