“But…”
She takes a step away, pulling up her pants. I only get a brief look at her bare thighs, juicy and mouthwatering, her folds glistening.
“But what?” I ask.
She turns away, holding up her pants with her hand from where I popped the button. I sense a change in the air, in her mood.
The beast within me – the primal animal whose only thought is to make this fertile young woman pregnant – tells me to storm over to her, throw her down, and take what’s rightfully mine.
I have to breathe through clenched teeth.
“Kyra.”
“This is all happening so fast. When you kissed me, I wondered if it was a trick. Why would you kiss me? But then I saw how you stood up for me, with Quinn. And just now… you weren’t faking that. You couldn’t be, right? It’s like you were going to go crazy if we didn’t, if I didn’t…”
“It’s not a fucking trick.”
I move up behind her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pressing her body against mine. She must be able to feel my bulge in my pants as I drive it into her ass. I can’t help myself. My helm sizzles and throbs as I push against her sweet plump ass.
She sighs, all breathy again like she wants me to tear off her pants and fuck her from behind right now.
But then she steps away.
“I’m sorry. I can’t. Not tonight. But it’s really not a trick?”
I grab her shoulders and spin her around. She moans and stares up at me. I can see how ready to go she is, can smell her essence and her sweat and her need.
Why is she trying to fight it?
“It’s not a trick,” I grit out. “I swear on all the brothers I lost overseas. I swear on my dead parents. I swear on everything that I hold dear, Kyra.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmurs. “It’s just a little difficult to believe. You… want me?”
“Yes, I do.”
I smooth my hand down her shoulder, toward her hip, unable to stop myself. But then she reaches down and grabs onto my wrist, stopping me.
“Please,” she whispers.
I snatch my hands away quickly, taking a big step back. I’m obviously not going to force her to do something she isn’t comfortable with.
“I want to.” She wrings her hands. “I really, really want to.”
“So do I,” I growl. “You have no idea how difficult it’s been, watching you walk around the set, looking so damn fuckable it hurts. So cute, too. The way you smile… the way your cheeks turn red at the slightest provocation. Everything about you, Kyra…”
I bite down before I can go any further. Before I can tell her my plans for our future. She seems to be taking this in stride, but physical attraction and a future carved in destiny are very different things.
“They’re all so beautiful and glamorous. You really don’t want any of them?”
“I only want you,” I snap. “I have to pretend to be interested in them, for the PR angle. But they do nothing for me. You’re more beautiful than all of them put together.”
“I guess that’s going to make the final show a little awkward then,” she murmurs.
I sigh darkly. She’s right. I’ve been thinking about that too… the finale when I’m supposed to kiss one of the contestants. The problem is, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make myself kiss anyone who isn’t Kyra.
And yet it’s what I agreed to. But that was before I met my Kyra.
“What were you going to tell me?” I say.
She drops her gaze. It’s like she can’t bring herself to look me in the eye. “You’re right. I should explain why we can’t go any further tonight. Because I want to, so freaking badly.”
“But?” I prompt.
She finally drags her gaze back to mine, eyes shining, but not with lust this time. “I’m a virgin, Kayden.”
Chapter Twelve
Kyra
He takes a step away from me, his features tightening, a frown touching his lips.
Worry stabs into my gut, a twisting knife, making me wonder if I should’ve kept it to myself. Clearly, he was thinking we were going to have wild sex… and I didn’t exactly make an effort to let him know I wouldn’t be able to. I cringe as I think about how I moaned and bit into his muscled chest, but it felt so freaking right at the time.
What else was I supposed to do? He was going to ravage me like a wild man if I didn’t tell him the truth.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“You’re a virgin,” he says, his voice rough.
I bite my lip, nodding.
If I didn’t know that Kayden was a good man – a charitable man, a veteran – I’d almost think he was going to go on a rampage around the apartment. Hit the walls. Kick the furniture. Tear the place apart.