“Well, go on, then.” I point at my chin, but she still hesitates.
“Okay,” she mumbles at last. “I guess I… I don’t know how to do it that well. And I want to make it hurt. So show me.”
Her cruelty is a whole lot harder to take now that I know she means it. Trying to ignore it, I take one of her slim hands and fold it into both of mine, forming a fist. My throat tightens as I feel her tremble slightly, and for a moment, when I look into her eyes, I could swear I don’t see hatred there. What I see is very strange, and I can’t quite understand it.
But then, her eyes harden, and she pulls her fist from mygrasp. “Well? Pretty sure I know how to make afist. Tell me about the rest.”
“Fine.” I huff out a sigh, then launch into an explanation. “Don’t punch with just your hand or your arm. Use your whole body. Pivot your hips and use all that strength.” I can’t believe I’m teaching this girl how to hurt me. “And don’t stop at impact. Keep going. Carry that punch through. Okay?”
“Uh huh.” She nods. “So should I… uhm… do that now?”
“Take your target by surprise,” I tell her, momentarily forgettingI’mher target right now. “You’re probably going to be weaker than whoever you’re trying to take out, so surprise is your—”
SLAM.
“I’mnotweak!”
Okay, she definitely isn’t. I stumble backward from the impact of her punch, feeling my lip burst and a trickle of blood spill from it.
“Holy crap! Are you okay, Logan?”
She rushes toward me, trying to catch me in her arms before I fall to the ground. But I’m much bigger than her, so she ends up falling with me.
I wrap my arms around her before she even has time to come to her senses. By the time she’s tried to put her hard wall up again, I’ve turned so she’s the one on the ground and I’m lying on top of her.
“Logan,” she whimpers. “Please get off of me.”
She’s back to her preferred physical way of dealing with me, trying to shove me away with her hands. But that doesn’t make me angry right now. Just terribly needy.
I pin her wrists above her head with one hand, as with the other, I tilt up her chin. “Do you want me to, Lia? Huh?”
“Yes. I hate you.”
A sob catches in her throat, and her eyes sparkle withunshed tears. I stroke the side of her face. “Do you really, Lia?” I say again, my voice soft. “Do you really hate me?”
She looks to the side, biting her lower lip.
“I’ll get off of you if you can look me in the eye and tell me that you hate me.”
There’s just no way she can. There’s just no way this intense attraction is only one-sided. There’s no way she can’t need me just a little, when I would burn down the world for her.
She doesn’t say a word, only tugging at her lower lip with her teeth. Obeying a sudden, overwhelming impulse, I bend down and kiss her.
Fuck, it’s so good. Her lips are velvety soft, just thick enough, and my tongue as it slips into her mouth feels like it’s coming home. She mumbles a string of unintelligible words, and then she starts kissing me back.
I let go of her wrists, my hands finding her soft cheeks, stroking her long red curls, as she folds her body to mine. At last, I pull away, just a bit, because I need oxygen. Then I’m back to kissing her, nibbling up and down her neck, before making my way down her low cut shirt to the tits I’ve dreamed about so much.
Then I freeze when I hear the tiniest hiccup of a sob.
“Lia?”
I whip my head back up, startling at the sound, and then at the sight of her tears.Fuck. She’s crying. Doesn’t she want this?
I quickly slide off her, and she scrambles to her feet. When she faces me again, my stomach sinks to see that the hard mask is back on her face.
“Didn’t you want it?” I voice the silent question that’s been making me spiral for the past twenty seconds. “Didn’t you want it, Lia?”
She lets out a harsh laugh. “Does it matter?”