“I can be a pain in your ass for four years or…” I shrugged. “You can cut your losses and let me go tonight.”
He crossed his arms over his naked, sea-gleaming chest. “The fact that you’re trying to tell me how to run my business is mindboggling.”
I scowled. “Why? You don’t think I know how to run a—”
“I know you don’t.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you’re young and have no experience with a company like mine.”
“Your company is just like any other. Some investments are a loss and best removed before they cause even more issues.”
“You’re saying you’re a loss?”
“I’m saying I’ll cause you untold problems if you keep me here.” I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not afraid of you.”
He stepped toward me quickly, crowding me, bringing naked, masculine flesh and scorching body heat.
I backpedalled, losing ground, hating myself the second I tripped.
He laughed coldly. “Not afraid? I think you’re fucking petrified.”
Digging my toes into the sand, I cocked my chin. “I meant what I said, Sully Sinclair. Keep me trapped against my consent and I will make you pay. I’ll find some way to curse—”
“Curse me?” His arm shot up, his hand sinking into my hair. In a single heartbeat, we went from apart to linked. His fingers curled tight around the strands, tugging my scalp, sending more chills scattering. “You’ve already cursed me. You cursed me the second you arrived.”
I tried to pull away, but his hold turned aggressive.
“Let me go.”
His eyes flashed navy in the darkness as his tongue ran over his bottom lip. “Let you go? I should, shouldn’t I?” His stare landed on my mouth, and lust became a sapphire fire in his gaze. “Too bad I’m not going to.”
I squirmed in his hold. “I don’t want to be here.” I scratched fingernails over his wrist, doing my best to loosen his fingers in my hair.
He didn’t even flinch.
So many swear words littered my mind. So many angry promises and violent vows varnished my tongue, but I needed air to transform thought into voice. I needed sound to switch silence into shout, and unfortunately, Sully Sinclair had successfully sucked me dry of everything.
“I don’t want you here either.” He narrowed his gaze. “But we’re both going to have to deal with it.” His other hand dived into my hair, cupping my head, holding fistfuls of length and keeping me trapped. “Whatever this is…whatever exists between us…it will die soon enough.”
His gaze locked onto my mouth, his lips parting. “Maybe if I kissed you…we’d both figure out that this addicting connection is nothing more than—”
“Kiss me and your tongue will be in pieces.”
He jerked me forward, pressing his forehead to mine. “Bite me and I’ll bite you back. I’ll bite so fucking hard…you’ll bleed.”
I gasped, lightheaded and furious.
“Let me go.” I fought harder, not caring I caused myself pain, tearing a few strands in my struggles.
He just held on, his face steadily growing more dangerous, his features more stark, his hunger more acute. “I wouldn’t keep moving if I were you.” His whisper was so quiet it barely registered above the cicadas, but it was the most malignant thing I’d ever heard. “I’m a moment away from fucking you…right here.”
I froze.
The only thing that moved were our chests, pumping hearts and lungs failing to administer oxygen. I swallowed hard a few times, searching for retaliation, trying to understand why his touch was as viperous as a tattoo. His fingers were the gun, his heat the ink, his possession the permanence that ensured I’d always have a mortal mark.
“Go fuck one of your other girls,” I snarled. “You’re right. They’re extremely willing and would welcome you to do anything—”
“I don’t want them.” He pulled me closer; our hips collided. His hardness against my softness. My purple dress didn’t protect me from the scorching dampness of his skin.
My cheeks flushed. My stomach knotted. I couldn’t breathe as his head bowed, bringing his lips to hover over mine.
If he kissed me…God, please don’t kiss me.
I couldn’t let him.
Not here with galaxies reminding me how insignificant I was, he was, all of this was. Not here in paradise that had an uncanny way of removing any other reality.
I gulped and shook my head, trying to prevent his mouth from claiming mine. “Why me? Why not them?”
“That’s a question I keep asking myself,” he muttered, brushing his nose on mine. His eyes bored deep into me, so close, so vivid. “Why you?” Jerking me nearer, until our entire bodies pressed tight, his lips skated on mine.
I held my breath, locked in place for a savage kiss.
But instead of plundering my mouth, instead of crippling beneath the skin-crawling intensity between us, he shoved me away.
My hair tangled around his fingers as I stumbled in the sand, leaving sheets of length strewn from me to him, tethering us together even though he’d let me go.