Page 36 of Ruthless Touch

I drop to my knees despite myself, coughing and gasping from the pain. The alleyway wavers like there’s been an earthquake, but it’s really my vision.

I shake my head in hopes of reorienting myself.

If Gun really wanted to, he could finish me off right now.

I’m on my knees, knocked breathless from the collision with the brick wall, and completely unable to defend myself in this moment.

But it seems that’s not his goal at all. At least not before he gets more gloating out of the way.

He crouches down in front of me and tips my head up, his fingers gentle under my chin. I’m forced to meet his dark, glittering eyes.

“You’re too pretty to be so nasty,” he taunts, his thumb brushing across my cheekbone like we’re lovers. “A beautiful woman like you, you should be on some man’s arm living the high life. Not doing this kind of violent work, Goyangi?—”

I cut off his patronizing bullshit by driving the heel of my palm straight into his throat, feeling the satisfying give of cartilage as he chokes and topples backward. Scrambling to my feet, I take off for the alley entrance.

Unfortunately, I don’t make it very far.

His hand closes around my ankle like a steel trap and gives a harsh yank. I’m sent crashing face-first into the pavement.

If my ribs weren’t fractured before tonight, they definitely are now.

The pain has almost become unbearable, twinging more intensely than ever.

But there’s still no time to pause and rest. Not until this is really over.

Me and Gun surge to our feet at the same moment. We circle each other like wounded animals, our chests heaving and sweat dripping from our faces.

This time we attack simultaneously, a blur of fists and fury that echoes in the night. I land a vicious kick to his stomach that doubles him over, but he recovers fast enough to catch my next punch in his large hand.

Before I can wrench free, he uses his grip to yank me against him, his arms wrapping around me with bruising force.

His mouth crashes down on mine in a kiss that tastes coppery like blood, salty like sweat, and heated like the dark passion and desire that’s developed between us.

Gun kisses me with desperate hunger, his lips demanding and all-consuming. His tongue quickly slips into my mouth and slides against my own. He draws responses out of me that I don’t want to give, coaxing sounds from my throat that are needy and hoarse.

Every sweep of his tongue and nip of his teeth makes my stomach flutter with butterflies I have no damn business feeling.

Ishouldpush him away. I should shove him off me and break this hold he has.

Yet instead I find myself melting into the heat of his kiss. My body betrays me as I kiss him back and my pussy throbs in want.

He’s satiating a craving I’ve denied from the moment we first met in Eclipse.

I’m just as attracted to Gun as he is to me.

He tastes like danger and violence, and it only makes me want more of him. It only makes me surrender to the punishing lash of his tongue and long for what else he could give me…

His arms tighten around me, one hand gripping my braids while the other spreads across my lower back. He holds me so close I can feel every ridge of muscle through his shirt. Even the rapid beat of his heart.

The kiss deepens until I’m drowning in him, lost in the way he claims my mouth like he owns it.

Like he just can’t help himself—he has to have me here and now in the middle of our vicious fight.

But then reality crashes back in like ice water splashed in my face. I remember who he is, what he represents, why I’m supposed to hate him.

With a surge of adrenaline-fueled clarity, I rip my mouth away from his and drive my forehead straight into his skull.

The impact sends shockwaves through my own head, but Gun’s reaction is immediate and devastating—a howl of agony that’s so guttural and raw it actually shocks me for a second.