Page 119 of Wicked Little Darling

I set my hands over his and pressed them harder into my cheeks. “Do we ever get what we deserve in life?”

His eyes were shiny and so, so green right now. “Sometimes,” he whispered, and then he leaned forward and brushed his lips against my cheek, slid his arms around my neck, and squeezed me tight.

My heart felt like it was splitting open.

He wasn’t hiding behind walls he’d built himself; he’d fallen into a deep, dark pit with no way out.

Here was a side of him he’d tried so hard to hide. If he’d let me, I was more than willing to pull him out of that pit.

“I have to go,” he said with a sniffle. His voice had become flinty, so I pulled back to look him in the eye.

“What? Where? We haven’t finished.”

He stood up, putting my face level with his crotch, and while I’d never complain about that, there was a wild, frenzied look in his eyes that was concerning.

“I have to go kill them,” he said, trying to step around me. “They don’t deserve to live after what they did. No one gets to hurt you like that.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist and pushed my face into his stomach. Heat was pulsing down my spine, and my heart felt like it was swelling. “Fuck, Reese. You know it just turns me on when you get like this.”

His hand was on the back of my neck now, those long, pretty fingers massaging into my skin. He sifted them into my hair, and the gentle, affectionate touches made my chest feel like it was about to burst.

I moved my hands down to his pert little ass and squeezed.

He slapped my back. “Damn it, Dakota!”

With a laugh, I lifted his shirt and bit his hip. “We really need to work on this project.” I licked across his stomach, then blew a raspberry into his belly button.

He gasped, then laughed and shoved me off him. “I’m not the one screwing around.”

“Do you wanna be?”

He sighed, then said, “Maybe later.”

I could work with that.

I sat back down on my side of the room and picked up my violin. “I’ll hold you to that. Alright, I just need you to write it down.”

He rifled through his bag for a pencil, then sat back and nodded his head at me. “Okay, just…start over, and go slow.”

“That’s what she said.”

“Damn it, Dakota,” he muttered, but there was a smile twitching at his lips.

The only thing I’d wanted to do since we got into this booth was shove him against the wall and kiss him, to feel those sharp little teeth on my skin, to hear the soft sounds he made as he lost himself in all the sensations.

“Are you gonna play, or…?”

“Sorry, I was just having a quick fantasy. Which is dangerous, since I didn’t bring my jizz rags.”

He tried to hide his smile behind the sheet music, but I saw.

I sat up straight and played him the song I’d written for him—well, with him in mind. But I’d never tell him that because then he would hate it on principle.

I was pretty bad at keeping secrets, though. He’d find out soon enough, and I couldn’t wait for that day.

After we left the booth,Reese told me he had some prep work to do for a class that started soon and he was going to the library to do it—because otherwise I’d just distract him in the room.

I was disappointed, but he was absolutely right.