Page 36 of Undertow

To inhale desire.

The one scorched by fire.

I want to dissolve like they do.

She laces her fingers through my hair, locking me in place as she sinks down hard on my hips, triggering a violent rush of heat. Fire rips through me, limb to limb, igniting long dead embers snuffed out years ago. Her hips slide in a natural pulse. Grazing me over and over in sweet agony. Trappingme, betrayingmewithtraitorous cravings when I harden against her.

“Shaw,” she breathes out, reaching for the hem of my shirt.

She shoves it up my chest until we separate just enough to yank it over my head. Her eyes go feral as they trace my body,greedy with possessive lust. Her hands demand submission when they claw a burning path down my stomach. Lower, firmer they push, triggering hot streaks of anticipation.

I grip her wrist, stopping her at my zipper just to watch the pain of desire flash over her face. To remind her for a brief second who’s really in control.

Maybe a dark part of me wants to see her beg—justsee,because she would never say the words. I wouldn’t want her to.

Releasing my hold, I lift my hips in silent encouragement and curve my hand over her ass instead. She reaches past the zipper, torturing me with a wave of swelling pressure.

Her hesitant touch becomes deliberate when my body responds, her hum of approval, intoxicating. She wrecks me with a firm grip, and my mouth finds hers again. I know this craving, live for it—literally—but right now it’s a drug, not a weapon. We both know what she wants—whatIwant? Yes. This time, it’s also whatIwant.

Flames surge with each insistent stroke. Scorching. Aching as the driving rhythm ignites a reckless inferno I can’t control. My lungs burn. A groan threatens low in my throat as my hips lift, my hard body desperate for relief. Slipping my hands beneath her shirt, I run them over the bare skin of her back, provoking one throbbing rush after another.

Her kneading hand continues to torment me, her lips deadly when they harmonize with the steady rhythm of her grip. Her other palm pushes up my chest, fingers sinking into tense muscle primed for explosion, trained to respond with devastating precision.

Hunt and devour.

But this time is different. This time she’s not the only victim.

I feel a piece of my heart chip off and lodge in hers.

You can’t do this, Shaw. You don’t have control.

Blood pounds to the symphony of our gasps, the cry of starved lungs that seem intent on breathing desperate kisses instead of air.

A warning is muffled beneath the strange hypnosis she has over me. I’m lost to smooth skin and tempting curves that beg to be tasted. Touched. Freed from the small scrap of fabric holding them hostage.

You’re the hostage.

Because we both know what’s happening right now isn’t a game anymore. It’s a threat. Worse than that, it’s war. And we will be casualties.

Maybe we already are.

I abruptly pull back with a painful exhale, feeling like I’ve already lost something I can never have.

We stare into each other’s eyes, acknowledging the intense connection with our inability to break apart and go back to being enemies. Her skin is still hot in my hands, her taste on my tongue. Her scent infects my brain, and my heart… thumping, battering my ribs with something new. Something terrifying.

A spike of fear impales me to the moment. A vicious truth.

Ifeel.

And in my world, feelings are deadly.

My head isin a tailspin when I return to Adrian’s house for the night. After breaking free of the heated trance, I managed to salvage enough of my brain to tell Julia I’m seeing someone. Usually, my strategy is to appear as available as possible, but in this case, being unavailable is the only smart play. She’ll want me even more now that I’m off limits, and I’ll have a barrier to bolster my resistance against her dangerous pull.

She was visibly upset when she learned I have a girlfriend, confirming her feelings for me are genuine as well. My own reaction to that fact further cements the need to keep my distance—emotionally.

Physically, I still have to live with her as part of my cover for both undercover missions.

My stomach clenches at the thought of being immersed in her orbit while fighting my well-trained libido.