Page 99 of Blood in the Water

This was not the instant, solid, and steady attraction I had for Wynn.

This was not even close to the easy companionship and support I had started to feel from Ciel.

This was rocket fuel. Combustible and insanely dangerous. Powerful enough to send me to the fucking moon.

How do you make rocket fuel work?

You set it ablaze.

I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his.

His reaction was instantaneous.

He flung the knife behind us, where it rattled on some workout equipment. Then his hands came behind my thighs, and he yanked me up against him, using his body to pin me against the wall. All the while, his mouth danced against mine, devouring like he had done the night before.

“Tell me, Ryuji,” I breathed when his lips skated over my skin. “I’m not here to ruin your life.”

I held onto his shoulders, digging my nails into his skin while his nose nuzzled into the dip of my collarbone, and he sucked on the tender skin there. Desire, the overwhelming need formore, went right to my pussy.

“There’s no point,” he murmured. “You can’t give it to me.”

“I can try.”

I gasped when his hips bucked.

“Give up.” His voice no longer carried that hard edge.

“Never.”

The hard outline of his dick ground against my core, and I kept my legs firmly wrapped around him to keep from entirely turning to jelly. Another nip at my throat had me clenching with need. I moaned his name as I arched my breasts into his chest.

Suddenly, he jerked away like I burned him and dropped my thighs. I barely got my legs under me in time to save myself from slamming into the goddamn floor.

“What the hell was that?” I shouted, reeling from the suddenemptinesswhere his body had been only a moment before.

He smirked down at me as he drew a thumb against his bottom lip.

“Fine, then, Leona dear. I’ll make you an offer.”

My eyes narrowed. “An offer.”

“I’ll help you save your beloved bodyguardifyou agree to never show your face to our brotherhood again.”

The air punched from my lungs. “What?”

He kneeled before me, forearms resting on his knees. “I’ll storm this castle, save your prince, if you forget about us. If you walk away from whatever shit you’ve got going on with Wynn. If you turn your back, and never again return.”

I stared, completely off guard.

“If you want my help with this,” he continued, the asshole practically laughing at me, “you give up your bid on our services. You forget about a contract. Move on and go away.”

I stood slowly with my head held high, trying to bury the pain in both my bruised ass and my ego.

“That’s how it’s going to be?”

He nodded. “That’s how it’s going to be. Make your choice.”

How could I when he’d put me in an impossible decision?