Chapter 16
[ 1,114 words ]
Sebastian’s POV
I stared at Emilia, baffled by the sheer audacity coming off her.
“So? Are you in?” She lifted her eyebrows, plainly trying to provoke me.
The confidence in her stance gave me pause. Something about the way she looked at me, so certain, so sure, sent an unwelcome thought spiraling through me.
Does she know we’re mates?
Ryder stirred in the back of my mind, tail practically wagging like some lovesick pup.
“She’s ours,” he rumbled. “I don’t care if you’re too stubborn to admit it. She’s our mate, and I love her already.”
I gritted my teeth. You’re pathetic. All you think about is mating.
“And all you think about is running from what’s right in front of you,” Ryder shot back.
I couldn’t deal with him. Not now. I shoved him out and slammed a wall between us.
But even without his commentary, I felt it. That cursed bond humming under my skin, pulling me toward her like gravity. Every instinct screaming at me to close the distance, to touch her, claim her, mark her.
I crushed it down.
Emilia thought she could win this ridiculous bet? Make me fall for her? She had no idea what she was up against. And honestly, the challenge only made me want to prove her wrong.
“Why not?” I said coolly, turning for the door.
I needed distance. Space. Anything to clear my head.
“Where are you going?” Her voice stopped me.
“Downstairs,” I bit out. “The game hasn’t started. No need to rush it.”
“Fine.” She turned to go, and her foot caught on the edge of the rug.
She pitched backward with a startled gasp.
I moved before I could think, my arm shooting out to catch her. She landed against my chest, my hand splayed across the small of her back, her weight tipped into mine.
And that was the mistake.
The second she was steady, she didn’t pull away. Her hands slid up my chest, one curling into my hair, and she rose on her toes. Her mouth found the side of my throat.
Everything stopped.
Warm. Her lips dragged slow up the line of my neck, breath spilling hot over my skin. She kissed just under my jaw, then higher, catching the shell of my ear. The tip of her tongue traced it, unhurried, before her teeth closed on my earlobe and tugged.
A low sound tore out of me before I could stop it.
My mind went blank. Every sharp thought gone. There was only the wet heat of her mouth, the weight of her body against mine, her breath against my ear.
My hand was still at her back, and it pulled her closer before I decided to. My eyes had already fallen shut. My body answered on pure instinct, tilting into her, wanting more.
She hummed against my throat, satisfied, and that small sound was what did it.
Cold sense crashed back like ice water.
What the hell am I doing?
I shoved her back, breathing hard.
She caught her balance, eyes bright, lips parted, far too pleased with herself. Not a trace of the woman who’d nearly gone down a moment ago.
Anger flared. At her for the trick. Mostly at myself for answering it.
“I thought you weren’t stooping to seduction,” I snarled.
“I’m not.” She tilted her head, all wide-eyed innocence. “I’ve still got every stitch of clothing on. I didn’t do a single thing that should turn a man on.” Her gaze slid down me, slow and deliberate. “So if you’re reacting like this… that sounds like your problem, Alpha Sebastian. Not mine.”
Heat crawled up my neck, and it wasn’t want this time. It was shame.
Because she was right. The thin fabric of my slacks hid nothing. No matter how hard I willed it down, the evidence stood there, undeniable.
Hard as stone. From a mouth on my neck and nothing more.
“Get out,” I growled.
She didn’t move.
She just looked at me, chin lifted, that little smile still on her mouth, like she’d already won and was waiting for me to catch up.
“I said get out.” My voice dropped low.
“Or what?” she said softly. “You’ll admit you liked it?”
Something in me snapped.
I closed the distance, took her by the shoulders, and walked her backward out the door. She didn’t fight me. She let herself be moved, smiling the whole way.
“We’ll see who wins this bet,” she said, right before I shut the door in her face.
I turned the lock and stood there, chest heaving.
The second my legs held, I went into the bathroom and cranked the cold water to full.
I didn’t bother undressing. I stepped under the spray in my shirt and slacks and let it soak me through.
It didn’t help.
I’d felt nothing but revulsion toward women my whole life. Obstacles. Annoyances. Necessary evils at best.
And now this one had done what none of them could. She’d made me feel alive, and I hated her for it.
I drove my fist into the tile and welcomed the jolt up my arm.
For an ordinary man, wanting a woman was nothing. Expected, even. For me, one kiss had cracked me open, and that scared me worse than anything had in years.
Then, over the drum of the water, a knock.
“Sebastian.” Her voice came muffled through the door, calm as anything. “Hiding in the shower won’t change what just happened out here.” A pause. “You didn’t push me out because you were angry. You pushed me out because you couldn’t last another second without giving in. That’s not winning. That’s running.”
Something in my chest cracked down the middle.
I’d burned through every scrap of control I had to keep my hands off her, and she stood on the other side of that door calling me a coward for it.
She wanted to keep poking? Fine. She could find out exactly what she’d been poking at.
I crossed the bathroom, water still running off me, and yanked the door open.
She barely got my name out. “Sebast—”
I caught her wrist and hauled her in. Through the bedroom, into the bathroom, her feet barely keeping up. Over the lip of the tub and down, until she was sitting in it. I reached past her and turned the shower on full.
Cold water crashed down over both of us.
She gasped, soaked in seconds, hair plastered to her face, clothes going dark and clinging. She glared up at me, chest heaving. I stood over her, just as drenched. Both of us breathing hard.
Neither of us looked away.
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