Page 27 of Ruined (The Knights of Ruin)

His fingers in my hair pulled tighter, urging my head further back, and his tongue pushed deeper into my mouth, the kiss turning hotter, wetter. More demanding. Taking all my words away and giving me heat and that sweet kick of bourbon instead, the raw, addictive taste of him.

My heartbeat was raging and I felt dizzy. Like I was drunk. On him. On this kiss. His heat was blinding and he was everywhere—his rock-hard chest against my aching breasts, his arms around me, holding me tight against him. His mouth was on mine, tasting me as I was tasting him. Kissing me as if he couldn’t get enough. As if he wanted to eat me alive.

But, no. He couldn’t want that. This waspretend, remember?

Yet my fingers curled into the warm cotton of his T-shirt, gripping on for dear life, and it was hard to hold on to that thought. He knew what he was doing and it was so good.

I couldn’t help myself. I began to respond. Blindly touching his tongue with mine, kissing him back, hungry for more of that terrifying heat. More of that kiss.

More of him.

My nipples hardened against his chest and there was a heavy, pulsing ache between my legs. My skin felt tight, like I wanted to burst right out of it.

Smoke growled—a low animal sound that vibrated through me—then he slid one large warm hand over the curve of my butt, pulling me harder against him. I nearly gasped as I felt the hard ridge of his cock press against the zipper of my jeans, causing jolts of intense pleasure as the zipper hit my clit.

I groaned, shifting my hips against his, helplessly chasing that friction. I felt like I’d been starved and he was tempting me with all my favourite foods, holding them out to me, giving me a taste, making me so fucking hungry...

Then suddenly his arms around me were gone; that hot, demanding mouth vanished, and I was stumbling forward, off balance, breathing fast and hard like I’d run ten marathons in a row.

I blinked, somehow finding my feet, trying like hell to get my breathing under control.

Smoke had pulled back and was standing there with his arms folded. The expression on his face was unreadable. He was watching me with a detached kind of focus. As if that whole kiss had merely been an experiment he wanted to see the effects of.

He hadn’t felt it like I had, obviously.

Something fell away inside me—something that I refused to call disappointment. Because there was nothing disappointing about him not feeling that kiss. In fact it was reassuring. Clearly the intensity of it had been all in my head—a product of going too long without sex and nothing to do with chemistry at all.

Anyway, it made sense that he didn’t feel it. Because he’d been pretending, too.

Sure, and maybe his cock had been pretending, as well.

Yeah, but guys got hard at the drop of a hat, didn’t they? It wasn’t me. It was merely the presence of a female body—that was all.

I sucked in a steadying breath, hiding my hardened nipples behind my folded arms, mirroring his posture.

‘So?’ I couldn’t keep the husky edge from my voice. Dammit. ‘That convincing enough for you?’

‘It’ll do.’ His voice, in contrast, sounded completely normal, the asshole.

My heart raced and the heavy, nagging ache between my legs just wouldn’t let up. Perhaps if I didn’t think about it, it would go away.

‘Good. So, how do we do this? I mean, do you simply tell them I’m your old lady and that’s it? What?’

He hadn’t moved. He was standing there like a statue, all tall and dark and radiating menace, not to mention a fair amount of distance.

He hadn’t forgiven me for what I’d said to him.

If you break this friendship, it’ll be your own fault. Don’t forget you pretty much break everything you touch...

Panic turned over in my gut before I managed to shove the poisonous thought away. No, shit. Wherever that had come from, it was wrong. Sure, there were things in my life that hadn’t gone to plan—but that was life, wasn’t it? Shitty, shitty life.

I had Annie and I had Smoke—my two constants. I wouldn’t lose my daughter and I wouldn’t break my friendship with Smoke. I just wouldn’t.

‘You going to do this, then?’ he asked.

As if I had a choice.

‘For Annie, yeah. I will.’

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