Wicked Burn

She was the one who was mistaken, however, if she thought Vic was going to try and start a fight with her. He remained as icily silent during the cab ride to Riverview Towers as she did. He didn’t, in fact, speak until the elevator doors closed behind them and he’d pushed the button for the seventeenth floor.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Niall met his gaze for the first time since he’d glared down at her before she’d slammed the door on his hand. She couldn’t read his rigid expression as he stood several feet away from her and pinned her with his stare.

“I’m sorry I saw it, too. But maybe it’s for the best,” she replied as evenly as possible. She exhaled abruptly and stared up at the ceiling, shaking her head. “You don’t have to apologize, Vic. It’s not as if you owe me anything.”

“No?” he drawled.

She shook her head again, still avoiding his gaze.

“Just like you don’t owe me anything—right, Niall? A satisfying fuck if the convenient opportunity should arise. That’s what we owe each other, right?”

Fury rose in her, despite the fact that she’d vowed to herself that she wouldn’t let him push her buttons. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded as the elevator door opened with a ding.

His hand went up to hold it in place automatically, but he didn’t really seem aware of his actions as he leaned forward and answered her. “It means that you’ve got a lot of nerve accusing me of not being interested in having a relationship with you when you’re just as elusive and secretive about your past—even more so—than I am about mine. You just saw my ugly little secrets paraded in front of your eyes on a stage tonight. I didn’t have to invite you to see that, but I did. How much more honest do you think I can be with you?”

“So I’m just supposed to shrug my shoulders at the fact that I just saw you kissing another woman, a woman everybody—including your mother and sister—believes you’re crazy in love with?”

“A woman that I was crazy in love with!” Vic countered, his eyes flashing fiercely.

Both of them jumped when an alarm suddenly started blaring because Vic had held the elevator door open for too long. Vic blinked as if the sound had roused him out of a dream. Niall found herself meeting his eyes again, curious as to what he would say next . . . hungry for it.

“We’d better get off,” he said quietly, disappointing her. Their gazes remained locked for the next few seconds as she moved toward him cautiously, as if afraid on some primitive level that she would glom on to him like he was a powerful magnet and she was a flimsy filament of iron that was helpless to take voluntary action in his vicinity.

She made it down the hallway without submitting to as much as a glance. She paused when she reached their front doors and looked back at him, feeling shaken and unsure.

“I kissed her because I wanted to, Niall. I kissed her because I had to know. Do you understand?”

Niall’s lips fell open. It wasn’t the explanation that she’d expected. But it was the one she needed.

“And?” she asked, her voice wavering with anxiety.

Vic shrugged, his singular eyes never leaving her face. “I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

ELEVEN

For a few tense seconds, Vic didn’t know what Niall was going to do. He was surprised when she suddenly launched herself at him.

Nice . . . having her small, compact little body collide with his, having her hands reach up hungrily to hold his head and pull him down to her. He groaned in pleasure at the impact of her feverish kiss and her taste pervading his senses.

Better than nice.

He’d always liked the fit of a tall woman against his body. But he had to admit that Niall’s taut curves filled his palm just right. So what if he had to bend his knees and lift her against him so that he could feel the soft heat between her thighs pressed against his cock? Her entire weight in his arms only made him exponentially more aroused. He spread both hands across her ass and she automatically encircled him with her legs. God, he needed to get inside of her. Anywhere . . . anyhow.

Just as long as it was soon.

He grunted as he tried to move toward his apartment, but misjudged and backed into his door with a bang. Niall didn’t even seem to notice the jarring sensation, continuing to rub and suck at his tongue, turning kissing into what felt like the main event of making love instead of the first step. He dimly realized that he should set her down and at least get her into his apartment, but her sweet mouth blinded him with lust.

Moans vibrated both of their throats when he tightened his hold on her ass and began to move her in a tight, circular motion against his straining erection. After thirty seconds of that torture, Vic couldn’t take any more. He sealed their kiss, gasping desperately when she continued to tempt him by plucking at his lips, cheeks, and neck with her red, swollen lips.

“Dammit, Niall,” he muttered almost angrily before he set her down, hissing as her pussy dragged against his aching cock.

“I want you so much, Vic,” she whispered, staring up at him with a wide-eyed expression that conveyed both innocent awe and pure carnal lust.

He’d never forget the way Niall looked at that moment.

“Good, because you’re going to get me, baby,” he assured her grimly while he fumbled in his pocket for his keys. His erection made his pants way too constraining for comfortable movement.

He pulled her hastily through the opened door, only to push her against the other side of it once it was closed. He spread his thighs and bent his knees, his mouth fastening on her neck and feasting on her fragrant skin before she’d even fully regained her balance. She moaned, the sound vibrating into his pressing lips and somehow even sending a buzz to his throbbing cock. He tasted her skin with the tip of his tongue, dancing it across the dewy surface thirstily. When he encountered her pearls, he rolled them between his lips, liking the feeling of their smooth, hard surface.