15. Ari
15
ARI
H e clasped me tight as we both held our breath and pressed up against each other. I could still feel his lips from earlier. The soft glide of them, the sureness, the skill coupled with the hint of teasing.
Teenaged Ari would have killed for kisses from Damon Hunt but had only dreamed of them.
But now, his kisses were a distraction. A deviation from the plan.
The plan is that you act like a couple.
Not the point. The point was that he shouldn’t have kept kissing me. He shouldn’t have been pressed up against me now.
You kissed him earlier.
I had, and once again I’d lost myself. And this was no different as my mind played out all the possibilities now.
Or maybe he’s also playing the part. Keeping his cover.
Either way, whoever was walking along the path next to the garden would see us if we moved. The voices grew closer and then finally passed by, and we both relaxed and resumed breathing, our bodies replenishing their oxygen.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“You mean other than you smothering me? Yes, I’m fine.”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay, next time I’ll just leave you exposed.”
I frowned up at him. “While I appreciate it, it was unnecessary.”
“If you say so. Question: Why did you kiss me back on the balcony? Was it because you were taking to your role? Because it kind of seems like you wanted to.”
I swallowed hard and tried to deflect. “It—um.” I cleared my throat. Think, Ari. Think. “We were emotional. It certainly didn’t need to escalate like it did.”
He smirked down at me then. “Oh, is that what that was? Our emotions? Okay. If you say so. Or maybe, Ari Sari, you wanted to kiss me. Maybe you’ve been thinking about me too. Maybe that kiss made it so you can’t think about anything else.”
My tummy flipped at the low timbre of his voice. “Absolutely not. I don’t think about you at all!”
“Are you sure about that? I think you do. I certainly think about you. And that kiss wasn’t for show. You’re starting to feel something, Ari. Tell me I’m lying.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, you’re mistaken. It was fake, Damon.”
Liar.
He leaned close, towering over me, and rubbed his nose against my neck as he inhaled.
I didn’t even know what the hell that was called. But the idea that he’d just sniffed me turned my core into molten lava.
I cleared my throat. “We should go.”
His lips brushed my neck, and I sucked in a shuddering breath. When he pulled away, somebody whimpered. I didn’t know who that somebody was, but it wasn’t me.
Okay, fine. It was me. Jesus. Why was he trying to kill me?
I cleared my throat again. “Maybe if you just...” I couldn’t continue, because he moved his lips to that patch right behind my ear. His breath tickled that spot, and—what do you know?—somebody moaned again. I had no idea who, because there was no way in hell I was moaning for Damon Hunt. I wasn’t.
Okay, you just keep thinking that.
He was cocky, arrogant, and brash, and there was a hint of danger around him that I wanted zero part of.
But as his lips moved to the shell of my ear, I shivered.
“Just say the word,” he whispered, “and I can make that aching need go away.”
You should dive in.
I had the urge to take him up on his offer. All I had to do was give in. All I had to do was just say yes.
I never said yes. I always played it safe, all the time. Just once, I wanted to say yes.
And he was right here.
He whispered again, “Say the word, Ari. Say the word, or I’ll stop. I’m waiting.”
I knew the right answer. The right answer was to tell him to stop. The right answer was to not get caught up in this madness. The right answer was the safe answer.
But I didn’t want to play it safe all the time. And I sure as hell didn’t want to play it safe right now. I wanted that edge of danger, and God... I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe.
The tingles all over my body were sending my mind into scattered longing and need. All I could think about were his hands on me, his lips tracing oh-so-delicately over my skin, and how I wanted more. So much more.
So when I opened my mouth to say no, to tell him to stop, what came out was “yes.”
I felt more than heard the growl that emanated from his chest, and when he dipped his whole body, sliding his hands down my back onto my ass, and lifted me against him, I had no choice but to wrap my legs around his waist. Then he pressed me back against the stone wall, angled his head to kiss me, and paused just before his lips touched mine. “Hang on, Ari.”