Page 32 of Aftershock
If she reads what’s on the napkin…
If she understands what that list means…
“My secrets are mine.” My hand snaps around her delicate wrist.
A hushed gasp that sounds a lot like a moan tumbles past her lips. Her cheeks burn bright red.
Touching her, smelling her, looking at her this close, it’s all too much.
She should’ve stayed away. I should’ve done a better job of warning her.
Nothing to do about it anymore.
Now that I have her, I’m not letting go.
“But you…” Watching her pupils swallow the blue in her eyes gets me harder than ever. “You’re going to tell me yours. Every. Single. One.”
6
LILITH
The room turns hot in an instant. So hot that I nearly go up in flames.
The cafeteria’s heating system isn’t to blame. It works fine. Steady as ever.
I’m the problem.
Or, more accurately, Alaric is.
Him, and the way his attention locks onto me like I’m the only person in the hospital.
The intensity bleeding from him. His commanding grip. These eyes.
Fuck.
Need builds and echoes through my body, edged with a concern that keeps creeping in.
What if he’s being like that because he caught me stalking him? Is he going to ask why I linger outside the trauma bay a few times a day like some kind of creep?
Or…what if he remembers?
Lead lines the pit of my stomach at the thought.
I knew it was a possibility, but this soon? I’ve barely made an impression beyond a few words and stolen glances.
If he figures out who I am now, any chance of him seeing me as the woman I’ve become is gone.
“Lilith.” He pulls me to him by my wrist. “Did you hear me?”
Him, this whole situation, it’s all so intense. He can’t expect me to speak when I can barely breathe.
Wanting to obey, I try anyway. But when I open my mouth, no words come out.
Except it doesn’t seem to bother him. The moment his gaze drops to my lips, his breath slows, his eyes darkening.
Then he tugs on my wrist again.
He’s close enough to kiss me. If I leaned in, just a little, my mouth would brush his.
