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I pulled out my phone first though, hovering over the keyboard as I thought about sending Clark another text. But he hadn’t even read my other one according to the read receipts…so I didn’t bother.
All my good intentions seemed to run away when I finally stepped back into the hallway, and my senses were immediately overtaken by Ari's arresting presence. He leaned casually against the wall, his strong frame surrounded by the soft, muted lighting. His dazzling green gaze cast a spell over me as we stood there in the hall.
"You didn't need to wait," I managed to murmur, though my voice betrayed my struggle to maintain composure.
Ari's response was a slow, seductive smile that made my knees feel weak. "Someone would be a fool not to wait for you, sunshine."
His words hung in the air, heavy with unspoken desires, and I could feel the invisible thread that drew us together, weaving a tapestry of attraction and longing. My heart pounded in my chest, and my voice trembled as I met his unwavering gaze.
"Ari," I began, my voice laced with a husky undertone, "we can only be friends."
“Yeah, sunshine? And why’s that?” he asked, crowding me against the wall with his hard, perfect body. His spicy orange and leather scent washed over me and I took a deep breath, wanting as much as I could get.
The way he was staring at me. It was like he wanted to eat me alive. Like he was starstruck by my mere presence.
Like I was his good thing in life.
“Because I have a boyfriend.”
“You should probably put him on notice then, sunshine,” he murmured with a slightly crazed grin.
“Of what?” I whispered.
“Of the fact he’s about to lose his girl.”
His lips brushed against mine then, so, so softly, and it felt like a piece of my heart was clicking into place. Ari pulled back and stared at me for a long moment.
“Fuck it,” he swore roughly, and his lips crashed against my mouth. His tongue licked into me, sliding against mine, changing my fucking life.
I’d never been kissed like this.
Like someone would die without the taste of me.
I broke the kiss and stepped back, our heavy breaths mingling in the air.
He smiled at me, the kind of smile that could break a million hearts, that would break mine…and he pressed his lips against mine. One. More. Time.
And then I ran.
CHAPTER7
ARI
Iwatched my phone, tracking her across town as her Uber took her home. That kiss was a revelation, a seismic shift in my existence. I'd obviously kissed and been kissed before, but nothing compared to the fire that had ignited between us in that stolen moment. It was as if the universe had meant for our lips to meet.
And she’d kissed me back. I know she had.
She’d run away, and I’d let her go.
Just for tonight.
I’d had months to wrap around the idea of her. I could give her some time to adjust to me too.
Obsession didn't even begin to cover what I felt. It was more than that; it was an insatiable craving, a need that clawed at me from the inside. I thought I'd known what it meant to desire someone, to desire her…but tasting her, feeling the soft press of her lips, the sweet taste of her mouth against mine...it was like a drug, an addiction I couldn't shake.
The promise of what could be between us was better than anything else I’d ever had…anything else I’d ever dreamed. She had no idea of the relentless yearning that had taken root. I was a man possessed, and she was the forbidden fruit I couldn't resist.
I’d been looking for Blake Shepfield forever. I’d fucking yearned for her all this time, no one else was good enough because they weren’t her, no one elsecouldever be enough.
