Page 76 of Collide

“You should be getting some rest.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” I countered.

His shoulders were bunched up, tension vibrating from his body. Hewas wound tighter than a coiled spring and I had no doubt he would explode at any given moment.

“That’s why the doctor gave you some pills,” he snapped, pissing meoff. I didn’t come here for an argument but if he continued to be anasshat, he’d certainly get one.

Taking a deep breath, I opted for honesty, hoping it would defuse thebomb that was about to detonate. “I didn’t want to sleep alone.”

He finally turned to me, his face hard, the muscles in his jaw tense. Ifelt like a lamb about to be slaughtered under his heated gaze. His eyes started at my bare legs and traveled up my body to where the robe clung to my figure before they came to rest on the bruising on my neck. As he stared, a million different emotions passed through him, before fury settled deep in his eyes.

“It doesn't hurt, Kai,” I said softly. He didn’t reply, just continued toglare at me, his jaw twitching.

Before I could really comprehend what I was doing, my feet weremoving across the room to where he stood. He watched me cautiously as I crossed the space, never once taking those dark eyes off me.When I stopped in front of him, it seemed like I completely forgot howto talk under his intense stare. After what seemed like an eternity, he slowly raised his hand and gently, almost to the point where I didn’t feel it, ran his thumb over the bruise forming thanks to Anderson’s backhander.

“You could have died tonight, Riley, and it would have been my fault,”Kai whispered, any trace of anger gone in an instant.

And holy fuck, did he seem different from the Kai I was used to. Real,genuine fear showed on his sharp features, and all I wanted to do was comfort him.

“It wasn’t your fault, Kai, Anderson did this. Not you. And he wasn’tgoing to kill me, he said as much.”

The reason for coming to find Kai popped back into my mind as heraised a questioning brow.

“He said he was under instructions not to kill me but he would hurt meif he needed to. He said his boss was going to use me for leverage.”

“Fuck,” Kai growled, dropping his hand from my cheek and turningback to look out the window. “You should never have got mixed up in this shit, Riley, I never should have brought you into my life.”

Ouch.

That comment hurt more than Anderson’s smack to my face or hishands around my throat. Two weeks ago, if Kai had said that to me I would have agreed in a heartbeat, but now? Now he had treated me like a princess, showered me with affection and made me feel something for him, that fucking hurt.

“You don’t mean that,” I said, holding back the lump in my throat thathad formed. He looked down at me, his eyes glacial.

“Riley, you got hurt because of me. I’ll never forgive myself for that.And all this means now is that you’ve got a target painted on your back because of me, because Anderson knows you’re my weakness,” he shouted and then punched the window. The glass didn’t break but by the noise his fist made, it must have hurt.

For a minute I gawked at him, his admission that I was his weaknessringing in my ears.

And then, I did the only thing I could think of doing at that moment.I reached out and took his hand in mine and pulled him, so he had nochoice but to face me. He turned but gave me a questioning look which was met with me reaching up on tiptoes and kissing him lightly on his beautiful mouth.I sighed at the feel of his lips against mine once again, feelingcontent. He didn’t react at first, and so I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulled him closer, and pressed my mouth harder against his.

And then he was kissing me like he had on the dance floor, like I washis lifeline and the only thing he needed to survive.I opened my mouth when his tongue invaded it, and our tonguestwirled together. Kai snaked one arm around my waist and pulled my body closer while the other hand knotted in my hair and tugged.

He was taking control and I gladly let him.

Kissing Kai was like nothing I had ever experienced before, tinglesshot through my entire body, but it wasn’t enough, I wanted more.As if reading my thoughts, Kai’s hands moved from where they wereto the knot in the belt holding my robe together and started prising it apart. It didn’t offer much resistance and within seconds, he slipped the robe off my shoulders where it pooled at my feet, leaving me standing there in my skimpy sleep shorts and vest.

He grabbed my ass and hoisted me onto his desk, at no pointbreaking our kiss. My legs parted and he moved to stand between them and as he did, his hard cock pressed against my core. It wouldn’t have taken much to unzip his pants, pull his cock out and slide my shorts to one side so he could bury himself in me.

The thought alone made me groan into his mouth.

But suddenly, he pulled back, leaving me panting and desperate formore. I’d had sex before, twice to be exact and on both occasions, I had never felt like this.If I was honest, I never really got the hype around it, but right now,yeah I understood it, and all I wanted was to feel Kai thrusting into my cunt.

“Riley, I can’t,” he said as he rested his forehead against mine,squeezing his eyes closed as if in pain.

Well, shit.

I hadn’t expected him to say that. Talk about a bucket of cold waterbeing poured over the fire burning its way through my body.

“I can’t be gentle with you, I’ve got too much fucking anger pumpingthrough my body. I don’t want to hurt you.” His eyes were hooded as he stared down at me, before raking over my body and fixing on my hardened nipples.

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