“Tell me the truth,” I say, my fingers digging into her skin. “Tell me I’ve treated you badly. Tell me how I’m an animal. A monster. Someone who everyone fears. Who deserves no love. Prove me I’m right.”

She hesitates and then stops fighting me. “No.”

“Don’t tell me a lie, Lexi. I don’t wanna hear it. You don’t have to seduce me anymore. I’m done playing games.”

“I’m not …”

Her breathing captures me so much, I bring one hand to her throat. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the fear that I saw, driving me to insanity, wanting to prove to myself once and for all that I’m truly that monster I see in the mirror. Or maybe I’m wrong, and I want to remember what it was like to touch her for the very first time … that first encounter, where neither of us knew who the other really was.

“Do you hate me?” I whisper in her ear, my tongue briefly darting out to lick her earlobe.

Even when she fears me and wishes to leave, I still want to have her more than anything else in the world.

“How can I not?” she says, swallowing.

“Exactly … how can you not,” I growl. “But you’ll never hate me more than I already do. But you know what’ll also never change? How much I fucking want you. How much I fucking need you. I’ve never wanted a girl as much as I want you.”

Her pulse races under my fingertip, her throat muscles clenching as I speak into her ear.

“I can’t let you go, Lexi. You’re my obsession. I can’t sleep. I can’t think. Can’t eat. Can’t stop wanting your body … seeing your eyes light up … that foxy smile. I want it all.”

A tiny gasp escapes her mouth as my hand snakes its way around her naked belly and pulls her closer to my body. “I hate that too … just like you. You’re so different. So unlike anything I expected. I like it.”

I gently press a kiss to her neck, and it makes her clench the hand that’s around her throat. But she doesn’t attempt to take it off. Instead, she only presses harder.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she whispers, her eyes closing. “I shouldn’t have come. Shouldn’t have stayed.”

“But you did … Even when half of the time, the door isn’t locked.” I grin against her skin.

“I can’t …” She moans when I bite into her shoulder, leaving a mark.

“Stay with me, Lexi. Don’t be afraid of me. Or you’ll prove I’m the monster you said I wasn’t.”