Page 29 of Brutal

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Like him.

I swallow.

And his face.

Strong lines. Clean. Not softened, not exaggerated.

The kind of face people don’t question.

The kind that doesn’t need to try.

And his eyes?—

Amber. Warm but not soft. Focused. Always focused.

On me.

I felt it.

His hands…

They’re large. Steady. Perfectly shaped.

The way one of them closed around my wrist.

My pulse jumps.

Hard.

It was just a touch.

That’s all it was.

Except it wasn’t nothing.

It felt?—

I shift in my seat, pressing my knees together against the warmth between my legs, desperately trying to ground myself.

The weight of his hand. The heat of it. The way my body reacted before I could stop it.

That’s the part I don’t like. Not him. My reaction to him. I didn’t pull away. I didn’t break the moment.

And worse…

I didn’t want to.

And now I can’t stop thinking about it.

Not about what happened.

About what didn’t.

The space between us. The fraction of distance he left untouched.

If he had leaned in…

I wouldn’t have stopped him.

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