Page 55 of Dirty Beasts: Chance

She just shrugs, looks away. “Nothing. Just…”

I snort. “Don’t ‘nothing’ me, Nik. Tell me what you were thinking.”

A long sigh. “You don’t miss a thing, do you?”

I grin. “Try not to.”

A moment of silence as she considers what to say and whether to say it. “You promised me you wouldn’t make the first move, sexually.”

I nod. “Yeah.”

“You seemed certain I’d end up wanting you.”

“I am.”

“Why? What makes you so sure?”

I look at her. “Not sure you’re ready to hear the truth on that one, mama.”

She frowns. “That sounds awful condescending, Chance.”

“It’s not, I swear. I’ll tell you whatever you wanna hear, but don’t say I didn’t warn you if it’s more than you can deal with.” I slide my free hand out of hers, rest it on her thigh, the bare skin warm and smooth. “At first, I admit it was mostly just bravado and bluster. I’m crazy fuckin’ attracted to you, physically, that ain’t no secret. I was throwin’ down a challenge. Tryin’ to get you thinking with your body, not just your mind or your emotions.”

“So you’re admitting it was an attempt at manipulation.”

“You wanna call it manipulation, I guess you could make a case for that, yeah. But it wasn’t, like, nefarious.”

“You said at first. Meaning it’s different now?”

I nod. “Yeah, it is. Now I feel like I know you. We been through some heavy shit together. You’re still locked up tight, darlin’. Closed up and shut down. Walls a mile high around that heart of yours, and I get the feeling that with you, if your heart ain’t there, your body sure as shit won’t be. But I know something.” I wait before saying it.

She quirks an eyebrow at my pause. “And that would be what? Don’t keep me hanging, here, Chance.”

“You were made for me, mama. Your life. Your experiences. Your mind, your heart.” I glance at her, meet her eyes. “Your body.”

“Chance,” she murmurs, her tone containing a hint of a scold, and more than a hint of skepticism.

“Don’t tell me you ain’t felt it, you ain’t noticed it.” I cup her thigh, squeeze, let my fingers dig into the warm flesh and dense muscle—a few inches above her knee, yet still short of the hem of her shorts, which are very short and very tight, molded to her thick, juicy ass and showing a hint of the lower edge of her ass cheeks. “You’ve never been satisfied, Annika. You’ve never met a man who can be what you need—who justiswhat you need.”

Her cheeks turn pink. She looks away. “How do you know that?”

“Because it’s true of me. Physically, no one’s ever fit me. Matched me. Not the way you do.”

“Chance,” she whispers. “Stop.”

I slide my hand higher. She clutches at my hand, but doesn’t move it. “I know you want me, Nik. I can tell. You’re ignoring it. Pushing it away. Pretending it’s not there. But I can tell. I see you—I feel you responding to me. That’s how I know you’ll open up for me, eventually. And once you open up, you’ll let me in, and when you let me in, you’ll accept you want me. But I won’t push it. I’ll wait. I’ll keep showing you that you can trust me, that you’re safe with me, and that everything you need, everything you want, you can find…in me. And that’s when you’ll let yourself have what you want—me. Us. The physical connection to match our emotional one.”

“I don’twantto want you,” she whispers.

“I know. And that’s okay. I don’t take it personally.” I grin at her.

“It’s not a joke, Chance. You scare me.”

“Wanna elaborate on that?”

She shakes her head. “No, not really.”

“Tough. Do it anyway.” I squeeze her thigh. “Why do I scare you?”