CHAPTER FIVE
The moment Briar took a step back, he moved.
Fast. Too fast.
The world tilted, the breath barely catching in her throat before her back hit rough bark, the night swallowed by him. By his heat, his scent—wild and dark and utterly consuming.
Briar gasped, but she didn’t push him away.
Didn’t fight.
Because this was what she’d been waiting for, wasn’t it?
For him to snap.
For the tension to break, for the inevitable to shatter the fragile distance she’d been clinging to.
Kade’s fingers trailed down her arms, slow and deliberate, like he was memorizing her. Like he wanted to brand the feeling of her into his skin.
His golden eyes burned as they searched hers. Testing. Waiting.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmured.
A challenge. A dare.
Her breath hitched, her nails digging into her palms.
He leaned closer, his lips barely grazing the curve of her jaw, his breath hot against her skin.
“Tell me you don’t want this.”
Liar Briar.
The words ghosted through her mind, unwelcome and true.
Because she did want this.
Wanted the way his presence made her body hum, wanted the way his touch sent fire licking up her spine.
Wanted the way he made her feel—like she was being hunted and worshiped in the same breath.
She exhaled, shaky, defiant. “I hate you.”
Kade’s smirk was slow. Dangerous.
“No, you don’t.”
His hand slid lower, fingers splaying against her thigh, gripping just enough to make her breath stutter.
Briar’s pulse pounded.
This was dangerous. He was dangerous.
She should stop this. Shove him away. Remind him that this—they—were a terrible idea.
But then he growled.
Low. Rough.
The sound vibrated against her skin, curling down her spine, sinking into her bones.
Her core clenched.
Oh, fuck.
Wanted the way his presence made her body hum, wanted the way his touch sent fire licking up her spine.
Wanted the way he made her feel—like she was being hunted and worshiped in the same breath.
She exhaled, shaky, defiant. “I hate you.”
Kade’s smirk was slow. Dangerous.
“No, you don’t.”
His hand slid lower, fingers splaying against her thigh, gripping just enough to make her breath stutter.
Briar’s pulse pounded.
This was dangerous. He was dangerous.
She should stop this. Shove him away. Remind him that this—they—were a terrible idea.
But then he growled.
Low. Rough.
The sound vibrated against her skin, curling down her spine, sinking into her bones.
Her core clenched.
Oh, fuck.
Kade chuckled, dark and knowing. Smug.
“You like it when I growl for you, don’t you?”
She bit her lip, refusing to give him the satisfaction of an answer.
Didn’t matter.
He already knew.
In a swift motion, he spun her, pressing her front against the tree, his body flush against her back.
She gasped, her fingers curling against the bark, her breath stuttering in her throat.
“Kade—”
“Shh.”
His lips ghosted over the shell of her ear, his hands spreading over her hips, holding her there.
Like he was staking his claim.
Like he’d already won.
Briar shuddered as his teeth scraped the sensitive skin of her neck—not biting. Just threatening.
A silent promise.
Her knees nearly buckled.
“I can smell it,” he murmured, voice thick with satisfaction. “The way your body betrays you.”
Heat flooded her cheeks. Damn him.
“Screw you.”
Kade chuckled, the sound dark and full of certainty.
Kade’s words coiled around her like a velvet snare, dark and unshakable, a promise wrapped in a threat.
Briar sucked in a breath, her pulse hammering in her throat, her body already betraying her before she could even form a response.
Damn him.
She should fight. She should push him away.
But she didn’t.
Because the heat of his palm was already pressing between her thighs, teasing, coaxing, drawing a shuddered gasp from her lips before she could stop it.
His breath ghosted against her ear, warm and wicked.
“You feel it, don’t you?” he murmured. “The way your body responds to me.”
She clenched her jaw. Shook her head.
Lies.
It didn’t matter. Kade could smell the truth. Could feel the slight arch of her back, the way her fingers clenched against the bark.
Could hear the way her breathing had gone ragged.
“You can fight me all you want, sweetheart.” His fingers traced slow, deliberate patterns along her inner thigh, never quite giving her what she needed, never quite touching where she ached. “But we both know you don’t really want me to stop.”
Briar bit her lip so hard she tasted copper.
She would not give him the satisfaction of an answer.
Kade’s hand slid higher.
She sucked in a sharp breath.
He chuckled, low and knowing. “That’s what I thought.”
Her stomach tightened. Heat coiled low, dark and consuming.
Her mind screamed at her to shove him away, to fight, to reclaim the control she was so quickly losing.
But her body?
Her body leaned in.
Betrayed her.
Kade’s other hand skated up her torso, fingers tracing the curve of her waist, slipping under the hem of her shirt just enough to make her breath hitch.
“I told you,” he murmured, dragging his lips along the curve of her jaw. “You’re going to take everything I give you.”
His hand gripped her hip, his body pressing harder against her back, his heat sinking into her skin, branding her.
Her eyes fluttered shut, her resolve unraveling with every slow, taunting movement of his hands.
“And you’re going to love it,” he growled.
Briar exhaled sharply, her fingers digging into the tree bark as the last thread of her resistance frayed.