with knowing that?”
“Or we could try to be kind and gracious. A human being for once.”
“We both know you aren’t interested in me because of my kindness, Palmer. This is how we work.” It’s how I prefer it. Emotions only fuck things up.
“We”— she ghosts a finger between us— “don’t do anything, Marek. You mean nothing to me.”
“I can live with you hating me.” I circle around her, forcing her to mirror my movement. Her steps are short but meaningful, guaranteeing a safe distance between us, but she’s scared enough not to take her eyes off me. If this was a chess game, she’s played right into my strategy, giving me full advantage. The whole room is in my view, and she’s blind now. The bed is where I want her. Stalking forward, I wrap my arm around her waist and fall to the mattress, trapping her hips between my thighs. “What I can’t live with is you forgetting how I can make you feel.”
“Marek.” She squirms under me, pushing on my chest.
“Not helping your cause, baby.” My hands skim down her sides and over to the middle until I’m cupping her through her pants. She jolts at the slightest pressure.
“I’ll scream.” The threat is empty. She and I both know it. Her chest rises with heavy breaths. She makes one single mistake, though. She wets her bottom lip and nips at the tip of her tongue. Bulls eye. Her tell. Everyone has one.
My hand inspects every curve of her body, fully appreciating her hips, the ripple of her ribs, and comes to rest on her throat. “And I’ll shut you up before anyone can hear you.”
“This doesn’t mean anything.”
There it is. She’s pliable, willing to bend for me, to give me what I want. Deep down, she knows we want the same exact thing. She doesn’t need to justify her wants with me. I’ll lean into them, always, and I will never judge her for falling into my trap every time.
“Of course, it doesn’t.” I apply slight pressure on her throat. I inhale her perfume, burying myself in her neck, enjoying the way she feels underneath me.
She reaches between our bodies, whipping through the buttons on my jeans. With enthusiasm, my jeans are pushed down my thighs, and she rolls me onto my back. She straddles my lap, and I sit up to rip her shirt over her head.
“You hate it, don’t you?” I run the back of my fingers over her perfect tits. She gazes down at me, frustration cording its way through her body. “You’re so tightly wound, Palmer. What can we do to make you relax? You want to call a truce, you have one, but for fuck’s sake, we better do it with you riding my dick.”
Her fingers skate up my shirt. I lift off the bed, giving myself enough room to pull the fabric over my head.
“This means nothing. You mean nothing. This is sex. My own desperate way of understanding,” she explains again. This girl needs to learn it’s not necessary.
“You so badly want to understand what Reed meant to me, to us, that you’ve forgotten one fundamental thing, Palmer.”
“What’s that?”
“It doesn’t fucking matter, because when I’m inside of you, feeling your walls clenching every inch of my cock, it isn’t her I’m thinking about. You don’t want to understand the shit I had with Reed. It was complicated and messy.”
“Like we aren’t?” she scoffs.
“We hate each other. We both have our reasons neither of us are willing to admit.” I flick my hips up, pressing my hardness against her middle. “It doesn’t get much simpler than that.”
“Then why can’t we stay away from each other? Why am I willing to dance with Lucifer’s spawn if I hate you so much?”
“Hate and lust aren’t much different. When it comes to us, we’re trying to work something out. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’m enjoying whatever this is.”
“We can’t do this.” She tries to throw her leg off me and escape. “You’ve done horrible things to me.”
“You make me feel out of control.” I pull her back, tossing her onto the bed.
Her pants are unbuttoned and gone in a second. I stare down at her bare pussy. No panties. Nice touch.
“Show me.”
Her legs spread wide, an offering, permission to do what I do best. Take.
This girl has eighteen years of daddy issues boiling over right in front of me. What causes a girl to allow someone like me into her life?