Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
I suck in a breath, his words capturing me in a chokehold. As his chest heaves with anticipation, he moves in closer until his lips brush past mine. Just as I go to melt into him, the startling realization of the surveillance cameras giving my stalker a bird’s-eye view right into this moment terrifies me.
“No,” I rush out, shoving him away.
Knight stares back at me, his brow arched. “No?”
“We can’t do this here,” I tell him, panic rising in my chest because it might already be too late. “The cameras. He’s watching everything I do, and I won’t put a target on your back like that. You said it’s a pattern, and if that’s right and he’s watching you with your hands all over me . . . I can’t have you show up in a body bag on my table.”
Knight steps right back into me, gripping my hips and pulling me right to the edge. “You think I’m scared of some asshole playing a children’s game?” he questions. “I know what I want, Harper, and he’s not about to keep me from taking it.”
I swallow hard, desire pulsing through me like liquid gold. “I’m just trying to protect you.”
His eyes soften, and his hand returns to my neck, his thumbs brushing across my jaw. “I appreciate that, but I don’t need your protection. I’d rather you be vigilant in watching your own back. I can handle myself and you at the same time.”
I shake my head. “It’s a two-way street, Knight. I feel the same way. I’ve always been independent. I’ve never needed to rely on anybody. I don’t like feeling like a pathetic damsel who needs her sexy SWAT officer to rescue her. It makes me feel weak.”
“Are you asking me to back off when it comes to this guy? Because I can’t do that.”
I let out a heavy breath. “I know,” I murmur. “But I just need you to understand where I’m coming from and why I sometimes find it hard to open up. Hell, even why I pushed so hard against exclusivity. I need that independence.”
“Speaking of. If your relationships are a threat, you need to let this other guy know.”
“I, uhhhh . . . sort of already did.”
He pulls back, his gaze narrowed. “You told him about your stalker.”
“Not exactly,” I say. “But I told him about you. By accident. Kind of.”
“I don’t know what to make of that.”
“All that you need to know is that Laith is a really nice guy, and while yes, we’ve had a sexual relationship for a while now, we’re friends first. We’re honest, so after you and I . . . you know. I let him know. I didn’t think it was fair to keep him in the dark like that, so he took a backseat.”
“A backseat?”
“Mm-hmm,” I murmur. “He’s always wanted what’s best for me, and he and I . . . If something were going to happen between us, it would have happened a long time ago. So while you and I are doing whatever the hell this is, he doesn’t want to be a factor that could potentially keep something from happening. He respectfully bowed out until I figure that out.”
Knight moves in tighter, holding me as though he’s never seen anything so precious in his life. “And what exactly do you think could potentially be happening here?”
I shake my head as a stupid smile pulls across my lips. “Don’t ask questions that neither of us knows the answer to, let alone are even a little bit ready to hear.”
He laughs, and the sound does something wild to me. “Fair point,” he murmurs, his gaze shifting to the camera up on the wall behind me as his hand slowly trails higher on my thigh. Indecision flashes in his dark eyes, and I know exactly what he’s thinking. Does he risk his life just to touch me, does he burn it all to hell just for a moment of heaven?
His gaze comes back to mine, his hand shifting to the back of my neck. “Fuck it. Let him see that you belong to me.” And not a second later, his lips crash down on mine. Hunger slams into me as I melt into his touch, his hand shifting to the side of my thigh, guiding it around his waist.
His tongue swoops into my mouth, and I groan as his cock grinds against my needy pussy, and before it even occurs to me where we are or what we’re about to do, my hands are greedily pulling at his shirt, desperately trying to pull it over his head.
The moment it’s gone, I dive for his body, my hands all over him, exploring and committing every sharp ridge of his muscled frame to memory, needing that touch more than I need my next breath. His lips are like a potent drug against mine, and as he reaches for my scrub shirt and pulls it over my head, the hunger becomes too much to bear.