Page 134 of Show Me

His jaw flexes. The silence becomes its own thing. A living thing. Demanding. Dangerous. I should walk away. I know it. He knows it too. But neither of us moves.

Not until Xavier takes a step forward. Small. Barely noticeable. Enough. The breath leaves my lungs. His eyes lock on mine. Question. Warning. Choice. All wrapped into one.

I could stop this. Right now. I don't. That’s the problem.

His hand finds my waist. Careful. Like he’s giving me every chance to pull away. I don't do that either. My fingers curl into the front of his shirt. The decision made.

The second his eyes drop to my mouth, whatever common sense I had left disappears. This doesn't solve anything. It doesn't change what he wants. Or what he doesn't. Tomorrow will still come. The complications will still be there. The hurt waiting down the road. All of it.

But for one reckless moment, I don't care. Neither does he. And that might be the most dangerous thing of all.

His hand shifts, sliding up from my waist to my jaw, fingers firm, not gentle, not asking and stopping me and holding me there.

He watches me, like he’s giving me the chance to end it. I still don’t take it.

The tattoo flexes as his thumb brushes along my skin. I run my finger along it. “I never asked what this is.”

He turns his wrist over. “Dad's property.”

I trace the lines. “It's a map?”

“Topographic survey.” He bites his bottom lip. “Every contour. Every hill.”

“You’ve got land tattooed on you..” How does he make a map sound like foreplay?

“Yeah.” His voice is rough, skating along my skin. The man is sinful. The heat in his eyes catches me off guard, causing a new wave of desire to curl low in my belly.

As if he’s had enough talking, his mouth lands on mine. The kiss isn’t soft. It isn’t slow. It’s immediate, like everything that’s been building breaks loose.

My breath catches against his mouth, surprise hitting first. Then something sharper. I push into it before I can think better of it, fingers tightening in his shirt, pulling him closer.

This is exactly what I shouldn’t want. But I do.

His other hand comes to my back, firm, steady, pulling me in like he’s not letting me step away again. The argument is still there. Under it. Between every breath. Between every movement. It doesn’t go away. We’re just ignoring it.

My hand slides up to his shoulder, gripping tighter, holding on. I need the contact because if I let go, I’ll have to think about what I’m doing.

He pulls back enough that I feel the loss of it immediately. My breath comes uneven. His too.

“This is a mistake.” The words come out rougher than I meant them to.

“I know.”

And that’s it. That’s the moment I should end it. That’s the moment I should step back and tell him this doesn’t work, that his rules don’t make sense, that I’m not going to let myself get pulled into something I already know is going to hurt.

Instead…. I pull him back in. And whatever control I thought I had over this….

It’s gone.

Chapter Seventy

Xavier

Her fingers are twisted in my shirt, holding on just as tight. Good. The thought comes fast. Instinctive. Too fast to question.

My mouth finds hers again, not slow, not careful. Desperate. Sharp with an edge. There’s too much left over from the bar, from seeing her in another man’s arms, from watching her walk out, from not being able to find her, from not knowing if she’d make it home without something happening.

My other hand comes up, settling against her jaw, steadying her there, not forcing, not pushing, just… anchoring. “Look at me.”