I had been expecting a lot of things, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. It wasn’t the look in his eyes that made my blood run cold, or even the way his face was twisted in a mixture of anger and lust. It was something else, something that I had seen before, and never wanted to see again.
For a moment we just stared at each other, and the world around us faded away. I felt myself getting lost in his eyes as a wave of fear washed over me. He was looking at me like he had looked at me a few days ago when we had first met, and it took my breath away.
I tried to step back from him, but his hands tightened around me. For a moment my mind went blank, and I found myself lost in the blue depths of his eyes.
“Brandon,” I whispered.
“Ivy,” he said softly.
I felt myself freeze at his touch, my body reacting to him even when I didn’t want it to. His skin was hot against mine, and his eyes were looking into my soul.
“No,” I whispered as my head started to spin. “Don’t do this to me.”
His hands moved up to cup my face and I felt a moan leave my lips. “Why not?” he asked.
“I can’t,” I whispered.
“Tell me why you can’t,” he said. “And we’ll talk about it.”
“I don’t trust you,” I said.
He smiled at this, the curve of his lips sending shivers down my body. “Maybe one day you will,” he whispered.
His mouth was less than an inch away from mine now, his breath brushing against my lips. I felt myself lean forward to kiss him and then stopped myself.
“Brandon,” I said again.
“What?”
“Let me go.”
“I can’t.” His eyes locked with mine, and I felt myself melt into them. “I need you.”
I knew what he meant. The need between us was alive and burning, a fire that threatened to engulf us both. And all I needed was for him to kiss me and take me again.
My hands moved of their own accord to clutch at his arms and pull him in closer. He groaned and took my mouth in a deep kiss, his tongue thrusting between my lips.
He pushed me back until I was pressed against a wall, the rough texture scraping against my bare arms.
“God,” I panted. “I can’t do this.”
“You can,” he breathed. His lips moved over my jaw and down to my neck, and I felt shivers of pleasure move over me. “Say you want me Ivy, and we’ll make this easy.”
“I want you.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and my mind spun as his hands moved over my body.
He pushed my legs apart and rubbed himself against me. I moaned in pleasure, my hands clutching at his shoulders. For a moment it didn’t matter that he was going to break my heart. All that mattered was that he was touching me and taking me.
His lips moved back to my mouth as his hips kept on moving, and I felt the friction building between us. The world around us faded away as his touch took over my senses, and for one moment I forgot everything that I had tried to tell myself.
Then I felt him pushing my dress up, his hand moving over my bare thighs. “Ivy,” he breathed again. “Let me take you.”
I wanted to say yes, but something held me back. For a moment he froze, and then his head moved up to lock eyes with mine.
“Say it,” he said again.
I gasped for breath, my body still moving under his. “No,” I whispered.
He frowned, his eyes narrowing as he looked at me. “What?”
“I don’t want you,” I said again, the lie burning my tongue.
He stared at me for a moment longer and then moved his head away. “Alright,” he said softly.
My hands were still clutching at him, and it took me a moment to let go. He took a deep breath, his body still hard and wanting. Then he started to walk away, and I felt my body react again.
He was the only man who had ever taken me, and in one day he had become the only man I wanted. But I had no business wanting him, and even less business having him.
So I made myself stand still, and not call out for him to come back. And once I knew that he was out of sight, I made my feet move in the direction of my house.
It was going to take me a lot of time to get over him, but I knew that I would do it. He was not worth losing my heart over, and so I was just going to avoid him until I was back to being myself again.
It was a plan. It would work.
But then my mind started to wander again to how it had felt to be with him, and I bit my lip.
Maybe I needed to revise my plan. Or find a new one. Because this was going to be harder than I had thought. So much harder.
And I was going to need all the help I could get if I wanted to win this time. Maybe I should find a new man and move on from Brandon. After all he wasn’t even my mate. And he would move on from me sooner or later when he found his mate.
So maybe I should get over him and find someone new. Because Brandon was off limits for me. He would break my heart, and I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Not again.