Page 81 of Into the Woods

I straightened my spine. “You’re still expecting me to be the sick, broken girl from when we were little, but I’m all grown up now. And I’m not afraid of you.”

He smirked, his hand sliding down my neck to wrap around my throat. He applied the lightest pressure to my pulse point, letting me feel the power of his hold. Making me aware of the fact that he could cut off my air with a flex of his fingers.

A dark thrill shot through my blood like lightning. I stayed impossibly still even as my pulse pounded in my chest, throbbing all the way down to my core. I had the urge to rock against him, knowing he was hard beneath me.

“Do you know the real reason I wanted to get you away from Eric?” His voice was soft, almost teasing. But the edge to it had my breath catching.

“Because he’s the bad guy?” I guessed.

“Because I saw the way he looked at you,” he corrected. “Like he owned you. Like you were his.”

I licked my lips, my throat suddenly bone-dry.

“See, baby, I know the look of a man who wants to see you naked, spread out under him as you shatter.” His thumb pushed down a little harder on my windpipe.

I swallowed, the sound audible. “Oh, really?” It was all I could think to say; my brain was being short-circuited by his touch.

One corner of his mouth hooked up in a feral, wolfish smirk. “Fuck yeah, Becca.” He leaned in, his lips brushing my ear as he added, “I look at that man in the mirror every goddamn day.”

I gasped, the sound sharp and desperate as he thrust his hips up, grinding his hard length against my core.

“Court.” His name left me as a needy whimper. My fingers curled into his hair and pulled hard. I tried to roll my hips against him, aching and pulsing with a kind of need I’d felt only in my dreams.

The hand on my waist stopped me from moving. From rubbing myself against his erection like a cat in heat.

“You need to be sure this is what you want. That I am what you really want,” he said, his teeth catching my ear lobe and biting it. A streak of pain melted into warm pleasure as the nip turned into a soft suck.

Who the hell knew earlobes were a freaking turn-on?

He pulled back, meeting my gaze. “See, I’m not sure you can handle me, princess,” he murmured, his voice a guttural rasp that I felt between my legs. His dark gaze flicked over my body, his tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip. “You talk a big game, but if you think I’m anything like the two-pump chumps you’ve let between your legs, then you’re out of your beautiful fucking mind.” His lips brushed my ear once more. “I’ll fucking wreck you, Becca. I’ll ruin you for any other man, and I’ll never let you go.”

Oh, God. My blood heated, simmering in my veins as my head spun. He straightened, still keeping a possessive hand around my neck as he stared down at me, his expression full of fury and fire.

I sucked in a deep breath, squaring my shoulders. “I’ve always been able to handle you, Court Woods.”

His hand reached for me again, tracing my jaw. “Think so? Care to prove that point, princess?”

I lifted my chin, wordlessly accepting the challenge. Daring him to do his worst.

He smiled, the look almost feral. He gave a low chuckle. “Be sure, baby girl, because if you’re mine, every motherfucking inch of you belongs to me. That tight ass, these perfect tits, and that sweet cunt will be mine. Hell, your fucking period is gonna need permission to come if it wants to touch my pussy.”

My insides clenched with need, wanting what he was describing.

Was his speech supposed to send me running? Because all I wanted to do was make him prove it.

He cocked a brow. “So before you go thinking you can handle me and saying shit you’re clueless about, keep those pretty lips shut unless you’re ready to wrap them around my cock.”

My eyes went wide as I stared up at him, barely breathing.

His expression was knowing, but there was a look of uncertainty in his gaze. Like he was waiting for me to realize this was too much and go running. To let him off the hook from exploring this chemistry between us.

Heat unfurled low in my belly.

Game. Fucking. On.

I stared him dead in the eye and blinked once.

Twice.

---