AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, give me a break, Reeves. You really think I’m evil? What have I done that hasn’t been completely justified?”
“You’re tearing down my home.”
“Your dangerous, uninhabitable home! What’s the big deal? Is it money? Can you not afford anything better?”
“There is nothing better!” To my horror, tears formed in my eyes. I didn’t want him to see me cry. I didn’t want him to see me weak. He needed to know that what he was doing was wrong, damn it. He needed to pay. He needed to be stopped.
“Oh, hell, woman. Don’t start crying. It’s just a house.”
“You think I want this? You think I like having my eyes leak when I’m trying to tell a man how much I hate him?”
“I don’t get it. Why does this place mean so much to you?”
“Because it was theirs. My parents lived in the downstairs apartment when I came to stay with them. It was the first” —I brushed a tear away, angry at myself for losing control— “the first home I ever had. I was adopted, okay? I went through hell in the foster system until I landed here. It was like walking into a fantasy world. I didn’t know there was a single place on this planet where I could feel safe. I didn’t know that people could—could love me. But they did, and it was right here. That’s why I moved into the attic after college. It was the only place I’d ever belonged. And now they’re gone. If you tear it down, I won’t have anything left.”
I ended my little speech on a pathetic wail, slapping my hands over my face. Sobs shuddered through me, the onslaught of grief and anger and fear too much for me to handle.
Then, just when I was ready to run away, warm arms encircled me, and I was dragged against a broad chest and pulled inside his apartment, the door closing behind us. He smelled like clean laundry and man, and I inhaled a deep, shuddering breath while my tears wet his shirt. His broad hands swept over my back as he pulled me closer, dipping his head to press his cheek to my temple, stubble rasping against my skin.
“I don’t want to hug you. I hate you,” I whined, which would have been mortifying if I were thinking straight.
“I know,” he rumbled, squeezing me tighter.
Seconds ticked by, and the knots in my muscles loosened. I clung to his shirt like it was a lifeline, dragging in breath after breath as I tried to surface through the feelings that had nearly drowned me.
“I get it now,” he said as the silence stretched. “I get what this place means to you.”
I sniffled. “I’m so embarrassed.”
His hand made another pass down my back as he nudged me to look up at him. “Don’t be.” A sigh slipped through his lips and, quietly, he said, “I’m sorry, Charlie.”
My fingers curled into his shirt and despite myself, I relaxed into his embrace. He was warm and he smelled like heaven, and the way he was looking at me made me feel seen for the first time in who knew how long.
Our eyes met. I saw the moment he decided to stop resisting. I saw it, and I did nothing to get away. His face angled as one hand slid up to grasp the side of my neck. His thumb brushed my jaw with the kind of gentleness that made me feel unsteady. His eyes were liquid, and a soft sigh slipped through his lips, like he was just—giving up the fight.
Then Sebastian Anderson—nemesis, neighbor, nuisance—kissed me like nothing else existed.
His thumb pressed against my jaw as he tilted my head back to deepen the kiss, and I lost myself in the feel of his mouth against mine. His broad palm pressed into my lower back, dragging me hard up against his chest. I let out a whimper, and he groaned in response, dragging his tongue over mine.
Then something between us snapped, and all pretense of gentleness was gone. I was bodily shoved against the wall, Anderson’s thigh pressed between my legs. He held my jaw and kissed me hard, his stubble abrading my skin, his touch pinning me where I stood.
My blood heated and I gave as good as I got. I bit his lower lip and pushed at his chest. He rocked back, blown-out pupils staring back at me as his chest heaved, and then grinned when I dragged him right back.
“I hate you,” I mumbled against his lips.
He grabbed my hips and dragged me up against his thigh. “Hate me harder, then.”
My retort was on the tip of my tongue, but it was swallowed by his kiss. I dragged my nails over his scalp and gasped when he fisted a hand in my hair. He tugged my head to the side and licked up the side of my neck like he couldn’t get enough of me, and all the while, his thigh pressed against the apex of my thighs, exactly where I needed it.
“This changes nothing,” I said between pants.
He tightened his fist in my hair and pulled back to stare in my eyes. “It changes everything, Charlie.”
I let out a sorry excuse for a scoff, and then he was easing the pressure of his thigh on my clit, unbuttoning my jeans, and sliding his hand down the front of my underwear. The contact of his hand against me was a shock. The heat of his fingers. The way he touched me like he owned me. A groan rumbled through him as he did, his forehead falling forward to rest against mine.
“You,” he said, dragging his fingers up to toy with my clit, “are a little liar.”
Clinging to his shoulders, I widened my stance and let my head fall against the wall. “How do you figure?”
