in her irises. Her pupils had expanded and her lips parted, dark desire seeming to swallow her.
“I think that’s fairly obvious,” she whispered, bringing my hand to her waist. She reached up to grip the back of my neck with her other hand, and I shuddered.
To be touched.
By her, of all people.
It was a heaven I’d never seen, nor hoped to.
Yet now, I hoped. “I thought you hated me.”
“I might.” She stepped closer, nearly pressing her chest to mine. “But I want you more.”
“You want both hatred and pleasure?”
“Maybe it makes it sweeter.”
“Anything with you is sweet.” And yet, likely a betrayal.
I stepped back from her, but the vines held me tight. I could break free of them if I really wanted to, yet I hesitated.
That hesitation was my undoing.
Her eyes gleamed with a siren song as she reached up and flicked open the top button of her shirt. Then the next and the next. My breath caught in my throat as I watched the pale sliver of skin appear. It grew larger, and I drew my hand away from her waist, clenching my fists at my side.
I couldn’t touch her. I would lose all control if I touched her.
Yet suddenly, I didn’t care. The last button was undone, and the long line of her torso was revealed. Just an inch.
I stepped toward her, brushing the shirt off her shoulders.
She let me, and I took it as consent.
Not that I needed to. Her vines were making it clear enough what she wanted, holding me to her.
The shirt fell to the ground, revealing the long, pale length of her impossibly perfect form. Simple dark fabric cupped her small breasts, and I’d never seen anything so enticing in my life.
“Fates, you’re beautiful.” Soft, where I was hard. Lean, where I was muscled.
The last of my control frayed and I pulled my shirt off, needing to feel skin on skin. Her emerald eyes darkened at the sight of me, her lips parting.
Mine.
Possessiveness filled me, the desire to own. I rested my hand at the crease of her neck just as I’d envisioned before, my thumb resting over the delta at the hollow of her throat. Gently, so gently. But it still looked like a collar around her pretty white throat.
She swallowed hard, irises swallowed by her pupils.
It was a position of mastery. Of control.
“You like that,” I whispered.
“God help me, I do.”
I bit back a groan and ran my thumb up her cheek, cupping the back of her head and yanking her toward me, the beast unleashed. She came to me easily, water flowing over stone.
I bent my head, pressing my lips to hers, devouring the sweetness that I’d grown addicted to. That softness and smoothness.
In a life of hard angles and sharp edges, she was a harbor from a storm I hadn’t known I lived in.
Maybe she had ulterior motives. She probably did. But when she let me touch her like this . . .
If she were an inferno, I’d walk right into the blaze.
I’d just have to be stronger than her. There was no poison in my system now. I would maintain the upper hand as I had last night.
Heart racing, I nipped her lower lip, then dragged my mouth to her neck, tracing my teeth along the tendon there. She shuddered, her hands slipping to my stomach, her fingertips running along the sensitive skin there.
I hissed in a breath, pleasure shooting straight to my cock. I was so hard that it hurt, but in the best way.
No.
I needed to retain control.
I moved my mouth back to hers, desperate to taste more of her. Taste all of her. I wanted her wet and wild beneath me, arching and crying out as I tasted every inch of her, finding places she’d never given anyone else.
I wanted to own her.
“Yes.” She parted her lips, giving me her sweetness.
I gripped her hips, holding her captive as I traced my tongue against hers, the slick softness driving me wild, making me wonder what she tasted like elsewhere. She’d be sweet and slick and hot.
The idea of it caught me in a vise, and I pulled back, desperate to go to my knees and taste her.
“No. Don’t. I want you close.”
“I can do that.” I picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around my waist, pressing close.
I groaned low and carried her to the table that held the plant, setting her down on the edge. She tightened her legs around me, moving her body against