Page 84 of On Edge

My mind scrambles to catch up. “What?”

“The kiss, Sage.” Troy’s voice drops lower, rougher. “Did you not like it?” His eyes burn like stars.

Whiplash is not a strong enough word.

I wet my lips. “No.” It’s barely a whisper.

Liar, Nell echoes sweetly, reminding me why I hate her again. But after what he said….

Iwant to be the one to twist the knife.

Troy is still looking at me in the low light of the fire. He cocks his head, jaw tightening. “Are you sure? You seemed pretty into it to me.”

“I-I felt sick after.”

Another twist.

I fled to my room with my heart pounding, my lips burning, my body feeling strung up and alive like never before. I did lock the door, but only because I was terrified of what might happen if he barged in, and afraid that if I didn’t lock it, what did that say about me?

But he didn’t.

He never came after me.

Why did I want him to?

There’s a pause as those horrible words I uttered sink in. Then his gaze sharpens like a blade; something menacing and dark crosses his face before he locks it down, and his expression deadpans.

“Eight for wolf who loves to lie,” he quotes one of the more awful lines from the song.

I don’t know what to say to that, so I say nothing. It’s a coincidence that Lovett meanswolf cub.Right?

After a while, Troy stands and turns to go, but hesitates near the door, and then he looks back.

Approaching slowly and deliberately, he comes to stand over me, his cut-glass green eyes pinning me in place. My gaze is stuck on him, too, even when I should look away.

Annoyingly, my nipples, despite the heat from the fire, have shamefully hardened at the sight of him. And I would go weak at the knees if it were not for the fact that I’m sitting, clutching them. I hate that my body responds this way; my pulse speeding up, my mouth watering, beyond words….

A delicious throb spills low in my belly. And I pull my knees closer to me to try to stop it.

“I see.” His mouth curves down as though it annoys him to see the effect he has on me. “Then I won’t touch you again.”

Such an expected comment from him, but it cuts deep. I give a tight nod, unable to speak, my eyes feeling like they’re about to tear up.

“I needed to make sure. Now I am.”

My chin wobbles before I can stop it as what he’s saying slithers under my skin and stays there. So the kiss, the heat in his eyes, the way his hands felt…it was him making sure of something. I dig my nails into my knees and use the pain to stop the burning behind my eyes from spilling over.

Was he testing me to see if I was a virgin?Did I pass or fail?

But I can’t take a moment and mull it over because he carries on.

“I’m doing this for you, you know. I see now why you had to play along. I get it.” He lets out a sigh. “It took me a while, but I get it now. You were afraid.” His eyes rake over me. “Still are.”

All I can do is blink at him. I don’t understand the meaning of his words.

And yet…

He’s close enough for his cedarwood and clean linen aftershave to invade my senses. The smell of rainwater and ozone is gone, burnt away by common sense and a lick of heat, revealing dark, masculine tones beneath that draw me in.