Free Hour by Hour (Games & Diversions #2) by Natalie E. Wrye Page B

Florence
     
     
    ELENA
     
    The maître d’ looks over at us for the third time in the past two minutes. I’d tell him to quit staring... but he has every right to.
    Lukas and I are starting to make a scene in our little corner of the restaurant
    Mostly because he—in all his tall, dark and gloomy glory—is absolutely and undeniably, fucking livid.
    His large hand clamps down on my elbow, holding me hostage.
    “What the hell are you doing here?” he thunders.
    My voice is a raspy yell. “ Me? What the hell are you doing here? I’m just trying to enjoy a decent meal—same as you.”
    His nearly black hair is tousled atop his head and when he leans into me, a stray lock falls to his forehead.
    I want to reach out and tuck the strands away, but with the look in Lukas’s green eyes, I’m afraid he might snap my fingers in half.
    “No, not in Milano’s. Not in this restaurant . I mean here . In Tampa.”
    I roll my eyes. “As if you don’t know…”
    “No, I don’t . Why don’t you enlighten me?”
    “I live here, Luke.”
    His bottom lip falls by a fraction, leaving his mouth slightly open and inviting. He’s a ready-to-attack beast, baring his fangs at me, and all I can think about is placing my hands all over him.
    I don’t know what is wrong with me.
    He twists his lips into a snarl. He can barely grit the words out between his clenched teeth. His voice is a gritty roar.
    “You . Live. Here?! Since when?!”
    I sigh heavily. “Since the night of the engagement party. I never went back to Memphis, even though I was supposed to, initially.”
    I squint harder at him.
    “You going to tell me that you never knew?”
    He flinches. “ Knew? Jesus Christ, Elena.
    “Do you know what I’d have done to you if I knew you were here this whole fucking time?”
    My stomach does a flip, but my face feigns indifference. I scoff.
    “Yeah. Like you’ve been abstaining.”
    “ Like I’ve had a fucking choice in the matter. ”
    He places his second hand on my other elbow, inching closer.
    “Do you even know what you’ve fucking done to me?”
    His roar becomes a rasp, and he whispers near my temple with a harsh and husky sigh.
    “You’ve ruined me with other women. You … and that sweet, delicious pussy of yours have made it impossible to want anything else.
    “You’ve given me a hit of something I can’t describe. And I can’t move on to anything else until I get this addiction out of my system.
    “Until I get you out of my system.”
    I swallow roughly, letting the scruff on his jaw rub gently near my ear. I imagine all of the other places I’d love that scruff to be.
    I start to melt.
    “ Lukas…” His name is softer than a breeze from my lips.
    God, it’s so easy to give in to him. How can he swing me from one extreme to the next so easily?
    From livid to lustful… and back again—at the drop of a hat…
    I chance a glance at his face.
    “How do you propose you’ll go about doing that?” I ask, suddenly timid.
    “ By fucking you until I can’t fuck anymore . By letting you have me …
    “Until there’s nothing left. Until every inch of us is spent. Until every drop is sucked dry.
    “Then—and only then—will we have purged each other from our systems.”
    He takes a step back, holding an outstretched hand.
    “So, come on.”
    I glare in amazement at his open palm, regaining a few firing neurons back into my brain. This can’t be happening…
    I just… I can’t… But this…
    “Wait,” I say to Lukas. “Can we do this? Keep this going on between us?”
    “Think about it,” I demand louder— more to myself than to him .
    “Foxx and Kat—they would kill us if they found out. Foxx doesn’t want you getting involved with me any more than Kat wants me to get involved with you .
    “We set the rules—with our eyes, with our bodies . We both knew it wouldn’t last beyond that night. I understood that.
    “And I know you did, too.
    “You’re breaking the rules.”
    He