52

The steely look he gave me made me feel weird inside. He could always keep his cool. I, on the other hand, struggled to keep my composure and had a temper. It irked me that he could be so stoic, even now when I was trying to piss him off by being an asshole.

He leaned forward, his voice dropping even lower. “You know, there’s another way I’d like us to be connected. Something similar to what happened in that hotel room, maybe?”

Heat and color flooded my cheeks. I scowled and shoved him back, but that only made him smile as he stumbled to regain his footing. That cocky grin pissed me off even more. I stepped close to him and pushed him against the wall, digging my muscles into the thick muscles of his chest. My body betrayed me, and I remembered how warm his flesh had been against mine. The way his tongue had slipped between my legs. The taste of his cock.

I shook my head to clear the images and turned my glare back on him, desperately hoping he had no clue what had just been running through my mind.

“Here’s the deal,” I said, poking a finger into his chest. “I don’t need reminders about how annoying you are every five minutes while those cameras are rolling, okay? Stop baiting me when all eyes are on us. Otherwise, you or I or both of us might let it slip that we know each other. Hell, we’re probably screwed, anyway. Who knows how many people who know both of us watched the premiere.”

“It’ll be fine,” Wyatt said. “The studio will sweep external issues under the rug. We’re pretty isolated here. If we stay cool, no one will know.”

Before I could ask what the hell he meant by that, he wrapped his arm around me, spun me, and switched places with me. I was pressed against the wall, and he was up against me. I wanted to shove him away, but every nerve in my body was short-circuiting. I couldn’t do anything except breathe in his scent. It enveloped me, like it had that night in the hotel.

“I’m gonna play it like this,” Wyatt whispered, his lips inches from mine. “I’m going to act like this is the first time we’ve met without all those walls you put up between us, all the anger and shit you’ve built up to keep me out.”

A gasp came, unbidden, from my mouth. Indignation and shock roiled in my head.

“There are no walls up. I don’t need to build any walls because all you are is my brother’s friend. And all I am is a rejected wolf. The only anger comes from the fact that you’re constantly trying to get involved in my business. All I want to do is forget any moments we’ve shared in the past.”

That last part was in reference to that day years ago. The day that changed everything for me, when Wyatt had found me sobbing in the forest, covered in blood and desperate for help. That wasn’t where Wyatt’s mind had gone, though. I could tell by the look he gave me. He assumed I was talking about the night in the hotel.

He pressed even closer to me, his eyes narrowing. My body continued to do the exact opposite of what I wanted. His body heat was making me wet. That, and the memory that kept springing to my mind of how he’d made me feel with that mouth and tongue of his. I bit down painfully on the inside of my cheek to clear my mind.

“You can act however you want in front of the cameras,” he whispered furiously. “You can act however you want in front of all those guys and Von and the audience. But don’t think for a moment that I’ll ever believe you want to forget what happened in that hotel room.”

Any second now, he would smell my arousal, and he’d know that he was right.

“Just shut up, Wyatt, or you’re gonna turn me on again.” I tried to fill my voice with scorn and sarcasm, but the words were too close to the truth for my liking.

It was too late. His lips were almost touching my collarbone as he sniffed.

He groaned. “Gods, you smell delicious. Like you did that night. I still think about it, Kira. You laid out on that hotel bed, looking the way you did. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll have you crying out in pleasure again. Would you like that? I’d love to go back into that room full of alpha assholes with your scent all over me, the smell of your pussy on my lips.”

My heart was racing. My panties were soaked, and my nipples were so hard, they ached. I wanted exactly that. I wanted his cock inside me. But that couldn’t happen. Not if I wanted to survive this, and because I couldn’t let him know he’d managed to worm himself into my head.

“You need to forget what happened between us,” I hissed. “That was a one-time thing. I was in a bad headspace, freaked out about coming on the show, and, well, I needed sex, okay? And you happened to be in the right place at the right time. That’s all. I was going off to this island and assumed I was probably never going to see you again, so…” I trailed off. I couldn’t think straight with him that close to me. Nothing was coming out right.

“You wanted to have what you’d always secretly wanted?” Wyatt finished for me.

“That’s not…I mean…no, I didn’t say that.”

Why couldn’t I control my breathing? Of all the times for me to lose control, I chose now?

“You need to survive,” Wyatt said, then leaned forward and started kissing my jaw.

I pressed a hand to the wall to keep my knees from giving out. Suddenly, the colors of the room seemed brighter, every sound was amplified, and each touch from him was like a pleasant fire gliding along my skin.