Page 35 of While She Sleeps (The Hunter and The Thief #1)
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
ORION
I ’m seething all the way back to Ember’s apartment.
Not because someone decided to ruin our first date.
Not because she didn’t enjoy her meal.
Not even because Killian was his usual asshole self.
No. I’m fucking fuming because I can’t think of a way to get Ember’s phone to check those texts she got from Lucas.
I haven’t had a chance to install the necessary software to gain access to her calls and messages, which means I’m flying blind.
Something I fucking loathe in all aspects of my life, but apparently even more so when it comes to my little flame.
I doubt Ember is conscious of the way she leans into me as we walk. She’s been on her own for such a long time, even when her idiot brother was alive, that I don’t think she knows what to do with having someone in her corner the way I’m trying to be.
I don’t pause on the doorstep, instead guiding her up the few steps to the keypad and giving her little choice but to type in the code.
It’s a damn good thing she hasn’t asked how I got to her door earlier today, because telling her I’ve known that code for weeks probably won’t do me any favors.
Without hesitation, I match her steps up to her floor, and when we reach her door, I snatch the keys from her hand and make quick work of the locks.
“You know, it’s polite to wait for an invitation,” Ember barbs, and I don’t bother masking the smirk that tugs at my lips. Not once have I noticed how they affect her.
“But then I could be waiting forever.” I chuckle and gently pull her into her sparsely decorated apartment. “Now, would you like to discuss why you shut down back at the restaurant?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The mask of indifference she shows the world is back, and I fucking hate it.
I shake my head slowly as I give her a knowing look. Ember will quickly learn she may be a good liar when it comes to everyone else in the world, but not me. I see her. All of her. The good, the bad, and the broken. And all of her is mine.
“I’m sure you can get away with that with everyone else, Ember.
” I step into her space, backing her up until she hits the edge of the dining table, still littered with the evidence of my gifts.
Her breath catches in her throat, and I bring my hand up ever so slowly, giving her more than enough time to escape if she wants.
A concession I will rarely give her. I settle my palm around the base of her throat, applying gentle pressure that has her pupils blown wide as she looks up at me.
“But I see through the lies. I see through the bullshit.” I drop my face until I’m so close her breath brushes softly across my cheeks. “I see you, Ember.”
Her pulse speeds up against my fingers, but to her credit, she doesn’t look away. She holds my eyes without flinching, a feat even the toughest of men can rarely achieve.
“Is that supposed to scare me, Orion?”
I chuckle. “No, Little Flame, but I don’t want us starting this relationship with any misguided notions that you can lie to me, and I won’t see straight through it.”
“Relationship?” She stutters the word, as if the four syllables are the scariest thing she’s ever uttered.
A smirk tugs at the corners of my lips as I flex my fingers around her throat. “Yeah, Ember. Relationship. You can push me away all you like. You can fight and hiss and spit until the cows come home, but I can take it. I can take anything you throw at me.”
She stares at me like I’ve lost my mind, but little does she know my sanity went out the window long ago, and I’m comfortable with the man I am today. Unhinged and obsessed with the woman in my arms.
Ember’s tongue darts out to wet her lips, and I track the movement, the tether of my control stretching to the point it’ll snap any second.
I’ve always been the kind of guy who took what I wanted, not giving a fuck about the people around me or what they wanted.
But that’s not how I win my little flame’s affections, and that means swallowing down my urge to steamroll her like I would anyone else.
“I don’t think—” Before she can get the refusal out, I slam my lips down on hers, stealing the words before she can say them. I’m not above getting her drunk with pleasure so she’ll agree to seeing things my way.
That’s not steamrolling her, right?
Her lips are impossibly soft beneath mine, pulling me in closer until my body pins her much smaller one to the table, my hand still bracketing her slender throat.
A soft moan escapes her, the sweetest sound I think I’ve ever heard in my miserable fucking life, and it only makes me kiss her deeper. My tongue swipes across the seam of her swollen lips, and they part for me immediately.
Her tongue is more tentative than mine, but she gives as good as she gets, nipping at my bottom lip and dragging groans from my chest.
Fuck, she’s going to destroy me.
There’s not a fucking doubt in my mind that Ember is going to wreck me every bit as much as I’m going to ruin her.
But what’s more romantic than being each other’s eternal damnation?