“Is this what you’re so desperate for, Brie?” I asked, my breath skimming her bare neck as I leaned forward. I was nearly brushing my lips across her skin, but I held off, gauging her reaction. “Is it my attention you crave?” I reached forward and gripped her lower back to bring her stomach flush with mine. I wanted her to feel my hardness, feel how real this situation was. Her hands reached out to grip my chest, trying to put a barrier between us, but I wouldn’t let her.
“Do you want me to touch you like I was going to touch her?” I was an inch away from her lips when she slid her tongue out to wet them.
I smiled, pleased with how much I was affecting her. “You’re not mad that I brought a woman back here, Brie. You’re mad that it wasn’t you.”
She practically snarled at the accusation. She reared back and pushed me away as hard as she could, but I barely budged.
“You’re an asshole,” she said, deflecting the accusation.
“And you’re a child having a tantrum. Get out of my house.”
She turned and whipped open the front door. The thick wood would have slammed straight into me had I not stepped out of the way in time. I watched her walk back to the guesthouse, sparks flying off her. She loved teasing and testing me, but she couldn’t handle the consequences. She thought she could keep nipping at me and I wouldn’t bite back.
After this morning in my kitchen, I’d assumed she was harmless, naive, but she’d pushed too far. She’d assumed too much. I’d needed a night with Cassie. I’d needed to blow off steam, sink my cock into a woman, grip her hair in my hands, and fuck her hard. Brie had ruined that and now, I wasn’t just going to bite back. I was going to draw blood.
Chapter Thirteen
Brie
Shrill, loud BANGS were the first thing I heard the next morning. They rang out downstairs like fireworks exploding in the sky and they broke me out of my REM cycle with a jolt.
“Jeez! What is that?”
“What’s going on?” Molly asked, jerking awake in the top bunk.
I wiped the sleep from my eyes and pushed off my bed just as the crashes started again, this time even louder. I pressed my hands to my ears, trying to dull the sound, but it didn’t help.
“WAKE UP!”
Erik.
“You have five minutes to get dressed and get down here!” His voice boomed through the house, forcing a shiver down my spine.
Molly jumped off the bunk and started tossing clothes out of her suitcase.
“You coming?” she asked, turning to glance at me over her shoulder.
I’d been standing by, immobile, processing the fact that Erik was in our house, yelling. The night before, I’d assumed he would kiss me. His body was on mine, pushing me up against the door with enough force to make my toes curl. I’d tried to hide how turned on I was, but he knew. The bastard definitely knew.
“FOUR MINUTES,” he yelled.
I inhaled a deep breath and followed suit, reaching for a clean leotard and a matching black top and shorts. I brushed my teeth quickly and threw my hair in a braid.
“So I guess he didn’t appreciate the jokes last night?” Molly asked, coming up to stand beside me so she could reach for her own toothbrush.
I avoided her eyes in the mirror and didn’t offer a reply. The girls had asked me what had happened when I’d returned from Erik’s, but I’d ignored their questions and locked myself away upstairs. I’d tried hard to go to sleep, to forget how hard he’d felt against me, how badly I wanted to taste him, but the harder I fought against the memories of him, the more they corrupted my mind. Residual adrenaline and desire had swirled through me all night, and it wasn’t until 2:00 AM that I was finally able to drift to sleep. Now, glancing down at my phone on the bathroom sink, I realized it was only 4:30 AM. No wonder I felt like I’d been hit by a truck.
Lexi and June were already downstairs when I took the stairs two at a time. Erik was standing in front of them with pots scattered around his feet and when I glanced up to meet his eyes, I nearly melted beneath the heated gaze. I wanted to look away, to cower, but I lingered there, trying to find even a sliver of the emotion I’d seen the night before. He’d wanted me against that door. I’d felt his desire burning between us, but now, in the kitchen, he wasn’t just furious—he was indifferent. His cold eyes swept past me as he shouted up the stairs.
“Molly! Rosie! Hurry up!”
He wore a gray Henley shirt that stretched tight over his broad chest and shoulders. I focused on his arms, on the thick muscles corded beneath his shirt. He was so much bigger than me, tall and broad, and realizing that sent an icy chill running down my spine.
“If Rosie and Molly aren’t down here in the next minute, it’s an extra mile,” he said with a calm, dark tone.
“ROSIE. MOLLY,” Lexi yelled back over her shoulder. “Get down here already!”
“We’re coming!” Rosie called out from the top of the stairs.
They made it downstairs just before the minute was up, and when all five of us stood shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen, he swept his gaze over us, landing on me with a small smile.
“Who knows how far the gym is from here?”
My stomach tightened.
“Five or six miles?” Rosie offered with a fragile tone.
“Eight.” He turned and headed for the door. “Let’s go.”
Our Jeep was sitting out in front of the house, but he passed it and directed us down the dark gravel drive. The moon painted his yard in eerie light and I suddenly wished for the sun, thinking maybe he wouldn’t seem quite so intimidating in the light of day.