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Goosebumps peppered my flesh, either from Rhys’s proximity or from the air-conditioning blasting through the hall.
Even when you’re not there, you’re everywhere. In my head, in my lungs, in my fucking soul.
His confession from the parking lot echoed in my head. We hadn’t talked about that night since, but maybe we didn’t need words.
Rhys’s eyes dipped to my breasts. I followed his gaze and noticed for the first time just how thin my blouse was. I wore a lace bra, but my nipples were so hard they showed clearly through the two layers of flimsy material.
I should leave, but Rhys’s molten gaze pinned me in place, erasing my earlier chill and leaving a deep, fiery ache in its wake.
“You know what you said earlier? About how we always end up where we’re meant to be?” He grazed his hand over the side of my neck, and my heart thudded so hard against my ribcage I half expected it to leap out of my chest and into his arms.
I couldn’t bring myself to speak, but I managed a small nod.
The heaviness of the air caressed me like a bold lover’s touch, and I knew, deep in my gut, I stood on a dangerous precipice. The slightest movement from me, and I would fall.
The question was whether I wanted to save myself, or if the pleasure would be worth the eventual pain.
“Perhaps...” Rhys’s touch skimmed down my neck and over the curve of my shoulder. I shivered, my skin blossoming with a thousand more goosebumps. “I was always meant to find my way to you.”
Oh, God.
Every ounce of oxygen disappeared from my lungs.
“You should go into your room, princess.” His voice was full of gravel, dark and rough. “Go into your room and lock the door.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to.”
Whatever was happening, it was different from Costa Rica. We didn’t have a bucket list or excuses to fall back on. It was just him and me, making a choice that had been a long time coming.
Rhys groaned, and with that one sound, I knew he’d made his choice.
Breathe. Even when there was no oxygen, no air, nothing but him. Breathe.
He dipped his head, but instead of kissing my mouth, he kissed the hollow of my throat. It was so soft it was more a whisper of breath than a kiss, but it was enough to make my knees weaken.
I was a lightning rod, and Rhys was the strike that lit me up from the inside out.
I closed my eyes and stifled a moan as he dragged his mouth up my neck, inch by inch. Just as the lazy possessiveness of his touch lulled me into a semi-stupor, he yanked me toward him with one hand and sank his teeth into the curve between my neck and shoulder. Hard. Almost as hard as the thick arousal pressing against my stomach and causing my core to throb with need. Rhys’s other hand clamped over my mouth, muffling my surprised yelp.
“Tell me.” His voice lowered. “What would your boyfriend think about this?”
Boyfriend?It took a minute before it clicked. Steffan.
We’d gone on two dates. Hardly enough to be considered my boyfriend, no matter what the press said.
But I had a feeling that argument wouldn’t hold sway with Rhys, who loosened his hand enough for me to gasp out, “Steffan’s not my boyfriend.”
The air thickened with danger.
“I don’t like hearing his name on your lips.” Lethally soft words, each one delivered with the precision of a guided missile. “But you went on dates with him. You kissed him.” Rhys’s voice darkened further, and he pressed me further against the wall while wrapping one hand around my throat. “Did you do that to bait me, princess? Hmm?”
“N-no.” I was soaking wet. The darkness of the hall, the roughness of Rhys’s voice, it all went straight to the heat pulsing between my legs. “I had to date someone after the ball. And I didn’t think you cared.”
“I care about everything you do. Even when I shouldn’t.” Rhys’s grip tightened on my throat. “One last chance, princess. Tell me to stop.”
“No.”
I was all too aware that Elin, Mikaela, and the rest of the group slumbered behind the doors on either side of us. It would only take one late-night bathroom break, one light sleeper to hear us and blow the situation to hell.
But somehow, the danger only intensified the thrill running through my veins. Whatever this was between us, it had been building since the moment Rhys stepped out of his car outside my house at Thayer, and I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to.
Rhys hissed out a breath and released my throat, only to curl his hand around the back of my neck. He yanked me to him again, crushing my mouth to his, and my world imploded.
Tongues, teeth, hands. We devoured each other like the world would end and this was our last chance to feel something. Perhaps it was. But I wouldn’t think about that now, not when our bodies pressed so tight against each other we might as well be one, and I was falling, falling into an abyss I never wanted to get out of.
Mikaela had been right. You could tell everything from a kiss.