Page 55 of Possession

I shake my head and reach up to touch his hand where his fingers twist a lock of my hair. “I doubt that.”

His dark eyes narrow. “Be careful, Landyn. You have no fucking idea what you’ve waded into.”

“No, I don’t.” I press his palm to the side of my face and relish in his touch. As much as I don’t want it to affect me, it does. Every time he lays a hand on me, even if it is for show—no matter how much I wish it weren’t for show—it wakes a place deep inside me that’s new and exciting. I can’t stop thinking about that place. “Please, Boz. Help me understand.”

* * *

Brax

She’sthe distraction I do not need.

And she just won’t stop.

Every word, every touch, every time she looks into my eyes—she claws deeper and deeper below the surface. She’s about to break into a place I forgot existed.

It’s something I can’t let happen. Not only can I not afford the distraction, I absolutely cannot allow anyone to want more from me. It doesn’t matter how much I like it.

And I can’t deny that I like it.

I don’t pull away from her, because touching her is something I’ve become obsessed with. And to touch her while we’re alone is new. “Helping you understand is one thing I cannot do.”

She continues to torture me and leans into my hand farther. “Yet I have to trust you and do what you say? I’m not okay with that, Boz.”

“You don’t have a choice,Landyn.”

“Oh, I know I don’t. That was made clear when I was taken from my home at gunpoint.” She pulls her lip between her teeth to chew on that thought. “Is that the reason for a celibate marriage?”

She just won’t stop, and I can’t keep the bite out of my tone. “Any other woman who was forced into marriage and told she didn’t have to consummate it would not look that gift horse in the mouth. Accept it for what it is. I’m not into non-con, Landyn, and I’m no rapist. Drop it.”

She doesn’t heed my warning. Instead, a smile settles on her lips that looks like it was dipped in the finest sugar.

I want to kiss it off her face.

She scoots closer to me, and we were already really damn close. She doesn’t let go of my hand when she leans up and presses those sweet lips to the underside of my jaw.

My blood rushes south even though her smile dissolves into an expression so serious, I forget about my cock. “And that right there is why I know you’re different. You can deny it all you want, but I’ll stand my ground when it’s just us—when it’s you and me, and no one is watching or listening or studying us. You might work for a drug cartel, but you’re not like them. You’re not even like my dad who considers himself swanky in the world of crime.”

I need to change the subject. There hasn’t been a time in the last two years that I was afraid of being made. If I’m made, I’m as good as dead.

When Landyn entered the fray, I knew I needed to wrap this up fast. Now I really need to crank up the heat to get the fuck out of this hellhole and away from the temptation of the woman who’s a fake everything to me.

No. That’s all wrong.

I’m the fake.

She’s as real and as genuine as they come.

Then it flashes before my eyes like a damn strobe light. What I didn’t see, or hell, what I buried deep because if I admitted what I was truly feeling, it would be real.

Anger.

I’m pissed she doesn’t know the real me. That my name isn’t the one sliding across her lips when I touch her.

I’m pissed this is fake.

And I’m even more pissed that there’s no way this will ever be anything more than a sham.

When this is done, I’ll be the liar.

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