the wood above my head and peering down at me.
"Nah," I disagreed, turning towards him and pressing my back to the wood as I looked up at him. "That guy isn't the kind to get his manicured hands dirty like that."
Fox twitched a smile at me, his gaze moving down my body for a moment before fixing back on my eyes.
"And you prefer a man who gets his hands dirty then, do you?"
"Let's see." I took his free hand in mine, lifting it up and inspecting it closely. There were scars all over his knuckles which spoke of the violence that touched his life all too often and callouses lining his palm which proved he wasn't afraid of hard work. I trailed my fingertip around the curve of the infinity tattoo on his thumb and glanced up at him questioningly.
"I got that for you. Because I never gave up on finding you and I knew I never would. Now that I've found you again it isn't about the search. It's about the life we're owed. And the forever I know we’ll claim."
I licked my lips as I looked up at him, wanting more of his mouth on mine and knowing that wasn't fair while I knew I couldn't ever be what he wanted me to be.
"Say it," he growled, watching me like I held every answer to every question he'd ever wanted to ask on the tip of my tongue.
"No," I replied because I couldn't. I just wished I could make him understand why.
Fox growled in frustration and shifted forward, grasping the backs of my thighs and lifting me so that I was pinned against the basement door with his hips between my legs. He leaned in and my lips parted in anticipation of a kiss he didn't offer.
He paused there, holding me in suspense and looking me in the eyes as he smirked, his mouth just out of reach of my lips and his breath tasting like every sin I wanted to commit with him.
A muffled thump sounded from somewhere close by, but with Fox stealing every inch of my attention, I couldn't spare a moment to wonder about it.
"I warned you, hummingbird. If you don't ask for it soon, I'll end up taking it. But sometimes I think that's what you want, isn't it?" Fox asked darkly.
I shook my head as I gripped his biceps, physically forcing myself not to close the distance between us and let him win despite the ache I felt to do so.
He leaned in even closer and my traitorous lips parted as a soft whimper escaped me, the feeling of his solid cock driving against my panties making my fucking brain melt away and leak out of my ears as every single reason I had to try and fight this slipped out of my grasp.
"Liar," Fox breathed before stepping back suddenly and dropping me to my feet again.
I gaped up at him and he smirked down at me. "Asshole," I hissed, trying to pull off a scowl but I sagged back against the door and my chest heaved as I tried to fight off the effect he had on my body.
"You only have to say the word. Or we can keep playing this game until one of us snaps." Fox smirked at me like the cocky bastard he was and I straightened my spine at the challenge.
My gaze trailed down his muscular physique to the more than tempting bulge in his pants and I groaned again, knocking my head back against the basement door and laughing.
"I never lose, Badger," I said, trying to show more confidence than I felt but he only laughed too.
"We'll see."
“F ox!” I shouted against the gag in my mouth as I kicked the edges of the wooden chest Shawn had locked me inside hours ago. “Rogue!”
I could hear them, they were so close. I’d thought I was just imagining it at first, sure my mind was playing cruel tricks on me, but they were there. Right upstairs in this fucking house.
“Miss Mabel!” I cried, my voice nothing but a muffled sound and no answer came from her. She’d told me Kaiser always slipped her a sedative whenever he had guests over and tonight was clearly one of those fucking nights.
I kicked, shouted and thrashed as Rogue’s soft laughter called to me and my heart fragmented at that noise. Seeing her face again would be everything. I pictured her mouth pulling up in a smile and her eyes full