Page 29 of Twisted Play

I reached out to steady her, and my fingers burned where they gripped her bare arm.

“Oh! Cole!” Her green eyes gleamed bright with an emotion I couldn’t identify. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, as if to calm her nerves, and then pasted the fakest damn smile I’d ever seen onto her face. “How was practice?”

“Where were you?” I asked, using my grip on her arm to press her against the wall, trapping her against it.

Eva took a sharp intake of breath. “I missed the bus.” She twisted her lips in frustration. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

It wasn’t. It shouldn’t have been. But I hadn’t been able to get her out of my head since we’d hooked up, and she acted like we’d never touched. Like I’d never buried my face in her gorgeous pussy, like she’d never clenched around my cock and made the sweetest goddamned noises as she came. Like one hit of her had turned me into a fucking addict.

“I missed you today, sparrow,” I said, enjoying the tremble of her body a breath away, pressing back against the wall as if she were afraid to brush against mine.

Her eyes shot to mine. “I don’t think you have the right to miss me, asshole.”

“Missed you all the same,” I murmured.

“No, you didn’t,” she snapped, shifting on her feet. Shestopped when she realized it brought her body into contact with mine. “My job is to sit there and take notes, bandage you idiots when you bust yourselves up on the ice, and let Dr. Parker know if I see any problems.”

I pushed a strand of red hair behind her ear, my palm scraping along her skin. Gratification streaked through me when she shivered.

“I missed you, sparrow,” I repeated, making my decision. I wanted her, and she wanted me, even if she wouldn’t admit it. I hated the awareness of her that tickled the edge of my brain whenever she was near, like I followed a glass of alcohol at a party, never able to truly ignore it. I’d encouraged Tristan to make his move, and it was time for me to do the same. May the best man win.

Eva inhaled sharply, ignoring when the soft curves of her breasts pushed against my chest. “That’s sweet, but I need to check in with Dr. Parker and go to class.”

“I’ll walk you there.”

Her silence drew on long enough to poke at my insecurities, and I braced for a rejection, even if I intended to ignore it. My need to own her, possess her, clawed up through my throat, held back only by the knowledge that good girls like Eva weren’t for me, and that the only way I’d ever have her would be like this—scaring her and forcing her to accept my company. I couldn’t let her walk out on me again.

Fuck it. I wanted her, and I intended to have her, again and again and again. Even if she didn’t want a damn thing to do with me. Even if I had to corrupt her to have her. Whatever it took.

“Okay,” she said finally, her tone indecipherable. When I didn’t move, she lifted one hand to press against my chest, and my eyes flicked to the ragged fingernails, freshly bitten, a jarring contrast to how put together she normally was. “Cole, please,” she whispered, pushing harder, her palm hot against my shirt. “Let’s go.”

I inhaled her vanilla scent—so sweet, so fucking innocent—then stepped away, gesturing for her to take the lead.

Silently, she led me to Dr. Parker’s office and knocked. Eva looked over her shoulder at me when she was called in, trepidation tightening the corners of her eyes. I wouldn’t shove my way in and embarrass her, not yet, but my determination to claim her grew every moment.

“Go on,” I murmured, pushing her with a firm touch on the small of her back. “I’ll wait.”

“I’ll just be a moment,” she said, as if I were inconvenienced by her meeting and not the other way around.

I couldn’t hear the quiet conversation after Eva shut the door with a soft snick, but true to her word, she emerged a few moments later. When she shifted her tote, heavy and laden with books, I held out my hand imperiously.

She cocked her head, confusion painting her features.

“Give me your bag.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. “I don’t know what you want or why you’re messing with me?—”

Instead of letting her continue to harangue me, I simply lifted the straps off her shoulder and yanked hard when her fingers curled around the worn pleather.

I’d get her another bag, a nicer one, with wide straps that didn’t dig into her shoulder.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Fuck.

Where had that impulse come from? This woman had walked out of my bedroom without a backward look. I should have been pissed. Iwaspissed. And yet, the protectiveinstinct was stronger. I tucked the thought away so I could examine it later.