What?
Gentle fingers skim the length of my neck, trace along my jaw, up my chin, and I realize…
This feels way too real. Someone is on me. Someone is actually touching me. Someone is in my room, with me on my bed.
My eyes snap open to find Eli Bennett straddling my hips, watching me with those all-knowing hazel eyes and his fingers still on my face.
What.
The.
Hell?
This asshole broke into our fucking cabin!
I part my lips, but no sound comes out. Instead, I make a choking noise, and I’m sputtering. Ready to scream my freaking head off when he clamps his hand over my mouth, silencing me completely. I blink up at him, my heart tripping over itself when he lowers his head, his eyes never straying from mine. He’s so close, I can feel his warm breath waft across my face.
“Don’t say anything,” he whispers, his fingers tight across my lips. “We don’t want to wake the fam now, do we?”
I squirm beneath him, using all of my strength, desperate to get out of his grip, but it’s no use. He’s literally on top of me, his thighs bracketing either side of my hips, his hips pressed against mine. And while he’s not as big as my brother, he is definitely bigger than me.
In other words, he is super heavy, and it’s almost impossible for me to move.
A frustrated noise of rage escapes me, muffled by his fingers, and he grins.
“I do like how feisty you are,” he says.
Okay, that does it. His choice of words. That particular word.
Parting my lips, I sink my teeth into his finger. I don’t even know which finger I’m biting, but he yelps as he jerks his hand from my mouth, shaking his fingers with an incredulous expression on his face.
He deserved that. I hope it hurt like hell. Maybe I even broke skin.
I take my chance and try to get away from him, but he ends up grabbing hold of my wrists, pressing them against my pillow, so they’re on either side of my head. I lift my hips, trying to buck him off me, but all that does is cause my lower body to brush against his, and that is so not the message I’m trying to send.
With a huff, I try another tactic, contracting my stomach, pressing my butt into the mattress, trying to get away from him. So I can’t feel his hot body on mine. Burning me up.
I’m a prisoner. Trapped beneath him.
“You bit my throwing hand,” he chastises, holding his right hand in front of his face and examining his index finger, his eyes crossing the slightest bit. If I didn’t hate him so much, I’d think he was kind of adorable. “Trying to take me out or what?”
I say nothing. Just glare at him.
His smile never fades, damn him. “I’m guessing you didn’t like it when I called you feisty.”
My eyes narrow, but I still remain silent.
“We’re already deep into battle number two, I guess,” he says, dipping his head so his hair falls over his eyes. It looks soft. I curl my fingers into fists, hating how I’m tempted to touch him. Brush his hair out of his eyes.
That the thought even flashes through my brain sets me on edge, makes me wary. Wary of my own self-control. What he’s doing—what we’re doing right now isn’t normal.
Not at all.
His fingers tighten around my wrists, reminding me that he’s not about to let me go. Not yet. “Looks like I’m winning this one, yet again.”
His smugness makes me want to punch him, and I finally have to say something.
“How did you get in here?” I ask, my voice sounding like a hiss.
“Like I’d give up my secrets.” The devilish gleam in his eyes unsettles me. Makes me think he’s capable of all sorts of things.
None of them good.
“You should leave,” I tell him, swallowing hard. Trying to hide the tremble in my voice. But there’s no use. It’s more than obvious he makes me nervous. Nervous that he’s here. Nervous that I’m feeling such…unfamiliar sensations swirling within me. “If you go now, I won’t tell anyone you broke into our cabin. It’ll be our little secret.”
“See that’s the thing.” He leans in closer, so his cheek is pressed right next to mine, his mouth at my ear. “I have a feeling we’re going to share lots of secrets, Ava. This is the first of many.”
My breathing accelerates, and every exhalation is shaky. I sound terrified. I am a little frightened. I don’t know what he wants from me.
Wait. I take that back. I think I do know, but he’s definitely not going to get it.
“Don’t be scared of me,” he whispers, right before he nuzzles his face in my hair. Tingles scatter all over my skin, and I hate how my body reacts to his nearness. “You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, do you know that? You make me go out of my fucking mind every time I see you, knowing I can’t touch you. Can’t have you.”
I avert my face, looking toward the window, trying to arch away from his touch. I don’t believe what he’s saying. He’s just trying to—use me to get back at my brother. I can’t fall under his spell. That’s what it feels like. He’s weaving a spell on me with words and gestures, and it’s all fake. It has to be. “You don’t even know me.”
“I want to know you,” he says, his fingers loosening ever so slightly, around my wrists. “I’ve been watching you for a while. I had to take my opportunity when I could.”
“So you’re a psycho stalker,” I throw out as I face him once more, my voice defiant. I lift my hips, trying to buck him off me yet again and he spreads his thighs wider, pressing his lower body against mine so tight, I have no choice but to keep still. I look away again, frustration rippling through me. I wish I was stronger.
“Call me whatever you want.” He releases my wrist to grab hold of my chin, turning my head so I face him. “Just give me a chance.”
I’m frowning. I want to laugh at him. Spit in his face. “A chance at what?”
“At you. I can prove to you we belong together.” He says it with such conviction, I can almost believe him.
Almost.
“You’re insane,” I whisper.
“It’s my best quality,” he says with a straight face.
“This isn’t the way you go about proving to a girl that you’re into her.”
He raises a brow as he releases my chin and grabs hold of my wrist once more. “Really? I think it says a lot, that I broke into your cabin and snuck up the stairs into your room. You’re beautiful when you sleep, by the way.”
I fight the warmth that spreads over my skin at his words. No boy has ever said such a thing to me before. Of course, when has a boy ever seen me sleep? “Please don’t tell me you watched me sleep.”
“I totally watched you,” he says. “For maybe…five minutes? I didn’t want to disturb you. You looked so peaceful.”
“But you did disturb me.” He disturbs me on a constant basis.
“I suppose I did.” He sends me a stern look. “If I release my hold on your wrists, you promise me you won’t hit me or try to get away?”
“No.”
A sigh escapes him. “Guess I have to keep holding you prisoner then.”
I struggle against his grip like I can’t help myself. He’s extraordinarily strong. And seriously, I can’t believe I bit him. Though I’m kind of proud of that. I wish I would’ve done actual damage.