Page 36 of Only for Him

I can’t have that. I can’t let him win so easily.

“I’m going to find out who you are,” I finally say through gritted teeth. “And I’m going to put you away, someplace you’ll never see or touch me again.”

He plants one final searing kiss at the base of my ear before he gives it a soft yet sharp bite.

“Then find me, little viper.”

He lets go so fast I nearly collapse to the floor without him holding me up. I hear the door open and close, then the lights flicker back to life. It blinds me for a second, and the earring burns in my lobe, hot as a brand.

But not as hot as the memory of his lips.

I stand, heart pounding, hands shaking. I leave the stall, look in the mirror, expecting to see bruises or blood, but there’s nothing. My hair is wild, my face flushed, but otherwise I am untouched.

The only proof is the earring, and the smell of him clinging to my skin.

The moment I take to put myself together is already too long. By the time I burst back into the bar, hip-checking and shouldering the crowd out of my way, he’s long gone.

Instinctively, I reach for Serena’s earring and stop just before I touch it.

He wasn’t wearing gloves, I realize.

I know he wasn’t, because I felt everything, more than I wanted to and somehow still not as much as I needed.

Then find me, little viper.

The earring isn’t a kindness. It’s a clue. A physical contact point.

The bastard replaced it himself, pressed the clasp closed with his bare fingers. Hewantsme to find his prints. Hewantsme to chase him.

When I find Ida with Nick and Luke at the bar, they’re confused but understanding when I say something came up at work.

Ida’s eyebrows shoot up, but I shake my head slightly.Not what you think,I say with my eyes. Her expression softens but she still looks worried.

“I’ll text you later,” I tell her. Ida hugs me gingerly, too sweetly. I don’t want to be touched right now, not like that.

Nick tries to hug me as well but I dodge it.

I can’t take chances with anyone right now.

“It was nice meeting you,” I say lamely.

He recovers quickly enough, smiling as he pointedly doesn’t ask for my number. He’s fine, I guess, with me just walking away.He won’t follow me. He won’t lurk in the shadows. And he won’t corner me in the bathroom while he kisses his way up my neck.

And that’s exactly why I feel nothing for him.

His coy, expert-level flirting did nothing for me, not in comparison to being restrained and taunted by a man whose violence left me dripping through my panties.

Nick is normal and safe.

And Ida’s right.

I want something that can hurt.

Especially if that something can hurtme.

Back outside my building,the street is empty. There are no stray noises, no creeping shapes in the corners, and no haunting blue eyes staring at me in the dark. Not right now anyways.

But I know that means nothing. The echo of his hands and lips are still mapped onto my skin.