her she was wrong about herself. Tell her that she was incredibly beautiful and so much braver than she gave herself credit for.
He held her between his hands and bent to gently touch his mouth to hers. Just a touch, not a kiss, and there he waited for her, his breath quick and heated. It felt like a moment too long to him before she lifted that small increment into a kiss. He kissed her sweetly, a soft demure thing that was all she seemed to be asking for. But he wasn’t going to let her get away with half measures. He pulled back and looked into her liquid blue eyes.
“Now kiss me the way you really feel,” he said to her. “And know that it will decide whether you stay or I askwww.ballantinebooks.commag. you once more to leave me, hummingbird.”
He watched her catch her breath, felt her leg move up a fragment against his thigh, a subconscious gesture he knew. If her mind had any doubts, he knew her body did not. But she was expecting seduction and he wouldn’t give it to her. He wouldn’t take her as wildly and dominantly as he knew how so she could blame him for it later. No. No, this she had to demand from him.
“I want to,” she said, a flush creeping over her cheeks. “You know that I want to s-stay.”
“Prove it,” he commanded of her. Her eyes widened as she licked her lips and let her gaze drop to his mouth. Then she lifted her head out of his hands and kissed him. Again, it was sweet. A pretty and shy kiss. But he didn’t believe she couldn’t find it in her to be more than that.
He broke off the kiss and moved to get off of her and send her packing. Disappointment lurched through him, a part of him crying out in frustration. He wouldn’t aggress with her, sweeping her up in the passion he knew she craved. He’d tried that already and it had blown up in his face. But just as he was about to leave her hands tightened on his shoulders, trying to hold him to her.
“W-what’s wrong? Why …?” she stammered.
“What’s wrong is I know exactly how passionate you are,” he said fiercely. “I know how hot you can be when I make you that way. Why won’t you admit to it? Why do you want to make me run roughshod over you with seduction just so you can hold yourself free of blame and heap it all on me? No, Marissa. I won’t let that happen this time.” He moved off of her but she tightened her grip even more, following him with a slide across and back beneath him.
“No! I don’t know what you want!”
“You’re already what I want,” he said with a sigh. “That’s the whole point. I want you, Marissa. You. Not just your body. Not just a vessel. But you. My Marissa. My sweet, delicious, passionate Marissa.”
“I think you expect more than I’m capable of,” she said softly, her cheeks so pink, like she was out in the freshest cold of winter.
“I think you underestimate yourself,” he said back to her.
She seemed to think on that for a moment, but he could see the frustration in her. “Isn’t it enough that I’m here? Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” She was getting snappish, her annoyance with him for not seducing her very apparent. He would have smiled if he didn’t think she’d deck him for it.
“I pulled you down. I put you under me. I’m here hard as a goddamn rock, Marissa. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Damn. Now his frustration was showing. Well fine, he thought irritably. Better he fix the problem before it started. He swung himself away from her and got to his feet, pulling himself free of the grip of her hands, her nails trying to hold him until the very last second.
“Oh my god! Jackson, get back here!” she burst out. “Don’t you dare make me beg! It’s a shameful, dirty ploy to make me feel … to make me feel …”
“I’m not going to make you feel anything,” he bit out. “You either feel it forwww.ballantinebooks.commag. yourself or you don’t. And honestly, I’m not in the mood for any uncertainties. Not after—” He broke off, too sickened with disappointment to say it aloud. Not after I’ve bared my soul to you completely. Why oh why won’t you do as much for me?
Marissa