<b>Chapter </b><b>549 </b>


    I pull my arm from his hand and take a step back.


    “I promised Aunt Ava I’d find you, and I did,” I say, my wordsing out sluggishly. “Now I’m going home.”


    I don’t give him a chance to reply. I turn away, my steps slow and wobbly, but I keep moving.


    I can feel the danger in the air around us. The danger in his words. The kind that warns you when something is about to shift. Something that you might not be able toe back from.


    I stumbled towards my car. The need to leave pushing me forward. I know I’m high, but I can’t risk staying. I’ll drive really slowly if that’s what it takes to make sure I arrive home in one piece.


    Relief hits me when I finally reach my car. My hands tremble as I struggle to dig the keys from my pocket when I feel him behind me. His body heat scorching me and heating the air between us.


    I stiffen, my back bing ramrod. Before I can react, he spins me around and pins me to my car.


    “Please,” he begs, his stormy gray eyes rooting me to the spot.


    They hypnotize me. Drawing me into the depths and pulling me under like a tide. For a heartbeat, I forget all the reasons why I shouldn’t be here. Why staying is a bad idea.


    He steps closer, invading every inch of my personal space. We are flush against each other. So close that I can feel every hard ridge of his body pressed against me.


    I shake my head trying to clear the fog, trying to remember how to say no, but it doesn’t do shit.


    I feel him in a way I’ve never felt him. I’m close to him in a way I’ve never been. It messes with my head, making it hard for me to think straight.


    I ce my hands on his chest, intending to push him away, but nothing happens. I should push him


    away. I want to, but for some weird reason, I can’t.


    Then, without warning, his hands are on me. First on my hips, then my waist. Sparks burst forth on every


    spot he touches me.


    “Noah,” I whisper, my voice a plea. Pleading with him to let me go. To put an end to whatever was happening, but he does the opposite; he ignites the fire into a burning inferno.


    I don’t have time process anything before he crashes his lips onto mine…. And just like that, the sparks


    turn into a wildfire.


    There is no tenderness in the kiss<b>, </b>just need. It’s bruising. It’s scorching. It’s nothing like I’ve ever felt. 1


    We are breathing hard when he pulls away, both of us staring at each other in shock, and something else


    Hunger. Pure, undiluted hunger


    This is my chance to walk away. To forget that that kiss ever happened. I should just leave, but I don’t.


    His kiss brought forth feelings I had long forgotten. Feelings I had long buried. Years of burying them


    under the rubble and a single kiss undoes all the effort I had put in. It’s like, the fact that he has hated me


    doesn’t even matter.


    Our eyes remain on each other, well, that is until something snaps in both of us. I don’t know who moves


    first; all I know is that we sh in a flurry of limbs and lips.


    He devours me, his hand caressing every inch of my body. My mind is screaming warnings, but I can’t


    hear them over the pleasure coursing through me. It’s messy and reckless. Wrong in every possible way,


    but it feels like heaven.


    In that moment, riding high on the feel of his body, I don’t feel a shroud of regret.


    ***


    Morning light filters through the thin curtains, dragging me from sleep. My head throbs, and everything


    feels off.


    I blink up at a ceiling I don’t recognize. This isn’t my room. I’m a little bit confused as I try to piece together where I am and how I ended up here.


    The heavy arm around my waist is a sure sign that I am in somebody’s bed.


    I turn slowly, dread seeping inside my bones. It’s been almost two years since I had a one–night stand, so


    what the hell happened, and how did I end up here?


    When his face registers, everything crashes into me like a fucking avnche, threatening to bury me


    alive. The cliff. The kiss. The motel. His hands. My moans. His name on my lips.


    Panic grips me, and fear cripples me.


    Of all people, why did it have to be him?


    Memory after memory assaults me as I scramble out of bed. He fucked me on the hood of my car. I’d thought that was it, but then he told me that he wasn’t done with me yet. We ended up here, where we


    spent hours tangled in each other.


    I scramble to get my clothes. My mind is a huge mess, and my heart won’t stop racing. I can barely breathe as I dress quickly, hoping to leave before he wakes up.