Stunner (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress 0.75)(13)

Damn if I wasn’t kissing him back. What the hell is wrong with me? I should be kicking his ass, or trying to, not making time with him like a swooning schoolgirl. Oh hell, my pulse was pounding. I fell head over heels into him, losing myself in his intoxicating allure.

Everything about him was so new and different. It was refreshing and I longed for more. That’s what brought me crashing back to my senses. Something inside Arys reached for me and something in me responded.

With a frustrated growl, I broke off the kiss. “This is not happening. I’m starting to think the only reason I’m alive is because you want something from me. And you wouldn’t be the first man tonight to try to get it. I refuse to be his whore and I sure as hell am not going to be yours.”

Arys nodded knowingly but he didn’t try to stop me when I put distance between us. A fire smoldered in his eyes when he said, “Any man that makes you feel like a whore isn’t worthy of you. And if he’s the one that smacked you, then I can only hope to get my hands on him.”

I bristled at his protective tone. “Oh, please. You don’t know me and you don’t know a damn thing about me. Let’s keep it that way.”

“I know you better than you think.” Arys watched calmly as I took slow but steady steps backwards, edging away.

I heard the truth in his words and it terrified me. I didn’t know him, didn’t think I wanted to. Yet there was no denying the eerie feeling that something within me did recognize him.

I needed to escape. I wasn’t comfortable with what I was feeling. I had to leave before the taste of him on my lips enticed me to go back for more. The attraction to him was more than my reaction to his sinful good looks. It went deeper than that and I wasn’t keen on finding out why.

“You need to leave me alone, Arys,” I warned. “And you need to leave town.”

I turned my back on him, my feet moving fast across the soft, thick grass. As I put more space between us, the clouds in my head began to dissipate. Arys was mesmerizing. He was downright intoxicating and that made him dangerous.

“Not gonna happen, Alexa,” he called after me. “I’m not going anywhere. And if you want to make me, then I invite you to try. In fact, I look forward to it.”

Without turning to look at him, I held up a hand, flipping him the bird. His low, sexy chuckle followed me across the park. A shiver slipped down my spine. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to ignore the tiny voice in my head that demanded I go back to him.

Dangerous, I told myself. So very dangerous. The truth was that nobody had made me feel alive the way Arys had with just one kiss. His touch held the promise of power bigger than I could imagine. It felt so right. Therefore, it had to be wrong.

I felt his eyes upon me long after I left the park behind and reached the end of the street. Arys had never been on my hit list. But now he was on my radar. Goddamn vampires.