Page 90 of Ramshackle
The clock on the wall shows it’s after two in the morning.
Had I fallen asleep?
“There you are!” she shouts, jabbing a finger into my chest. Her finger slides down my tie a few inches, and then she grabs it and pulls it to rub against her cheek. “So silky,” she whispers to herself.
She’s trashed.
Anything I say to her now will only disappear into oblivion, so I don’t bother reprimanding her for wandering around alone and drunk in the middle of the night.
I’ll save that for the morning when she’s hungover.
Raegan’s head plops against my chest, her face nuzzling into my shirt and tie. “Mm…so soft and warm.”
My heart attempts to leap from my chest at the easy way she’s touching me now. My blood heats, perking my cock to attention with this slightest affection.
Fuck’s sake.
She’s done this before.It doesn’t mean what I want it to. Drunk Raegan likes me far more than sober Raegan. I can’t take anything she says or does while under the influence as truth.
The tease is torture, though.
“Why are you always hitting on me when you’re drunk?” I mutter, trying to help her back to her feet while she leans all her weight on me. “Any other man might get the wrong idea.”
Her face falls to a pout. A fucking kicked puppy, sad-face pout. “But not you?”
Deep breath.
Draw the line.
“You’ve been clear you want nothing to do with me like that,” I answer slowly, still trying to help her walk to the door. I need to get her to bed before I do or say something I’ll regret. She won’t remember it come morning, but I will.
Raegan plants her feet and would have toppled backward if not for me already holding her. “You don’t like me, then?”
I click my teeth together, grinding them with the effort not to lose my temper with her. Everyone else, and I can keep my head and my wits without much difficulty. It’s easy to remain objective and keep my focus on the bigger picture. Easy to remove myself and any emotions from the equation.
But her?
It’s like I store up all the rage and passion I have exclusively for this woman.
I’m a hollow man without her.
The moment I’m near her, every emotion floods through my veins until I’m fit to burst, and it’s a struggle to control anything I do or say. She brings out the best and the worst in me. I only wish I had some say in it before it ruins everything.
I snap and push her back against the wall.
She gasps, her blue eyes lighting with excitement.
“No. I don’tlikeyou. I fucking love you. Even though it makes me say and do crazy things. It feels like my chest is on fire whenever I’m near you. Because I want you so much that it burns me alive to know I’ll never have you. To know that you’re going to choose Jackson or Kellan, and I’m not even in the running. Even though you’ve had my heart since the moment I stepped on that godforsaken island. I watched you gather theothers around you like you’re their goddamn sun, but I had you first.”
There’s a moment of silence as she stares at me, and then she breathes in a soft command, “Then kiss me.”
I don’t think; I hardly ever do around her, so I shouldn’t be surprised with myself.
I kiss her before her demand has completely fallen from her lips. I steal the breath from our lungs, kissing her like it’s the only thing giving us life. I hate that I’m a slave to this burning passion inside me. That I give in without a second’s hesitation.
She owns me, body and soul, and that loss of control is infuriating.
My body presses her back against the wall, my hands scrambling into her hair and locking our mouths together as if they were made to be one. I need her kiss more than I need anything else in this world. Her hands grab at my clothes, pulling and yanking me closer like she’s just as desperate to close any distance between us.
