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Awareness slowly seeped across his face, followed by horror. He immediately loosened his grip, and I gasped again, my lungs burning from the sudden influx of air.

Tears prickled my eyes—a physical reaction more than an emotional one, as every muscle in my body loosened with relief.

Vuk stared down at me, his face stark. Despite his relaxed grip, his hand was still on my throat, and my arms were still pinned above my head. His body molded so tightly to mine I felt every ridge and muscle.

My heavy pants steadied as my breathing gradually returned to normal. I didn’t push him off me.

Ishould’vefelt scared. If Vuk hadn’t returned to his senses when he did, I would’ve blacked out or worse. But there was a part of me that, somewhat delusionally, didn’t believe he would hurt me no matter the circumstances.

I had no data to back up that feeling. No rhyme or reason. It was simply instinct.

Vuk’s eyes traced my face. He wasn’t the type to ever show regret, but the tick in his jaw revealed his turmoil over what happened.

“I’m okay,” I whispered. “It’s okay.”

His throat flexed with a hard swallow. He moved to release his hold on me, but I instinctively freed one hand and grabbed his wrist, making him still.

His eyes flared with surprise, and the tiny flicker of heat from earlier sparked to life again.

I didn’t consider myself a fear junkie. I hated horror movies, avoided dark streets at night, and regarded Halloween with the wariness one might approach a feral cat. My sex life had been pretty standard up to this point, and I’d never fantasized about breath play.

But something about this moment flipped a switch inside me. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was justhim.

The memory of Vuk’s mouth on my skin resurfaced. It had been a featherlight kiss, so brief and chaste it hardly qualified as a kiss at all. Yet my body ached at the reminder, and my hips tilted upward on their own.

Vuk had wedged his thigh between my legs, immobilizing me, and the slight movement of my hips added unbearable pressure against my core.

The flicker of heat ignited into a full-blown fire. Goosebumps peppered my skin, and it took every shred of willpower not to grind against his leg like a lioness in heat. My breaths turned erratic again as I fought to control my inexplicable arousal.

What waswrongwith me? My fiancé was waiting for me in the other room, and I was having fantasies about his best man—dirty, filthy fantasies about what would happen if I gave in to my desires, and what he could do to me while I was pinned underneath him.

The flames pulsed low in my belly.

God, there must be a special place in hell for me.

Darkness bled into Vuk’s eyes again. I hadn’t released his wrist, and he must know—must suspect—what effect he had on me.

My mouth dried.

I wasn’t sure how much time had elapsed, but it was so dark, and the music was so loud, that time seemed to slip away altogether.

We were in our own world. Nothing else mattered.

Vuk pressed his knee up—no more than a centimeter, the movement so subtle it didn’t shift the rest of his stance in the slightest.

But that was enough. The renewed pressure sent a burst of pleasure through me. It crawled through my blood, lighting me up from the inside out.

Vuk’s palm closed around my throat again—not enough to cut off my air, but enough to draw out a small, humiliating moan.

I shouldn’t like this, butfuck, I did.

My hand slid from his wrist to his shoulder. Vuk lowered his head, his face a terrifying mask of sharp edges and cold, brutal intensity as he watched me rub shamelessly against him, all restraint gone.

I barely noticed. A flush of heat spread across my skin, and the world blurred, narrowing to the pinpoint between my legs. Pressure built and built, climbing higher and higher until?—

A burst of footsteps penetrated my haze.

Vuk flinched back like I was on fire. His head jerked to my left as his vest vibrated, indicating he’d been hit.