Page 64 of Rescuing Rebel
“It’s not bullshit. It’s the truth.”
“Those women want to be sold and traded like chattel?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” I make it one step before his iron grip wraps around my arm. He pulls me to him. This close, his heat and scent envelop me. “It’s better than the alternative.”
“Fuck, Rebel, why won’t you talk to me?”
“Because…”
His mouth crashes down on mine, angry and hungry all at once. Shock explodes through me, immediately replaced by blistering heat as our lips clash and our tongues tangle. He kisses fiercely, all tongue and teeth, like he wants to devour me.
I try to twist away, to resist the molten desire rising to meet his savage kiss, but my traitorous body disobeys. My mouth moves rhythmically under his, soft and pliant despite my anger. I kiss him back with a ferocity that shakes me to my core.
His stubble scrapes my skin as his mouth slants over mine, again and again, relentless and demanding. I’m lost in his flavor and the scorching pressure of his lips possessing mine, claiming them completely. I nip his bottom lip, and he growls into my mouth, low and feral.
His hands grasp at me greedily, hauling me tighter against him. The hard planes of his body pin me to the wall, muscles coiled and quivering with restraint. Heat engulfs every point we connect—chests crushed together, hips fused in delicious friction, thighs interlocked in a tangle of need.
I’m dizzy, senseless, and shattering.
Consumed by a desire transcending anger, betrayal, bitterness, and self-preservation. In this searing suspended moment, there is only Ethan—his blistering kiss staking an irrefutable claim, hands branding my body, his heart hammering wildly against my own.
A red haze of passion clouds my vision when we finally break apart, gasping raggedly for air. I’m untethered and dangerously adrift. I press shaking palms against his chest, pushing him back by inches. He releases me slowly, eyes scorched by the same inner fire that rages through my veins.
“You have to stay away from me.” My voice trembles with the effort of denial, even as my body screams otherwise. “Please. Kaufman will know, and he will kill you.”
“Your words say one thing, but your body says another. Which one is the lie?” His eyes blaze into mine, refusing to release me from his simmering gaze. “You want me to trust you, yet you give me no reason to do so.”
“It’s complicated.”
His thumb brushes my bottom lip, still tender and swollen from the blistering kiss. At his touch, desire shudders through me, traitorous and undeniable.
“You can’t fight this.” His voice is a gravelly whisper meant only for me. “We’re inevitable. Written in the stars. Tell me what’s going on. Give me a reason not to hate you.”
I clench my fists against the urge to grasp him and drown myself in his heat and intensity. With monumental effort, I gather the tattered remnants of my will.
“You’re right about one thing,” I say.
“What’s that?”
“I’m not who you think I am.” The words come out choked and clogged with remorse. “Whatever we had? It’s nothing but ash.”
“You don’t believe that.” His eyes blaze, refusal etched on every taut line of his body. “I lost you once—it won’t happen again.”
“You want the truth?” Even as the words tumble from my mouth, I regret them, but I have to cut Ethan loose.
“Yes.”
“We shared one night on the beach. It meant nothing to me. As for Kaufman and why I’m here…” These are the hardest words I’ve ever had to say, but I grit my teeth. “I came to him.”
“Th-that’s not true.”
“It’s true. It’s one hundred percent true. I came to him with a business proposal. A way to turn the women he kidnapped into willing, eager, and fiercely loyal slaves. That’s the truth.”
For a suspended moment, his eyes blaze, probing for the truth. When he sees the truth shining in my eyes, his shoulders slump.
“I won’t expose you, or your team, to Kaufman, but you can’t be here. You have to pack up and leave. Leave before something horrible happens.”
The look of betrayal on his face is enough to shatter my heart. He turns without another word, yanks on the door, and leaves my room. The echo of his footsteps reverberates through my hollow chest.