As soon as we reached the car, Eros gazed at me from the driver’s seat. The moon gleamed through the windshield, lightening his dark eyes. He placed a hand on the back of my black leather seat, leaned forward, and said, “I’ve been waiting all night for this,” with that husky voice of his.

My heart thumped against my chest. Here goes nothing. I crossed one leg over the other, my black dress riding up my leg. I turned toward him and fingered the collar on his shirt. “For what?” I asked, holding eye contact.

He drew his nose against mine and smirked. “For this.” He leaned in, snatched the warm bag of Fervor Crisps from my lap, tore it open, and pulled out two pastries, grinning like a maniac.

Heat crawled up my cheeks, and I shifted awkwardly in my seat when he handed me one. Great, Dani, you try to act sexy when all he wanted was some damn Fervor Crisps.

In one bite, Eros stuffed one into his mouth and groaned. “Mmmmm, it’s so good.”

Doughy like an éclair with a thin layer of sugar and powder coating the outside, the Fervor Crisps were only about a finger length long, but they looked delicious.

He relaxed against the back of his seat in pure delight, eyes shutting softly. There was a bit of white powder on his bottom lip. I wanted to wipe it off, but he looked too peaceful. I just wanted to savor the moment.

Once he swallowed, he nudged my Fervor Crisp closer to me. “Go on,” he said. “You’ll like it.”

When I bit into mine, my mouth filled with intense creamy goodness and thick rich dough. Sweet with a pinch of salt. I moaned softly. “How haven’t I eaten one of these before?”

Eros grabbed another one and broke it apart, letting the milky cream ooze from the middle. “They’re not popular around here.”

“Oh. Are they popular where you used to live?”

He tensed and slowly chewed his food. “What do you mean?”

“Like your home?”

“You mean where my family is from?”

I furrowed my brows at him. “Uh… yeah…”

After gazing out of the foggy windshield for a few moments, he clenched and unclenched his jaw. “Yeah, they’re popular in Hell.”

“Eros, I’m being serious,” I said. Was his family so bad that he didn’t even want to tell me about them?

The dashboard lit up with the name Luci, and I clenched my jaw. Why did she keep calling? Nearly every time that I drove with him, I’d see her name. Missed call from Luci. Incoming call from Luci. Voicemail from Luci.

Breathe, Dani.

Eros and I weren’t a thing yet. I couldn’t get jealous over such a stupid girl’s name. So, I gazed over at him and brushed a stray piece of hair from his face. “I won’t judge you. You can tell me.”

He looked so chillingly distant. Nothing like that boyish grin he had a few moments ago. “I told you that you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into with me. I need to be sure that you’re going to be okay when you find out.” He played with his ring, making it spin around his finger.

I wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. I was ready for any family-related problem that he could throw at me. From growing up without parents to my experience listening to Dr. U’s patients talk about all the family problems that they had, I had a decent grasp on how to handle wild family drama.

“Okay,” I said quietly. “I can wait for whenever you’re ready.”

The dashboard lit up again with Luci’s name, and Eros forwarded the call to voicemail and started the car.

After the dreadfully silent ride home, Eros walked me to my door. He placed his hand on the doorframe and grabbed my hand with the other. “Sorry for being so pissed tonight. Kasey sometimes just…” He took a deep breath. “Gets on my nerves.”

“It’s okay.”

“I wanted it to just be the two of us.” His voice was soft, vulnerable almost, and that boyish smile was back. “I hope you had a good time even though it didn’t turn out how I wanted.”

I handed him the bag of pastries and smiled. “I did.”

He opened it and pulled out the last one. “Share it with me.” He pushed it in my direction, but I pushed it back.

“You first.”

His green eyes sparkled, and he bit into it. White cream oozed out of the center, nearly dripping onto the ground, but he caught it on his finger before it ruined the carpet.

I gazed up at him, smirking. Think sexy, Dani.

I grasped his wrist and pulled his hand to me. My lips wrapped around the tip of his finger, and I slowly sucked off all the sweet creamy goodness. He swallowed the rest of his food, eyes widening. With a light pop, I pulled his finger out of my mouth and licked my lips.

“Fuck,” he said under his breath, lips parted just slightly. His eyes were a hazy green.

My fingers trailed down his chest, just like I had seen Kasey do with Aarav, and I wrapped them around his belt loops and pulled him closer to me. I brushed my lips against his ear. “I bet yours tastes better.”

His breath hitched. And, for a moment, I celebrated the slight advantage I had over him.

He regained his composure and pushed me against the door. “I bet you’d love to find out,” he said. When he grinded his hardness into my hip, I let out a small moan, my eyes fluttering closed.

Calm, Dani, calm.

“I love the sounds you make,” he murmured against my ear. Heat rushed to my core.

Stop it, you’re stronger than this.

My fingers relaxed under his belt loops, totally mesmerized by his scent. I moved them to the front side of his pants and grasped his hardness through them. He was so big.

“It’s all yours, Dani. All you have to do is beg.”

My hand moved down his length, and I felt him tense under my touch. He was confident, but I had an effect on him. I continued, knowing it was driving him crazy.

“I’m not going to beg for you,” I said against his ear. “I don’t need you to please me.”

He tensed, harder this time, then pressed his fingers against the front of my dress, wasting rubbing them in small circles. He slipped them under my dress and into my underwear, playing with my folds. “Do you think anyone else could please you the way I can?”

I pressed my knees together, smirking, and pushed him away. “No, and I don’t plan on trying to find anyone else.” His eyes were dark, and after weeks of waiting I just wanted him to thrust me against the wall and fuck me senseless.

But I wasn’t going to beg.

“I’m perfectly capable of pleasuring myself.”

His eyes darkened, and he smirked. “You’re going to touch yourself?”

I paused for the briefest moment, trying to gather my thoughts. He was always so blunt. I opened my door, gave him a once over, and smirked. “I’d ask you to come in, but I’m going to be busy for the rest of the night.”

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER 23

OceanofPDF.com

Dani

“Oh, my gosh!” Kasey screamed over the phone. “I bet he was drooling when you shut the door on him. He was probably thinking about you all night.”

I shrugged on my coat, giggling. “I don’t know about that, Kasey,” I said. But I was definitely thinking about him lying in bed with me, hand around my throat, fingers trailing down the center of my chest, touching me in places that I had only ever dreamt.

After I shut the door on Eros last night, I laid on my bed—candle crackling softly in the corner, fingers sliding into my underwear—and thought about the night. Oddly enough, most of my thoughts weren’t occupied with the incident in the hallway, but by the one in the car. When Eros said he didn’t want to tell me about his past until I was ready.

I rested my forehead against the cold living room window and sighed. “I told you that you don’t know what you’re getting into with me.” He had said it like he had told me those exact words before, but he hadn’t. I only remember him saying that in my dream, and that wasn’t even really him.