Chapter 65
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
ASTRID
I wanted Arch to say it.
I wanted him to break. To snap.
He had been so close to admitting that he wanted me—that he loved me—this morning when we were alone in my bedroom. I had been so desperately craving his words all day, to hear them roll off his lips, like they had with Frasier and Calix …
My fingers curled around his shoulders, and I pulled him closer, desperate.
“Hmm?” I murmured, brushing my nose against his. “Because I don’t want you to stop.”
When his breathing hitched, I thought for sure that he’d let it all out, let it go, tell me what I had been craving for him to tell me. But I knew … somewhere deep down … that I wasn’t going to get it. Not from him. Not now.
He grabbed me tighter, pressing his body against mine, his breathing coming out uneven. I licked my lips, my heart pounding inside my chest as I watched his gaze flick down to my mouth before snapping back up to my eyes.
“Say it,” I mumbled. “Come on, Arch. Tell me.”
Another silent moment passed.
Then he let out a humorless laugh and shook his head. “You’re delusional if you think I’m going to say that to you. You know I don’t do that shit with anyone. I’m not like Frasier or Calix, Hellcat. You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“Better than what?” I whispered. “What do you want to say to me?”
“You know what.”
I pushed my body just enough against him. “No, I don’t think that I do.”
He clenched his jaw, his eyes flickering with hunger.
God, he’s so close to saying it, so close to admitting it to me.
But before he could break, before I could push him just a little further, the door slammed open. Arch immediately stepped back and snapped his head toward the door, his entire body tensing, as if he was uncomfortable.
And Arch was never uncomfortable.
Rush leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest, looking from Arch to me, then back to Arch. Out of all of The Crew, Arch and Rush were probably the closest, and by the look on Rush’s face …
I couldn’t tell if it was a knowing expression or something darker.
Something more animalistic.
After releasing a frustrated breath because I had been so freaking close to hearing those words from the one man I’d thought I would never hear them from, I cleared my throat and straightened myself out.
My entire body was burning with tension, the space between my legs … soaked.
Instead of saying a word, Rush stepped farther into the room and locked the door behind himself. When they shared another look, I swallowed hard and found myself pressing against the desk once more.
“In here, all alone with Astrid, and you didn’t invite me?” Rush asked.
Arch clenched his jaw. “You didn’t seem interested in fucking her.”
“Yes, he does,” I murmured, remembering the last time we had been together.
A low chuckle left Rush’s mouth as he walked toward us with slow, lazy steps, his gaze never leaving mine once. Warmth pooled between my thighs, and my nipples hardened underneath my shirt.
While Arch usually liked sharing with Rush, Arch grabbed my waist and pulled me against him before Rush could approach me fully. I stood between two boulders that called themselves men, with Arch angry and Rush amused.
“Damn.” Rush chuckled. “I should’ve come in earlier.”
Arch’s grip on me tightened, and before I could even process what was happening, Arch tilted my head back so I looked up at him, and he crashed his lips onto mine. It was anything but soft or careful. It was a claim, a punishment.
He was angry.
Possessive.
Obsessed with the thought of me being his. And only his.
I gasped into his mouth, and he grabbed my hips, lifting me back onto the desk and slipping between them. Rush was suddenly on the other side of the desk, his fingers swooping my hair over my shoulder and to my back, giving himself room for his lips on my neck.
“She was mine before anyone noticed her,” Arch growled, breaking the kiss.
“But she’s not just yours anymore.” Another low chuckle left Rush’s mouth. “No, she’s ours.”