Hold Me Close - Talia Hibbert Page 0,282

the space of a breath, she changed. Transformed. Became solid and certain again, as if she’d made a decision.

Her chin rose, and her mouth softened, and her words slid out like a delicious tease. “You want me,” she murmured, a confirmation rather than a question.

More than anything. But he couldn’t say that out loud. He was cool, calm, collected. “Yes.”

Her lips curved into a wicked smile, and it was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his life. Slowly, she moved closer to the bed, challenge in her gaze. An answering heat rushed through him, just like that, as if she held the key to his desire. Right now, it felt like she did.

Her voice low, she asked, “Tell me something, Zach. What do you think I was doing in our bed?”

So they were back to this. What a fucking question. And the way she said Our bed…

He released a long, shuddery breath as his mind went into overdrive. Lust shoved his words, his hopes, out into the world without an ounce of finesse. “I think you were lying there, touching yourself, thinking about me.” He paused. Deny it.

She didn’t.

“Hand in your underwear, just—” He broke off, his own hands curling into fists. He was desperate to reach for her, but resisting temptation felt just as good as taking. Better, even. “I bet you were dying to come, weren’t you? But you couldn’t. I interrupted.”

“You have such a filthy mind.” She didn’t sound unhappy about it.

Satisfaction rolled through him as he stalked across the room towards her. She backed away, as if she were cornered, but no-one who saw the look on her face would ever believe that. She let him see the need she refused to name, let him drown in it.

Which made it so easy, when the back of her thighs hit the bed, to set his filthiest thoughts free. “Sit down and spread your legs for me. I want to see you come.”

Chapter 10

The words hung between them in the shadowed quiet of the hotel room. Despite her bravado and her sheer, pulsing need, Rae knew that if she held out her hand, it would shake. This moment felt dangerous. Touching a man she cared for like this could only end in tears.

But she told herself firmly that, under these circumstances, it was safe. A simple favour between close friends, nothing more. Nothing that could burrow into her heart and soul, make itself a part of her, then disappear one day and leave her bleeding out. This was her secret moment of divine rebellion, her heart hidden safely under lock and key.

She hoped.

Zach watched her with eyes turned midnight by their blown pupils, his pale cheeks flushed and his mouth soft and sensual. The way he looked at her felt more intimate than a hand between her thighs. She sat back on the bed, but it felt a little bit like swooning. All his burning intensity was making her dizzy. He’d come to the convention as her fake boyfriend, but right now, he was so achingly real.

And safe, she reminded her barely dormant panic. No matter what, this is safe. That was his word, after all, and she was grateful for it.

Rae knew that, for Zach, desire signified a deeper connection. An emotional one. So, when he’d admitted to wanting her, she’d worried for a second: would he expect a new relationship to form between them? The kind of relationship she was too afraid to offer?

Now, she knew that worry had been ridiculous. Arrogant, even. Friendship was important to Zach, and theirs had become so deep that he’d developed an attraction. That was it. That was all. The feeling didn’t have to be romantic. It wasn’t romantic.

And if that fact had disappointed her, just a little bit—well. No-one ever had to know.

“Now,” he murmured, “are you going to give me what I want?”

I’ll give you anything you ask for as long as it doesn’t hurt.

She couldn’t quite bring herself to peel off her underwear—it felt too vulnerable too fast, even though the rest of her body was already exposed. So she left the cotton in place, leaning back on her hands, drawing up her knees and spreading her legs wide. But the action dragged her mind from emotional worries to physical ones. Sleeping with someone new for the first time could so easily go wrong.

Take now, for example: Zach probably assumed she was wet as a lubed-up porn actress, but she wasn’t. She rarely ever was. So,