I RUSHED AFTER CROW. We needed to talk. Talk properly, not leave things up in the air like that.

He’d reached his room before I caught up to him. He’d just swiped his door card and had the door open.

“Go back to your own room, Fay,” he said.

Instead of doing that, I slipped under his arm and into his room. He wouldn’t get rid of me that easily.

“You’re lying,” I said. “You’re lying to me, and you’re lying to yourself. You can say all you like about me being your little sister, but that’s total bull. You want more than that, so admit it.”

He tried to push past me to get into his room, but I refused to move. I wouldn’t let him ignore me that easily. I needed to make him see that this was best for us.

He put his hands on my waist and lifted me up out of his way.

A shudder went through my body from that touch. Even when he moved away, the feeling of his hands on me remained. My entire body flushed, and for a moment, I couldn’t speak.

“We aren’t right for each other,” he said.

He organized some things in his closet, but that was just an excuse not to look at me. I’d seen his stuff, and it didn’t need reorganizing.

“How do you know if you haven’t given us a chance?”

“I know. You’re a kid, Fay. You don’t know what you want.”

He could say that, but that want pulsated through me. There wasn’t one part of my body that didn’t feel that want. My hair, my toes, the lint in my belly button. Every single part. And, hell, that want pulsated in more urgent places.

“I know what I want,” I said. “I want you.”

I thought he’d ignore that. The silence stretched out with only the sound of the cleaners chatting in the hallway breaking it. Then he took a few steps toward me.

That pulsing got stronger. His gaze swept over me, so strong that it felt like a caress. I gulped.

“You have the body of a woman, but you’re not.”

I bit my bottom lip. “Try me,” I said.

He laughed. “You’re getting in way over your head.”

“That’s where I want to be,” I replied.

He moved closer. I could smell him, and the woodsy scent of him teased me. Only inches separated us. He wasn’t like his normal self. There was a danger to him, and I had to admit that danger aroused me.

“Is it?”

“Yes, it is,” I said, tilting my head to face him.

Before I could say more, he pushed me against the wall. His body pressed against mine.

“Are you sure?” he growled in my ear.

I nodded.

My heart pounded and I thought I’d combust with the heat. But this was exactly what I wanted. His body against mine, his breath on my skin.

He grabbed my wrists and raised my hands above my head.

Oh, hell. I made a noise partway between a moan and a whimper. His body pressed tighter. His leg parted mine. His chest pressed hard against my breasts.  I squirmed, needing him even closer to me. Needing him naked. Needing him inside me. If he meant to put me off, he was going about it entirely the wrong way.

His lips met mine, rough and demanding. He intended his kiss to punish me with brutal force. He wanted to repel me, but instead he flooded me with an intense desire that needed to be sated. I kissed back just as hard and just as brutally, my body meeting his, my leg twisting around him.

He released my hands, grabbed my thighs instead and hoisted me up against the wall. His hard cock met my pussy, rubbing against me in rough thrusts, making me wish he’d strip these damn jeans from me.

He kissed me so roughly, my mouth would bruise. I didn’t care. I kissed him back just as fiercely. His fingers dug into my thighs as I bucked against him.

If he thought this darkness in him would repel me, he couldn’t be more wrong. It called to me.

As he nipped my neck, I moaned, wanting more and more. Whatever he wanted to give, I’d take it. I bite him back, partly to suppress my screams.

He lifted me away from the wall and carried me towards the bed.

I ached so much. I couldn’t get my clothes off fast enough. My fingers dug into his shoulders, gripping him tight. My hold on this world was tenuous, and real soon, he’d tip me over the edge.

When he lowered me to the bed, he paused, looking at me as though searching my face for something. I whimpered, needing more than that. What was he doing with his hands? If they weren’t on my body, then they were in the wrong place. I raised myself up, wanting to pull him to me.

Instead, he turned away.

“Go back to your room, Fay,” he said.

“No.”

Hell, no. He couldn’t leave me like this. I was so fucking hot and wet. If we didn’t finish this, it’d be pure torture. I grabbed his hand.

“Crow... What’s going on?”

He pulled me up off the bed and straightened my t-shirt. “This isn’t right,” he said. “Why don’t you go back to your room and finger yourself? You’ll stay out of trouble that way.”

I wanted to stamp my feet and scream. The bastard. He’d whipped up all this need inside me, then he was sending me back to my room? And since when did Crow talk coarse like that? Even if it was kind of hot, it wasn’t him.

“Are you angry with me?” he said. “Stay that way. It’s much safer.”

I took a deep breath, trying to get myself together enough to go back to my room without my legs trembling.

“Well, you’re a... a... clit teaser,” I said.

I stormed back to my room. What the hell had happened there?

I brushed my fingers over my lips. They were a little sore, but he’d kissed me. He’d kissed me, then he’d sent me away. What had gone wrong?