The Allure of Dean Harper (The Allure #2)(41)

“I was harsh earlier. After the meeting—”

She didn’t let me finish my apology. She took two steps to close the gap between us and threw her body against mine. I wasn’t expecting her assault and my body fell back against the wall before I could stop it. I caught her waist, steadying the two of us before we toppled over. She gripped my face and kissed me like her life depended on it.

“Christ,” I hissed as she bit down on my bottom lip. I gripped her arms and tried to pull back, but she didn’t let me. She wanted to draw blood.

I growled and pivoted, pushing her back against the wall. I wedged her against the concrete and wiped the blood from my lip. “You want to play rough, Lily?”

Her eyes looked wicked in the moonlight. Bright and feral and angry.

“I hate you,” she said through clenched teeth.

I smiled sardonically. “You bring out the worst in me, you know that? I’m only an * around you.”

Before she could answer, I gripped her chin and kissed her. My tongue slipped into her mouth and she didn’t fight me. Her body was fighting me, her words were fighting me, but that mouth? She was so receptive that for a moment I thought we’d have sex right there against the wall of the private path. That is, until she nearly kneed me in the balls.

“Fuck, Lily,” I gasped, narrowly blocking her attack.

She narrowed her eyes and yanked out of my hold. Her keycard was out and she was pushing through the door to the villa before I could catch up to her. The lights were off and the curtains were drawn. For a moment, I didn’t want to step in after her. Nothing good would come from us fighting when we were both heated, but she held the door open. Her body was silhouetted by the lights on the path. Her body was an invitation. That neck, the slender dip of her waist, her long legs propped against the door.

“I thought you said there was no harm in round two?” she asked from the doorway.

She was like a villain, leaving a trail of blood and hints meant to lure me into a trap. A man with a mind for self-preservation would have turned and run. Instead, I pushed through the door and locked it behind me. She reached for the light switch and I caught her hand, holding it steady. The darkness fit us. This thing between us was meant for the shadows.

“You told me to go home,” she said, stepping forward and pressing her body against mine.

“It’s easier when you aren’t around,” I whispered, cupping the back of her neck.

“Why? Because you’ve never been with a woman like me?”

I smiled, but she couldn’t see it in the darkness. “I've never wanted a woman like you.”

“Why’s that?”

I kissed her cheek. “I want a woman that makes me feel important. I want someone that appreciates what I do.”

“Nobody can make you feel important, Dean. That’s why you’ll never be satisfied. You want me to tell you how successful you are? You want me to compliment you?”

I couldn’t find the words to respond.

“Oh, Dean, what strong arms you have.”

I smiled.

“Good?” she asked.

“Terrible,” I said, taking her ear lobe between my teeth.

“You’d hate a woman like that,” she said, slipping her hand beneath the waistband of my pants.

I reached for the zipper of her dress and I slowly pulled it down, splitting the lace apart to expose her soft skin. I dipped my hand beneath the fabric and pushed the zipper lower, following the curve of her spine. I kept pulling her dress down and she kept slipping her hand lower. What a maddening game.

“This is the only thing we’re good at,” she said, stroking me.

I couldn’t disagree.

If I didn’t want to kill her, I wanted to possess her. I wanted to seduce her to the brink of madness so that for thirty minutes she could do nothing but moan in my arms, too lost in the moment to hate me.

“Take me to my room,” she begged.

I pushed her dress to the floor and kicked it aside. She gripped my tie in her hand and tugged me forward. We were lost in the darkness, tripping over end tables and couches and lamps. We fell into her room and closed the door behind us. The room was just as dark as the rest of the villa, but we found the bed and fell onto it. Her limbs tangled with mine, but I pushed her higher, up against the pillows. She was soft everywhere, but the skin between her thighs was pure velvet. I stripped her down to nothing and she pulled the tie from my neck, nearly choking me before finally getting it off. I think she enjoyed it, that line between hurting someone and loving them. I think that’s how she felt about me.

“Lay back,” I told her, pushing my hand to her stomach and keeping her flush with the bed.

“I still don’t forgive you for what you did earlier.”

I smirked and bent low, dragging my tongue up the inside of her left knee. “Maybe you’ll find forgiveness after I’m done with you.”

She arched her back, pushing up against my hand.

“Never.”





Chapter Thirty-Three


Dean





Lily stood in the doorway after her shower. She was naked and using one of the oversized hotel towels to dry her legs. I sat on the bed watching her, momentarily sated. We hadn’t said anything for what seemed like hours, but I knew the truce wouldn’t last long.