Page 97

When really, I was suffocating slowly.
Fire needs oxygen to breathe.
And Ezra has always been that for me.
“Why are you here?”
Despite the darkness, I can see the corner of his mouth curl.
“Well, it was to establish some ground rules, but-“
“You blew that all to hell already?”
He half sighs, half laughs. “Yeah.”
Another few seconds of silence. So many possibilities trapped between us.
“What are the rules?” I ask instead of dragging him to me to taste everything I’ve lost.
“We can’t be alone.”
“Like now?”
He shifts his weight, and my body buzzes to feel him against me.
“Yeah, exactly like now.”
“Okay.”
Moving his hand, he traces the line of my jaw with a fingertip. All the way down until his fingers brush over my chin and the pad of his thumb presses to my lips.
I tremble at the feel of it, this silent, secret gesture that is only mine and his.
“And we can’t touch each other.”
It takes effort to swallow.
“Like now?”
I shouldn’t have said anything. Moving my mouth only allows his thumb to slip between my lips, the pad pressing down on the top of my bottom teeth as his fingers cup my chin.
The energy I feel roll through him is toxic, yet addicting.
It’s cold, yet burning.
Chaotic, yet barely controlled.
It’s electric and exhilarating as he fights to restrain himself against what we both know he wants.
“Just like now,” Ezra answers, his words so rough they scrape between my thighs like callused fingers, crawling up my body and over my breasts. They grab my hair and tilt my head back as teeth nip at my neck.
I can’t think.
Can’t move.
Can’t do anything but suffer beneath the memories of what it feels like when Ezra loses control.
“Anything else?” I ask, my voice so breathless that it’s not even a whisper.