Chapter 226
[ 474 words ]
Chapter 226:
Caroline looked up at his face. She saw the deep, purple shadows under his eyes. She saw the grime on his skin and the rigid tension in his jaw. He looked like he had run through hell just to get to this bed.
A sudden, sharp ache bloomed in the center of Caroline’s chest. It wasn’t fear. It was an overwhelming, dangerous surge of empathy.
Without thinking, Caroline slowly raised her hand, her fingertips gently brushing against the dark, bruised skin beneath his right eye.
It was a gesture of pure, unguarded tenderness.
But to a man who had been starving for her, running on zero sleep and pure adrenaline, the soft touch of her fingers felt like a match dropped into a pool of gasoline.
Jarrod’s breath hitched. The pupils of his eyes dilated until the irises were almost entirely black. The fragile thread of his restraint snapped.
𝗪𝗁𝘢t 𝗲𝗏𝘦𝘳yoո𝖾 𝗶𝗌 𝗋𝘦𝗮𝖽𝘪ո𝗀 𝗼n 𝘨𝖺𝗹ո𝗈v𝘦𝗅𝘀.𝖼o𝗺
The second Caroline’s fingertips grazed the bruised skin under his eye, Jarrod reacted with terrifying speed.
He snapped his head to the side and caught her index finger between his teeth.
He didn’t bite down hard enough to break the skin, but the pressure was firm, sharp, and intensely predatory. His tongue slid slowly over the pad of her finger, tasting her skin. His dark eyes locked onto hers, burning with a raw, feral hunger that made the hair on Caroline’s arms stand up.
Caroline gasped. The intensity of the gesture sent a jolt of heat straight through her. She yanked her hand back as if she had touched a live wire. Her heart began to hammer frantically against her ribs.
But Jarrod didn’t give her a second to recover.
He surged forward, his massive body pressing her deep into the mattress. He captured her mouth again, and this time the kiss was almost punishing in its intensity.
His large, calloused left hand slid down her side. His right arm remained braced against the mattress, immobilized, as he shoved his left hand underneath the fabric of her cheap black turtleneck. His rough palm flattened against the bare, warm skin of her stomach. The contrast of his cold, calloused skin against her soft flesh sent a violent shudder through her entire body.
Panic flared in Caroline’s chest. Her body was reacting to him, betraying her, but her mind was screaming. She was in the heart of the Romero estate. She was not ready to surrender this final boundary to a man who was clearly out of his mind with exhaustion and adrenaline.
She twisted her head, trying to break the kiss. “Jarrod, stop—”
As she jerked her face away, her teeth accidentally clashed against his lower lip.
She bit him. Hard.
Jarrod flinched and pulled back slightly.
A bead of bright red blood welled up on his lower lip. A faint, metallic taste of iron bloomed in the space between them.
Caroline froze. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
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