Текст книги "Take Me"

Автор книги: T. A. Grey

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Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

His muffled laughter reached her ears as he palmed her bare bottom. Skin to skin. Hot hands to cool buttocks. It felt amazing, incredible. Hot as hell.

Felicity choked out a sigh as she opened her legs to give him better access. She hadn’t meant to do it. It was a natural response an invitation for him to touch her.

His breathing deepened. “Your friend is in the next room. I can’t take you here no matter how much it’s killing me not to. I can smell how wet you are.” His voice was a rough growl of sound.

He nipped at her stomach and his hands squeezed her. A moan escaped her. Thank god Beth wasn’t supernatural lest she heard the noises Felicity was making.

Dom slid a hand between her legs. Cupped her sex in a possessive grasp with his thumb covering her bud and his fingers covering her wet folds. If he but curled his fingers he could slide those thick, long fingers inside of her.

“Dom,” she choked, fisting his hair.

“Baby, mate with me. Say yes to me.”

She shook her head to clear the fog. She’d forgotten. He wanted to mate with her. He didn’t want Julianna.

“Did you love Julianna?”

The hand on her sex tightened then one long finger slowly pushed inside her. She rose to her tiptoes with the action. Her mouth fell open on a fluttery moan. She couldn’t fight her body’s response to rock into that finger as her wetness coated him.

“Never. I hardly spoke to her,” he said.

“You never touched her.”

“No, never.”

“But I heard you kiss her after you...after we...in the kitchen tonight.”

Slowly, in and out that finger rocked. All the while he kept his thumb in place over her pearly bud, unmoving. Only her rocking hips bumped her against it pushing her, making her wetter, hotter.

“On the cheek,” he growled and nipped her stomach again. “Like I could kiss her.” The hand on her ass left for a fleeting moment to tug her skirt all the way up to her waist. Cool air breathed over her bare bottom and the small of her back for the second time that night. Then the slap came on her cool cheek and she gasped aloud as the sting registered in her brain.

“Dominic!” she hissed.

The slap was soft and felt very much like reprimand. “I would never touch another woman while I’m with you. I’ve never lied to you about that. It’s you. It’s been you since I first saw you looking nervous in my study. And it’ll be you for the rest of my life.”

“Okay,” she said, her head falling back as his finger once more started pumping.

He slapped her cheek again, harder.

A bolt of heat shot through her blood. She found her hips grinding, her bottom searching for his hand again. She wanted another slap, this time on the other side to even out the warm, stinging sensation.

In a gruff voice he said, “You like it. Fuck...I’m going to take you until you scream. I’m going to take your sweet little body until you’re sweating from exhaustion and you can no longer speak my name. I’m going to take you, baby, until you no longer doubt whether or not your mine. Until your body recognizes my touch before I even enter to you. I’m going to take you until you tell me the words I want to hear.”

Breathing hard, Felicity tugged on his hair until she met his gaze. With his hand cupping her sex, his eyes locked on hers she whispered the words. Words she was born to say.

“Then take me.”

Dom stood in a rush, one hand fisting in her hair to cock her head for a brutal kiss. She was lost to him, his kiss, his touch. He started working her clit in tight circles. Burning pleasure ensconced her body like she was baking under the sun. She fisted his hair in her hands and kissed him back just as hard, sliding her tongue against his. And as her hips rocked into his hand and she flew apart in an intense, heart-throbbing climax that tightened inside her then erupted, his kiss caught her screams.

Before she even had a chance to come down from the high, she saw the look in his eyes.

He cupped her jaw, his thumb tracing over her chin. “I love it when you look at me like that,” he said.

“Like what?”

“Like you can’t wait to have me.”

Understanding struck her. They each had the look. A slow laugh bubbled out of her, and as he picked her up in his arms, she called out a hasty goodbye to Beth.

Her mate, her love cradled her close as he stalked out of the house and took her home.

Chapter 19

Felicity woke up to a terse voice saying her name. She blinked to clear the sleep from her eyes. As she slowly came to memories surged back from last night.

She remembered coming back to the estate and Dominic leading her to his room. He’d been insatiable, but not in a way she would have expected.

He’d licked her everywhere, tasted every inch of her, and palmed every curve of her body without letting her touch him in return. He’d made her suck on his index finger to wet it so he could make her nipple hard, then he’d paid glorious attention to each breast. He’d even kissed her wrists, the inside of her elbows, the slender bone at her ankles, and the soft tops of her feet. He’d paid a silent, arousing homage to her body that she’d longed to reciprocate but he wouldn’t let her.

And when he’d towered between her legs with that dark, hungry look blazing in his eyes and asked her if she loved him, all she could do was nod. For then he’d placed his mouth over her wet, swollen flesh with a hungry growl and taken her body into a screaming, shaking peak that left her panting for long minutes afterward.

Still, he didn’t enter her, didn’t take his release. Her mouth watered to taste him, her hands itched to cup and mold every hard, sweat-slicked inch of him, but each time she tried to touch him he refused her, pushing her hands back onto the bed.

And he didn’t stop with that one breath-stealing orgasm. Not at all. After he slowly licked her down from that peak he’d massaged her thighs and calves until her body grew so relaxed her eyes started drifting closed. But, before she could fully succumb to sleep, he’d turned her over and continued his sensual assault on her, reinvigorating her body to an all new level of awareness. His lips, fingers, palms, and tongue caressed her everywhere, licking his way down her spine, kissing every inch of her. He left no place untouched.

With a growl that spiked her arousal and signaled his loss of patience, Dom roughly pulled her thighs apart. In this position she stood completely open to him, left to his trust. His hands spent long minutes massaging her inner thighs, his touch growing harder and firmer, and with each new minute she grew wetter; her body dying for his touch, for him to enter her and finally ease the ache that only he created.

He whispered sexy, deep words about her beauty, about how hard she made him, about how badly he wanted to fuck her. But he didn’t, even as she begged and sweat dripped from her temples from agony. He never entered her, only kept massaging her until wetness drenched her folds and she mumbled incoherently.

Only then did he touch her.

His fingers had slipped softly across her wet lips, rubbing, petting her. After he coated his fingers in her aroused cream, he slowly pulled his fingers up between her cheeks. At first she clenched, but then his free hand cupped a cheek and massaged it. It felt so good she relaxed with the help of some coaxing, guttural words from him.

As he spread her cheeks open she felt his wet fingers circling her dark rosebud. The wet sensations made her gasp then still beneath his touch. She listened to his heavy breathing as he touched her; as he told her in that gruff, deep voice all the ways he wanted her, how beautiful she was, and how much he wanted her there.

After he had her completely relaxed and trusting, he pushed just the tip of his finger inside and circled, pushed in and out. Her lips parted on a moan at the unique sensation. The wet touch in such a forbidden place felt directly connected to her swollen clitoris. The erotic sensations he created made pleasure swell deep in her belly, and she knew that he could make her come from touching her there and that it would be the hardest she’d ever come in her whole life. And so she waited, panting and lifting her bottom to him, moving into his touch wantonly, wanting him to touch her more.

He kept his touch simple and slow, torturing her until she was begging him, her body squirming against the sheets, her hands fisting the comforter. Only after she told him she loved him did he finally fill her with his finger, just his finger. Her tight channel grasped around him like a vice—and it felt remarkable. The caress was strange being as she’d never felt anything inside of her there before, but it felt so good. Wicked but hot and delightful. His touch made her burn.

She’d gone wild with wanting. Her swollen clitoris throbbed and she knew with but a little touch she’d fly apart hard and fast. So she’d begged and begged, and still he didn’t relent; never gave her the release she sought. He continued to hold her ass open with one hand so he could watch what he was doing, and what he did. For as she looked over her shoulder to see him, she saw his eyes focused hotly, intently on where he thrust his finger inside her, working her, spreading her open.

His eyes had locked on hers, then he said darkly, “I’m going to fuck you here, sweets, and it’s going to be the hottest thing I’ve ever done. Just the thought makes me want to come.” He’d clamped a hand around his cock then as if to stave off his release. A shiver had racked over her at the sight of the tall, powerful male touching her so intimately as he held his cock. She’d never forget the sight.

“Then do it,” she’d said in a voice not her own.

Only then did something finally give in him. His wet finger became two inside her and he worked her in that forbidden, unknown channel so perfectly, so tenderly. He pressed his fingers in and out, scissoring them to stretch her.

“Please,” she’d begged.

“What do you need?” he’d growled, his voice so low she almost didn’t hear him.

“I need to come.”

With a low groan, he started working her faster, thrusting in and out of her tight ring. It felt incredible, bordering on pain but not quite crossing the line into it. Then he slid a hand around her stomach. Her breath caught and held as she waited. When the touch came, it didn’t disappoint.

His fingers slid across her sex to get wet then came back to press in hard and fast on her clitoris. The hard orgasm that followed couldn’t be stopped, not if the world came to a stop. Fierce cries tore from her throat as her body clamped down on his fingers. Her womb clenched and wept, disappointed that his cock wasn’t there to fill it as it should be. She wanted it all she realized, his cock inside her, his fingers in her dark ring making her feel this tremendous ecstasy, and his fingers circling her clit. All at once. All of him. She needed it with such intensity she could almost imagine the pleasure.

She’d screamed his name until finally the pleasure had ebbed and he’d curled against her in the bed, his hard cock blazing hot with unreleased passion. She’d wanted to ease him, to question him about why he wouldn’t take her, but he shushed her and pulled her into his arms until she fell asleep.

“Felicity!” The familiar male voice pushed all memories of last night away as she finally came fully awake. What she saw made a slow smile curl over her lips. Dom stood above her, dressed in a dark grey suit. He looked so amazing that her gut clenched just looking at him.

She smiled up at him. “Good morning, baby.”

His gruff expression relaxed, somewhat. Stress lines still were deep around his eyes and mouth. “You have to get up. You have a long day ahead of you.”

She licked her lips, the memories of what he’d done to her last night still lingering and the wetness between her legs wanted some attention. Throwing off the sheet that covered her warm body she undulated under his gaze. A dark gaze that widened and narrowed as it traced across her body.

“Why don’t you come back to bed for a few minutes, baby?”

His nostrils flared and then his eyes slammed shut. “I can’t. Not now.”

Disappointment hit her like a ton of bricks. She sat up stiffly, pulling the sheet across her waist. “Okay, I understand.” She didn’t understand.

His ragged sigh brought her gaze back up to him. “Fuck, babe, you look so good I want nothing more than to crawl back into that bed and spend all day inside you.”

Her cheeks warmed. “Then why don’t you?”

He laughed without humor. “Because I’ve made the announcement that you’re to be my bruid and tonight we’re going to a campaign ball at the Kensington’s. You need to be ready.”

Felicity felt as though he’s just thrown a bucket of ice-cold water over her head. “What?” she said, her voice high. She couldn’t keep the tremble of fear out of her voice.

She had to campaign with him? That meant he’d expect her to act the part of a perfect political wife...someone more like Julianna. She didn’t know any of the politician’s names. Women like Julianna and Dom’s mother were perfect for this. They knew everyone’s names, what they did, what they contributed, and enough about them to ask questions for idle conversation. Felicity could help them to plan their next big party it so it’d be an event of a lifetime. Her skills hardly were similar.

“You’re going to spend the day with my mother. She’ll tell you everything you need to know. I have to get to work.”

Felicity stood in a rush. “I can’t do this! I can’t! How am I supposed to learn how to be a politician’s bruid in only a day?”

Dom curled an arm around her waist and slowly brought their bodies together. The action might have kept her from physically freaking out but it didn’t keep her heart from trying to pound its way out of her chest. How was she supposed to do this? Her, plain and poor Felicity, showing up on the expensive and well-known arm of Dominic Blackmoore. Hell, paparazzi waited at such events just to take his picture. The thought hit her chest like a shotgun blast. She’d be the curiosity at the party; the one everyone would try to get a peek at, and gossip about. They’d take pictures of them together. People would stare and want to know who she was. Poor, uninteresting her. She could almost hear the curious whispers now: Why is he with her? What happened to Julianna?

“I know you can do it. I’ll be there for you. It’ll be fine.”

She searched his face. “If it’s going to be fine then why do you look so stressed?”

A rugged laugh escaped him before he kissed her, dipping her head back and licking once inside her mouth before pulling away. “Probably because it was hard as hell to sleep last night.”

A frown tugged at her lips. “Why?” She found herself curling her body into his to try to make him feel better.

He arched one dark eyebrow. Then it hit her—he hadn’t come last night. A blush crept over her cheeks and she smiled up at him. Her voice was husky as she spoke. “I’d be more than happy to repay you...” Her hand slid down to cup him through his expensive slacks. She found him hard, hot, and heavy.

His head fell back as a long groan escaped him. Then he fisted her hair and crushed her mouth with his, his tongue sweeping inside to plunder her. A muffled moan escaped her as she tightened her grip on his cock, trying to stroke him through his pants.

“Let me—” she whispered against his lips.

He tore his mouth away and physically took a step back. “I can’t. I have to work. Trust me when I say I wouldn’t go if it wasn’t important. Building a new campaign and garnering votes with a new mate at my side is going to take a lot of work.” His eyes trailed down her body once more, and then he shook his head ruefully. “Only two days until the campaign and tomorrow,” he paused to cup her head in his hands, his eyes softening, “tomorrow we have our own ceremony to attend.”

Her breath caught. “What?” Tomorrow would have been the day he would mate with Julianna. In the ceremony she’d planned.

A slow smile formed at his lips. He kissed her gently. “Tomorrow, I’m going to be mated to my new bruid in front of all of vampire society. Tomorrow I’ll share my love with you in front of all.”

“Really?” she breathed. She wanted to say more, she really did, but was having trouble forming words. When the man wanted something he sure moved fast.

He nodded then lifted her hand that wore his ring. He looked at the black diamond on her finger then kissed the knuckle by it. “Tomorrow night you become mine in all ways, we'll be inseparable. And then, with you by my side, I’ll await to hear my name called as the next president of the council.”

Tears formed at her eyes but she blinked them away. Her heart felt so light and joyous it could have burst from her chest. Reaching up, she cupped his jaw, and then pulled him down for a kiss. “I love you,” she said against his lips.

His smile reached deep inside of her and released a level of happiness that only he’d ever created. “I love you, sweets.” He kissed her once more, then she knew from his frown that he had to go.

“When will I see you again?”

“Tonight, I’ll be here for most of the day working. I may have to leave so if you need me call me. Your cell is on the dresser. Until tonight,” he promised. He gave her another lingering kiss then left.

Felicity was all alone now at the Blackmoore estate, and she apparently had an appointment with Dominic’s mother. Moving into action, she showered in Dom’s bathroom then dressed in the same clothes she’d come in. She decided, as she pulled on the skirt again, that she wouldn’t be burning it. This skirt now had a lifetime of memories attached to it, for in this skirt she’d broken things off with Dom, had been taken by Dom in a savage, delicious way, then gotten engaged to him. She’d also been given an orgasm in Beth’s apartment, and then had her body worshipped for most of the night. Yes, she’d seriously be keeping this skirt.

After brushing her hair out until she looked somewhat presentable, she made her way out of Dom’s room and found herself in an unfamiliar hallway. She might have seen his bedroom at his “real” house, but not here. She wandered down a hallway and turned right and saw the light of the grand chandelier that adorned the ceiling by the front door. She quickly made her way down the staircase that she’d first seen Helena, Dom’s ex.

As if on cue, the door to the study opened and Dominic Blackmoore’s mother took one step out.

“Ms. Shaw, if you’ll come with me.”

Felicity’s gut clenched with apprehension but she put on a smile and followed Lady Blackmoore into the study. The study was empty this time, no sight of Dominic or his brother Lucas. They were all alone and Felicity self-consciously brushed a lock of wet hair behind her ear. Silence filled the room as she waited for Lady Blackmoore to speak.

Lady Blackmoore took a seat on of the sofa. She sat with her back straight, shoulders square, and her knees bent exactly the same way and pressed together. She made it look easy but Felicity knew she’d never match the same queenly look.

“Please, have a seat. We have much to discuss.”

Felicity took the seat across from her in a chenille wooden framed sofa with thick brown cushions and a floral pattern on the back cushion. Felicity sat, her body naturally mimicking to look like Lady Blackmoore’s.

The older woman sighed, her eyes looking tired but determined. “My son has clued me in on the activities around here. I understand that you are to mate with him tomorrow night.”

“Yes.” Felicity floundered to say more but couldn’t think of anything so she clamped her mouth shut.

Lady Blackmoore’s cool gaze locked on her. “He says he loves you. I don’t believe it, and I don’t say that to be rude or to make you angry. It is simply what I believe. Nonetheless, he has taken with you and the mating ceremony with Lady Greenwich has been called off. In her place tomorrow night you’ll stand. Now, I’m going to tell you something and I want you to listen very carefully.”

Felicity tensed. A mixture of anger and affront surfaced that his mother so blatantly thought her son’s feelings were void. The audacity of the woman. However, the last thing she wanted right now was to create a rift between what would soon be her mother-in-law, someone she’d likely see far more often than her own mother, and her new mate. So, she bit her tongue and lifted her chin a notch.

“All right then, I’m listening, Lady Blackmoore.”

“Please, call me Diane.”

Felicity inclined her head. “Diane.”

“Helena was horrible to my son, and he put up with her antics for far too long. It came as a great relief to me, my dead husband, and the rest of the family when Dominic announced he’d be ending their blood bond. She never saw the greatness inside him. I hope you won’t make that same mistake. For if you do, then I have only one warning to you.”

Felicity swallowed hard, surprised at the change in topic yet pleased to hear that at least they both agreed about how terrible Helena was. “What would that be?”

Diane’s cold gaze could have frozen an ocean into a glacier. “If you’re using him for his name, his wealth, or for anything but because you care for him then I will have you eliminated.”

Whoosh, the air rushed right out of Felicity’s lungs. She didn’t know whether to laugh or run away. The woman was dead serious. She’d have Felicity killed. Felicity looked down at the ring on her finger and smiled.

“I love him. I really love him. There was just something there when we first met, and I knew he was something different. I knew we could have something great together. I resisted—as much as I could—though maybe not as much as I could have, but he wore me down. Now, I’m going to mate with one amazing man tomorrow night and I’m going to do it with my chin held high and a smile on my face. I would like to have your support for us not because he’s your son but because you believe in us. And, by the way, you can threaten me all you want because I’m not using him for anything more than him and all the great, handsome, brooding that is him. And I love all of that about him.”

Slowly, one of Diane Blackmoore’s eyebrows rose and was matched neatly by a prim smile. “I see my son has chosen wisely.”

Feeling a bit imperious, Felicity sniffed. “Indeed.”

At that, Diane tossed her head back and laughed. Then, before Felicity knew it, she was wrapped in a tight, motherly embrace.

With family business taken care of the next several hours flew by in a whirl.

Diane showed Felicity picture after picture of politician’s faces. Diane taught her their names and their histories until they all started blurring together. The one picture that kept popping up in front of her face was that of the were alpha running against Dom for presidency.

“And who is this?” his mother asked, her voice never tiring.

Felicity winced as the hairstylist, Diane’s personal hairstylist, yanked at Felicity’s curling strands as he tried to style it into something Felicity doubted he could do.

“That’s Zeke, alpha and were and madman.”

Diane tsked. “You will not use such language tonight or any other night to refer to Alpha Zeke or anyone else for that matter. You must think queenly. You will keep your head high, your shoulders back, and your lips curled into a pleasant smile. Like this, see?”

Felicity gave Diane a bored stare as she smiled a perfect, closed-lipped smile.

“I see. Ouch! Will you take it easy?”

Edwardo the hairstylist glared down at her. “I will not take it easy, lady. You have hair like squirrels live up in here.”

Felicity sputtered. “Excuse me?”

He sniffed and went back to curling her hair. “You heard me, lady. Your hair is so dry if I brought a match within fifteen feet of this wiry mess it’d go up in flames. Poof just like that.”

Felicity was so insulted she couldn’t think up any sharp retort to scathe him. Instead, she resorted to crossing her arms and muttering.

“My hair is not that dry. I have naturally curly hair.”

“Mmhmm, doesn’t mean you can’t deep condition it every once and while,” he said.

Felicity clenched her jaw then jabbed her elbow back. It landed in the meat at Edwardo’s soft belly making him gasp.

“And she’s violent!” he said in affront.

“Damn right I am and if you don’t stop insulting my gloriously beautiful hair then it’ll be more than an elbow next time. Got me?”

He snorted.

Sighing loudly, Diane took a sip of her drink then went back over the etiquette for what had to be the tenth time.

“Try not to be speak unless spoken to that should keep your conversations to a minimum. We don’t want you to speak up and make a mistake.”

Boy, everyone just loved to insult her.

Dom loves you and he’s going to make you his mate tomorrow night. Think happy thoughts, Fel.

“Remember to smile, be polite, but do not be enamored with these people or they will eat you up. You must appear just as good as them, if not better.”

Felicity flipped through the eight by eleven photos of the important faces she needed to know. She studied each image with the name and species of the person listed at the bottom of the page. When her stomach growled, she looked up at the tall grandfather clock in the corner of the room.

It was half after nine. They’d been at this for hours and though Dominic said he’d be working here at the estate today she’d yet to see him. She missed him something fierce.

Diane stood and eyed Felicity with a small smile. “Drink?”

Felicity nodded, tugging her hair out of Edwardo’s curling iron. He said something snide about her not sitting still as he snatched the curl to redo the strand.

“You know my hair is naturally curly, right?”

Edwardo laughed. “Naturally curly and having beautiful, shiny thick curling locks of hair is something completely different, my dear lady.”

Felicity shrugged, supposing he was right. As an afterthought she called out to Diane, “None of that fancy stuff, please.”

Diane went to the warming oven that was designed to look like a piece of antique furniture. It was made out of a dark colored wood and had a dark gray latch that opened the small door. It looked to be hundreds of year’s old when in fact it had a plug in the back that went into the wall that kept the blood warm.

“Which is fancy to you?” she asked.

“Whichever blood had the wine laced with it. It was too much. Last time I had some—” Last time she had some, she’d been on her interview with Dominic, and she’d nearly crawled into his lap. A blush colored her cheeks. “Well, let’s just say the last time didn’t go over so well. Something simple for me.”

Smiling, Diane poured her a glass of deep red blood then brought it to her.

Felicity took little sips so as not to disrupt the feisty hairdresser working tirelessly at her apparently horribly dry and atrocious hair.

Halfway through her glass, Edwardo clapped. “I’m finished!”

Felicity went to find a mirror, curious at what the hairstylist had been doing to her hair for over an hour, but paused when both Edwardo and Diane stared at her with soft expressions.

“What?” Felicity said. Nerves had her reaching up to touch her hair; it felt different than normal, softer and slicker.

“You look lovely, my dear.”

Edwardo’s chest puffed up. “Of course she does, I did her hair.”

Shaking her head, Felicity looked around but didn’t find a mirror. “Well you’ve been working on my hair for over an hour. Where’s a mirror so I can finally see what he did to me?”

Diane pointed towards the door. “Down the hall, second door on the right is the bathroom.”

Felicity turned from their stares and almost ran out of the room. She liked to dress nice and every now and then. She’d be complimented on her clothes or a pair of shoes she wore. But people didn’t stare at her, they looked at her clothes. Yet, Diane and Edwardo stared at her with soft, pleased eyes. It unnerved the hell out of her.

Just what did you think it’s going to be like tonight, Fel, with all those eyes on you, wondering why he left the beautiful Julianna for a plain miss.

Shaking her head, Felicity banished the negative thoughts and stepped into the bathroom. She didn’t turn the light on at first, just stood there, breathing a bit unsteadily. Had a hairstylist really been able to change her appearance so much? There was only one way to find out.

Felicity reached out to the wall, her hand sliding against it until she found the switch and flicked it up. At once, the overhead light flickered on and Felicity stared into the mirror across from her. An oval, tall mirror that reflected a face very familiar, but adorned in hair she could only describe as utterly beautiful, hair that hardly looked like her own.

The blonde curls had been tamed and remodeled into something beautiful. Edwardo had treated it and sprayed something that made the locks shine and the color look more vibrant. The curls were thick and heavy falling all around her shoulders and back. Tentatively, as if they might break if she touched it, Felicity reached up and ran the pad of her fingertips over one curl. A slow smile curled her lips. He’d managed to take her natural curls and make them look tamed, like something beautiful.

She had a sudden need to find Dominic and show him.

Smiling, Felicity stepped out of the bathroom and froze at what she saw, or whom she saw. None other than Lucas Blackmoore was striding down the hall towards her, a fierce scowl on his face. His eyes were dark-rimmed from lack of sleep and something else; his clothes looked haggard, disheveled as if he’d slept in them.

“You!” she said, seething.

* * *

Felicity didn’t think twice about it, she stalked down the hall to meet Lucas Blackmoore halfway. She stood on the tips of her toes and spoke between clenched teeth when she caught up to him.

“How could you? She is my friend and you played her!”

The warmth and humor from Lucas that she’d experienced when she first met him looked as if it’d never existed. Lucas’s eyes were hard and cold, but with a sarcastic glint in the corner. His lips were curled down into a plaintive frown and lingering vile scents clung to his clothes—smoke, alcohol, sex, and something else that made her skin crawl. Drugs.

A cruel, sarcastic smile tilted his lips. “Played her? Babe, I never even touched her. I’d have to have at least fucked her to qualify as playing her.”