Page 10 of Puck Me Twice Over

“Open your eyes.” Knox’s command washed over me, soft and brief and easy.

I sucked in a shattered breath and shook my head, unable to speak.

His deep laugh brought me back to the now. A concept I could grasp with all the chaos fracturing and reforming only to shatter again in the next moment, all inside my head. The overload on overload.

“I know what’s happening in there.” Light fingers tapped my temple, then withdrew. “I know you. Come on, Flick. It’s me. I want to see you,” he coaxed. “Let me see those pretty sky eyes I adore. Eyes I’ve dreamed about. Fantasized about every night. Please. For me?”

Warmth that had nothing to do with his body pressed knee-to-knee with mine and everything to do with his proximity simmered low in my belly. I bit my lip as his hands found mine and began to unwind the sheets from their knot between my fingers. I clung to the soft threads in a death grip, refusing to let go. They were my anchor.

If I opened my hands, I might fall off the bed, or stay on it. The center of gravity that was Knox would take me right into his arms. Then I’d be his again, without him asking, because he was a Chimera. And then…

I didn’t know what tomorrow would look like at all.

A controlled breath gusted against my cheek. Another laugh, self-depreciating this time. “You can pretend I’m not here. I’m not gonna do anything you don’t want. I promise.”

“That’s the problem,” I grumbled.

“I’m the problem?” Teasing, this time. Light.

I wanted to smile. Almost. Of course he wasn’t the problem. Knox never was the damn problem. But the good old it wasn’t you, it was me would never fly with this man. The sheet slipped from my hands, and his larger ones covered mine. Slipped between my fingers until I clung to nothing and then⁠—

Warm, larger hands filled mine, instead. “What would you let me do, Flick?”

My breath came faster. Too fast. “Any—” I clamped my lips together before another confession I couldn’t prevent fell free into the aether between us in no Chimeras’ land.

“Yeah?” The timbre of his voice changed, deepening. Breath stilled between us. Long fingers stroked the backs of my hands in soothing motions. “Maybe I’m not going to push you for that tonight.”

“Why not?” My eyes flew open, searching for answers in the shadows of his impenetrable gaze.

Let me in, Knox. Please.

But he wouldn’t, and I’d be just as closed out. Shelved, like everything else in his life. Only what Knox chased in that moment got let in. The high he sought, until that wore off too. Then he chased something else. Another goal. Another high.

While I was left with the addiction of him, unsated.

I bit my lip, praying that none of that fell out of my mouth. But in the end it didn’t need to. The edge of his lips curled up and somehow, without me saying a stupid, single word, he knew.

“Because you need something else tonight. And if I spread those soft thighs and slide inside your heat, you won’t be leaving,” he murmured, stroking the backs of my hands with his thumbs.

“Oh,” I whispered. All other language deserted my brain. Damn you, Knox Vandevere. Damn you and your soft bed and warm sheets that want to strangle me and your good damn manners bringing me out of the rain.

I should have walked home. I should have left his bed.

I shouldn't have kissed him.

Our lips met in a soft whisper, the barest touch of lips on lips. But this wasn’t our first kiss, even if that last kiss had been over a decade ago. I knew this man, who he was underneath all the swagger and pride of who he had become. And him…

He knew me.

Knox’s mouth coasted across mine. Testing. Teasing. When I sucked in a shuddering breath, his lips closed over mine, and his tongue slid inside. I expected his hands to fold around me, draw me close, but he didn’t. No other part of him moved as he kissed me gently. But that didn’t make it any less all consuming. I couldn’t breathe for the taste of him, the scent of this man who hadn’t been there for years but who also never left even when I did.

The man who never let me go, holding my hands firmly in his as he explored what he already knew. What was already his. While I panted and pressed my thighs together, flicking my tongue against his. Needing something faster, something more. But Knox never gave that. His kisses remained slow, and constant, sweet and exploring.

And as I thought I might explode I realized I was…

Sinking.

My breaths slowed. My heartbeat too, and I kissed him back gently. No longer rushing or pressing my thighs to his, aching or grinding. My eyes fluttered open when he pulled back and I stared at him, dazed and confused.