Page 53 of Ly to Me

You know what? No. I wouldn’t let myself think he was attractive. He leaned forward and gripped the pommel, popping the veins snaking over his big, firm hands in a way that sent shivers down my spine and reached surprisingly lower.

Those hands on my neck—

He smirkedagain. “Did you at least take my truck to the store and get us some graham crackers and marshmallows before you wrecked the shit out of it?”

“You like it?” I flashed an innocent smile and batted my lashes. “Thought it needed something a little…extra.”

“Hmm.” His eyes lingered from the words I scratched into his truck to my lips, then down to my chest. Heat gathered as those piercing blue eyes settled between my legs. He looked ready to tear into me, and not in the way I was aiming for. “‘Lyra’s Bitch’ has a ring to it.” His eyes flashed up to meet mine. “Almost like that little heart you left for me in the bathroom.” He winked.

I let out a huff of frustration as I tossed another few glasses into the pit. “Where’d you go?” I asked, forcing as much irritation into the words as I could to cover—

Nope.

Fuck all of whatever was going on in my stupid body.

His finger crooked over his bottom lip, his white teeth shining in the sunlight as he continued to enrage me with his sultry smirk. “Were you worried about me, little Ly?”

“Yeah.” I tossed the last glass into the air a few inches above my hand, then caught it. “Worried you’d break our contract and I wouldn’t get my money.”

Carver's hand fell, revealing down-turned, disapproving features. “Why would I go and do a thing like that?”

“I dunno.” I shrugged and tossed the glass into the air again. “Probably because I’m not the docile little thing you thought you were marrying.”

“I knowwhoI married.”

I laughed and threw the glass into the pit, sending shards into the flames. “Do you, though?”

When I looked back at him, his face had shifted more, resembling something closer to demonic—all hard lines anddipped brows shadowing crystalline eyes. “I’m the only one on this godforsaken planet who knowsexactlywho you are, Lyra.”

“No, you don’t!” I shrieked, then looked away and lowered my voice. “You only want to use me like everyone else.” The words had come from somewhere so deep, it startled me as it came out. Water lined my lids as I stuffed that back down, where it should have stayed.

When I turned back, he was dismounting Bee with all the grace of an apex predator. Holding something he’d taken off her behind his back, Carver quickly advanced, and when he reached me, so did his hand—right around my throat.

“This temper tantrum of yours has been fun, Ly, but”—he yanked me closer, giving only an inch to breathe—“I think it’s time we quit playin’ games.”

The scent of leather and oak smothered me as he raised something long and brown to the top of my head.

“What—”

The fingers around my neck flexed. “As I said—” Leather slipped down over my eyes, my nose, then my lips, sliding further until it settled above his hand. “I’m done playing games.” His fingers fell from my neck, letting the thing he’d secured there completely take his place.

“Did you—” Fury raged deep in my bones, warming my body more than the blazing fire beside us could ever hope to. “Did you just put a leash on me?!”

“You see, Ly, that’ssubjective.” He took a few steps back and jerked on it, sending me to my knees as I tried to steady my breaths. “In your eyes, it’s a leash. In mine, it’s a tether—a way to keep my wife real close.”

“You’re an asshole,” I choked out, trying to fit my fingers beneath the leather. But it wouldn’t budge.

“Objectively,” he continued,“it’s Bee’s reins. And the more you tug, the tighter it will get.”

“Remove it!”

He smirked. “Not happening.”

“What the fuck, Car! Let me go!” I pushed myself up from the gravel and lunged for him. He quickly darted to the side and tugged on the reins right as I passed him, pulling my back to the ground with one swift movement. I gasped to regain the breath that was knocked from my lungs.

Carver was over me in seconds, straddling my hips. His hand splayed as he anchored his body above mine while the other clutched the leather reins. Then he leaned down, grinding his hard length against my lower stomach.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Yet my pussy seemed to have a mind of its own, pulsing with need.