Page 119 of Let the Game Begin (Kiss Me Like You Love Me #1)

“And did you like it? Our little game?” I put my hands on his hips before sliding them around to the base of his spine.

His black shirt was so tight that I feel the ridges of his muscles under my fingertips.

My eyes were drawn to his unbuttoned collar suddenly.

I found myself staring at his throat where, I pressed a sweet kiss.

Neil squeezed my hips reflexively and parted those full lips that I longed to taste.

“Oops,” I whispered facetiously, as though I had overstepped.

Something lit up within his golden eyes, something that made him lean down over me until he could touch my nose with the tip of his own.

His clean scent was even more powerful than usual, which only increased my longing to get him undressed and take him entirely.

Take everything he had: body, mind, and soul.

“You’re playing with fire, Babygirl,” he said in a seductive warning just before his lips crashed into mine.

He grabbed my glutes with his hands, groping them possessively, and in the same moment, he plunged his tongue into my mouth.

The kiss was urgent, passionate, and dominating and I returned it eagerly.

My hands crept around to his front, worshipping his tensed abdominals.

A tiny moan slipped out of my lips as he devoured me like it was all he could do to keep himself from fucking me right there on the dance floor.

He cradled my face in his hands and continued moving his tongue hungrily inside my mouth.

He confounded my thoughts, my desires, my fears, everything.

His body, stiff with arousal, began to grind against me in a firm, unmistakably male sort of way, and in that moment he became the center of my world.

“Come with me,” he whispered impatiently. He grabbed my hand before I could really understand what was happening and led me through the crowd of people.

I followed him without argument.

He could have been leading me straight to hell and I would have cheerfully gone with him.

I squeezed his arm when someone shoved me and Neil turned to shoot a warning look at a skeleton who apologized immediately with his hands raised defensively.

“You okay?” he asked, eyeing the other guy in irritation as he walked away and I nodded. The last thing I wanted was to incite a fight or watch Neil struggle to control his anger.

Fortunately, he just started walking again, and I sighed as I followed him up the stairs to the second floor. I didn’t know exactly where we were going. All I could see were his broad, powerful shoulders, a sight that made me feel protected. Safe.

I was not so naive, though, that I didn’t realize that Neil wanted me and we could really only have one destination: some free bedroom.

My conscience prickled me then. What am I doing?

After our night at the pool, Neil had ignored me completely. He’d gone so far as to pretend I didn’t exist. He made me feel used and tossed aside.

I needed to resign myself to the truth: Neil liked my body, but he didn’t like me .

He didn’t feel the way I felt. Because I liked him even with all his problems, and that was why I had to go back to Detroit.

I would have stayed if he’d asked me to.

If he’d wanted to try to really get to know each other and build something together.

That was the only way I could have stayed.

“You want to use me again,” I said to him, using his term for what we shared.

Neil stopped, fingers still interlaced with mine, and turned to face me.

I thought once again about how beautiful he was. The mystery and the darkness of him worked to create a man of uncommon, inexplicable allure.

“I just want you to understand,” he answered ambiguously. An almost imperceptible look of sadness moved over his face, half-concealed behind his mask. He opened a door and waved me inside. I looked from his long fingers to the open door, uncertain whether I should cross the threshold.

After a moment’s hesitation, my legs seemed to move under their own power, taking me into the room. I looked around, admiring the decor. This ceiling was also quite high and decorated with a fresco that my eyes lingered on.

It looked like a bedroom fit for a queen.

Velvety ivory hangings around the canopy bed and two armchairs positioned in front of the enormous window gave the room an intimate yet welcoming vibe.

Mini pumpkins with lit candles inside were here as well on the bedside tables and the antique desk with a few more scattered around the room.

There was no need to look for a light switch; the room was softly yet amply lit. Our shadows moved across the walls, the same ones that reflected the candle flames.

“Finally. I’ve been waiting for you.”

I flinched when I heard a female voice, then I turned and found Harley Quinn before me, leaning against another door that probably let to the attached bathroom.

“Aw, did you think you were gonna be alone with him, princess?” Jennifer sneered, walking toward me. I looked at Neil, who had yet to utter a single word. He stood a short distance away from us with his usual arrogant posture—his body rigid and imposing, his expression serious and austere.

“What’s going on?” I managed in a low whisper, so shaken that not only did I not know what to say, I didn’t even know what to think. Neil didn’t answer me, except to grab his leather belt and open the metal buckle before sliding it out of his belt loops.

Jennifer looked at him and bit her lower lip. To me, however, his movements seemed cold, distant, domineering. The actions of a man who was going to do what he was going to do, no matter who objected.

“You thought he was going to fuck you, didn’t you?” Jennifer brushed past me, wafting her irritatingly sweet scent my way and closed in on Neil, taking the belt from his hand. She set it down on a nearby piece of furniture and then turned her attention back to his body.

She was devouring him with her eyes, and soon she was going to do it with her viper’s mouth and her siren’s hands.

“It’s a game,” Neil said in a faraway tone and the blond girl grinned enthusiastically. She turned to me and swayed her hips on her way to the bed.

“The game is simple: whoever can seduce him gets to have him. Alexia and I are the ones who usually play. I don’t understand why he’s chosen you,” Jennifer explained, sitting down on the bed and patting the space next to her with one palm.

I kept staring at her like I was watching a scene from a horror film.

Why had Neil set up a…a trap for me?

“Join me, princess, if you have the guts to play.” Jennifer needled me with the wicked grin that I’d done nothing but hate for too long.

“He’s not an object. He’s not a trophy up for grabs for anyone who plays a stupid, pointless game,” I snapped, turning to Neil because he was the one I really wanted to talk to.

Though I was shaking all over, I went to him immediately and stared into those eyes.

Eyes that, at the moment, communicated exactly nothing.

“Why are you acting like this?” I asked. It felt like I was trapped in a nightmare. He couldn’t be treating me like that, like something else to play with along with Jennifer.

“If you don’t play, that means you forfeit and he’ll spend the night with me.” Jennifer’s voice behind me struck like a whip. The idea that someone else would get to touch him, take pleasure from him, kiss him, and use him as though he were a sex doll made me feel unbearably sick to my stomach.

Normally, I would never participate in a game like that, and as I looked at Neil, I realized that he knew that.

After all, he knew me. I could practically see in his eyes that he was sure I’d refuse.

It almost seemed like that’s what he wanted me to do.

But if that was so, I couldn’t figure out why he’d engineered this whole insane situation to begin with.

“I’ll play,” I declared, continuing to stare at Neil, and I didn’t miss the flicker of surprise in his eyes, which now looked unsettled.

What was Neil’s real purpose here? That I watch him with someone else? That I understand I meant nothing to him? That I get another reason to leave and go back to Detroit?

I stared at him, full of disdain and anger, and then I headed for the bed where the Queen Bitch waited for me with a sly smile on her face. She was the person I hated most in the world at that moment and the one upon whom I was about to take my revenge.

“May the best woman win,” she offered, a mocking challenge as she lay back on her elbows and made herself comfortable.

I waited patiently to find out how this stupid game was played, sitting on the edge of the bed with my legs pressed together.

I tugged down my skirt. The positions Jennifer and I had adopted illustrated the vast gulf between us: I sat there, nearly motionless and trembling like a helpless baby chick while she half-reclined and waited with feverish impatience to spread her legs, like a cat in heat.

My thoughts were interrupted by Neil, who approached us at a slow, measured pace. His gleaming eyes met mine as I lifted my chin, silently begging him to either send Jennifer away or leave with me because whatever was about to happen was only going to hurt me.

But he pretended not to recognize my wordless request and instead grabbed me by the back of the neck, leaning down over me. There was something deeply unsettling in his kiss, and it occurred to me just how hard it would be to really escape his allure.

As if to illustrate that thought, my lips parted in spite of me and chased the aggressive movements of his tongue. Then, Neil forced me down with his powerful body. He crawled over me, slow and elegant, never breaking our kiss, which became increasingly greedy.

I squeezed his hips between my knees and he arched his back, making me feel every inch of his massive hard-on against my groin.