I didn’t want some bizarre link to this man.
“Me neither. I want my life back.”
“No, you don’t. This is no longer your world, is it?”
My breath hitched, my eyes widening.
“Can you read my thoughts?”
“No…” His lids lowered, shaking his head, moving closer.
“How is this possible? How are you here?”
Suddenly my surroundings shifted, and I found myself standing in the alley in the Savage Lands. The smells of coffee, piss, body odor, and cheap perfume punched up my nose so strongly I had to fight not to gag. I could see the sunshine beaming down through the awnings, warming my bare skin, and heard the people buzz and talk as they moved around us.
“How are we both here in your bathroom right now?” He held out his arms, making some people duck and get out of his way. A girl looked back to see who he was talking to, but her eyes never landed on me.
No one saw me. I was not here… But to Warwick and me, everything was real.
When I turned to peer at him again, we were back in my bathroom, his form stepping so close his clothes brushed my skin. I could feel the heat of him. A groan tried to climb out, but I gritted my teeth, shutting my eyes briefly at the sensation of his breath sliding down the back of my neck.
“Why?” My focus went on him through the mirror again.
“I don’t know that either… I just know from the moment you walked into the mess hall that morning in Halálház, you’ve screwed everything up. Like a fucking succubus… pulling all my attention, demanding it, moving me around you like a planet.” He wrapped his fingers around my throat, his bulk pushing into the back of mine, pinning me against the counter, the feel of him through his jeans pressing into me.
For a moment, we were back in the congested lane outside Miss Kitty’s, the cool breeze licking my skin and across my nipples. People stared at him, giving him a wide berth. To them, he held nothing but air, their heads shaking at the insane man as he gripped my throat harder, his other hand gliding across my stomach.
“This needs to end,” he growled into my ear, lighting every molecule in my body on fire. “I was content… I like death. Feeling nothing.”
“I don’t want this any more than you do,” I breathed, his touch and the wind speckling my skin with bumps.
Even when it seemed we were back in the bathroom, I could feel the cool outside air. It was as if we were in both places at once.
His fingers skated lower, skimming my newly waxed area. I huffed air through my nose, my hips automatically opening to him.
“Back to the clean, good girl… on the outside,” he rumbled in my ear, our eyes locking in the mirror. “You can pretend all you want, princess. Play this part until the day you die, but I know better.” He yanked me firmer against him, his thumb pushing down on my throat. “You enjoy it dirty and rough.”
My nose flared, my lids lowering in a glower, but everything else betrayed me, wetness seeping from me, the frosty air of the outside gliding between my legs as figures moved around us.
A deep noise vibrated from his chest, his lip rising. “I want nothing to do with you, Kovacs. I gave you back. It was supposed to end there. Stop thinking of me and get me the fuck out of your head.”
“You first,” I snarled. We were back in my bathroom again.
His jaw twitched, his eyes burning as if they were true flames. For someone who liked death and feeling nothing, he felt like life itself. Vigorous. Raw. Fierce. A fire that raged inside me.
His hand inched lower, my back bowing, not caring if this was right or wrong, real or not… I just wanted it. I felt so alive, so vibrant I wanted to crack out of my skin.
“Fuck. Kovacs,” he said so low I barely heard him, his fingers slipping between my folds, sinking into me.
I gasped sharply, my head tipping back into his shoulder, my lids shutting as pleasure so intense it burned lashed at my bones like whips. “Oh, gods…”
“Edesem?” A tentative voice bolted my head up and my lids apart. I spotted Maja standing in the doorway, her eyes wandering around the room before landing on me.
Alone.
Chagrin burned my face, humiliation at not only being caught but for the person I