Page 141

TWENTY-TWO

LENNOX

Aiden’s jaw hardens, and a mixture of desperation—or is that desire?—and anger darkens his normally warm eyes. The honey color is now as dark as chocolate.

This is Aiden unhinged. Unmasked. I’ve known him long enough to know that his dopey smile is often nothing more than a mirage.

This man is a stranger to me. When we were together, he was generous with his genuine smiles. Never once was his anger directed at me. Not even when I said it was over. We’d made a promise, and one simple word was all it took. There was no fight. No awkward conversation. There were plenty of tears on my end, but only when I was alone.

But this man right here? He’s angry.

And maybe it’s because I’d rather have the real version of him than the watered-down one, or maybe it’s because the angry side of him is hot. The jealousy? Scorching. My entire body is on fire just waiting to see what will happen next.

I’m pushing him, goading him into reacting in a way that might be our undoing.

I’m not sure if it’s because I ache for his touch or if I’m trying to push him to admit that he can’t handle this before we both get hurt.

Either way, when he sets both of our drinks on the bar and tugs me toward the black and gold velvet curtains, electricity oozes through my veins.

Somewhere behind us, the evening is beginning. Opening remarks, I suppose. I can barely breathe, let alone focus on what’s being said.

Aiden doesn’t bother pushing the curtain to the side to look for an opening. He simply bends at the knee and lifts it up from the floor, then nods for me to dip below. I’m only too happy to retreat to the darkness.

“What are we?—”

He grips the back of my neck and pulls his mouth to mine. This kiss is nothing like the last one, or the one in my apartment. It’s passion and anger, it’s want and need, it’s lust-filled and brutal. He owns my mouth, his fingers digging into my neck and directing me where he wants me as his mouth demands more and more and more until our chests are both heaving and my clit is aching. He could merely brush against it right now, and I’d combust.

The room erupts in applause, and then live music begins. The voice that cuts in is that of the man that has left Aiden so jealous he’s practically unhinged.

Obviously recognizing Ryder’s voice too, Aiden pulls back and bites down on my lip, holding me in place with his teeth. His molten eyes tell me everything. I hate that I want you. I hate that you make me feel this way. I hate that anyone else thinks they have a shot at taking you from me.

I whimper, though not in pain. I want to tell him that he needn’t worry about the man on the other side of the curtain. I want to tell him that there’s never been a man who posed any competition for my heart.

But at the sound, he releases me.

Not just my mouth, but my entire body. He holds his hands up, and his eyes bug out like he’s shocked by what he’s just done.

“Fuck,” he mutters, turning away and running his hands through his hair.

“Don’t stop,” I beg. Seeing him like this, unguarded and real, should scare me, because we promised nothing but fake emotions.

But the fluttering in my belly, the ache between my legs, and the pounding of my heart? This is the realest I’ve felt in years, and I don’t want it to end.

Not yet.

Aiden snaps his attention back to me, and in the darkened space lit only by the window he stands in front of, he’s nothing but a shadow. “What?”

“You promised you’d show me.” I step closer. “Pretend a little longer.”

He laughs. It’s a raspy sound, throaty and sexy, and it scratches at the darkest places inside me. “You want me to pretend? Pretend that the way he looks at you doesn’t grate on me? Or do you want me to pretend that you’re mine and I’m punishing you for even allowing him to speak to you?”

My chest heaves and my panties dampen. “That one.”

Aiden hovers close and runs the back of his fingers down my arm. I close my eyes and savor the way it feels to be touched by this man again.

“Pretend that the sight of him looking at you in this top made me want to gouge his eyes out?”

Eyes open again, I nod shakily. Goose bumps skitter across my skin in the wake of his gentle touch. The music gets louder, Ryder’s voice almost a taunt in this secret space.

Aiden clamps his teeth down on his bottom lip. “Turn around,” he grits out.

Desperate to stare into those soulful eyes and remain in this moment, I don’t obey.

Aiden shakes his head, his lips quirking up in a salacious smile. “Always the defiant one.” With his hand on my shoulder, he spins me around and forces me toward the curtain, closer to the music. He leads me right up against it, so close that the back of the curtain, which is a rough, muted-gray fabric unlike the soft velvet that faces the crowd, scratches at my skin. “You say it’s fake, but you’re mine until I say you aren’t.”

I swallow thickly and hold my head high. “Until I say it’s over.”

His dark chuckle rumbles against my skin as he lifts my hair and drags his nose against the slope of my neck. “It’s always you who does.”

My heart sinks. This is why he’s so angry. Why he shut down mid-conversation out there. The breakup. Why we ended. The discussions we never had. “Aiden, I?—”

“Shh, Princess, right now, we’re pretending. Though I bet there’s no pretending how wet you are right now, is there?”

The use of my father’s nickname is almost cruel, and yet I like how he’s taken the word and made it his.Made it filthy.

Is that deranged?

With the back of his hand, he parts the curtain so that light filters in. A cry threatens to bubble out of me. Dammit. I don’t want to leave this space. I want to stay with him. Cling to us. Even if we’re broken. Even if we’re fake.

But when that same hand falls against my breast and he squeezes, all worries fade.

“You hear his voice?” he whispers against my ear.

I nod, the movement jerky, and when he pinches my nipple, I gasp. He releases his hold quickly, then rubs soothing circles. “It’s for you.”

“What?” I pant as he teases his fingers along the waistband of my skirt. I’m ready to buck up for him, willing to do anything to get his hand between my legs.

“He’s singing for you, Princess. He came for you.” He bites down on my shoulder as he slips his hand into my panties. Then, without warning, he spears me with one finger. “But you only come for me.”

A loud moan works its way out of me as I rock against him. The only thing louder is the sounds he makes with his fingers as he fucks me. I’m so wet from all the teasing he’s done, and he’s working so meticulously.

He suctions that hot mouth to my neck and alternates between biting and sucking. All the while, he works me over, adding another finger and rubbing his palm against my clit, giving me the exact amount of friction I need to grind against to get me so close to the edge I may cry if he doesn’t let me come.

“Please,” I beg, draping an arm around his neck. I need him to send me hurtling over the precipice. I turn my head, desperate to see his eyes, knowing that’s all it will take. It will also serve as a reminder that the man who’s acting just shy of cruel is Aiden— my Aiden —and he doesn’t really mean what he’s saying.

But he hooks his chin over my shoulder, locking my head in place so that I’m forced to watch the scene playing out between the slits of fabric. To focus on the man across the room who’s to blame for Aiden’s anger.

“I want you to watch him. Every time you look at him, I want you to think about my fingers inside this greedy pussy. Every time you hear his voice, you’ll remember my words as I teased this orgasm out of you. You’ll remember how it felt to be mine .”

As I explode, he clamps his free hand over my mouth, muffling my cries. “Now, now, Princess. Only I get to hear you come.”