Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders

Author:Adriana Anders [Anders, Adriana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2017-02-07T08:00:00+00:00

22

He’d fucking rip the guy to pieces. She might not think she wanted him to, but it didn’t matter. Men like this Joey guy didn’t deserve the air they breathed. He’d hunt him down and tear him apart like the—

“I’ve lost you, haven’t I?”

“No.”

“Liar. You’re thinking about all the ways you’re going to hurt him.” Uma sat up farther and leaned over him, her head blocking out the stars, which he couldn’t even see anymore anyway—not through the cloud of rage.

She put her small hand in his hair and pulled, bringing everything sharply back into focus. “You, Ivan, will not do anything to Joey. I will not forgive you if you do.”

The burn at the roots of his hair felt good. It shocked him back to earth and forced him to listen. Forced the rage to bank again.

“Kiss me, then.”

“Not until you promise.”

“Just fuckin’ kiss me.”

“Repeat after me. ‘I, Ivan…’ Ivan what?”

“Shifflett.”

“‘I, Ivan Shifflett…’”

“I, Ivan Shifflett…”

“‘…do solemnly swear…’”

“…do solemnly swear…”

“‘…not to go against the wishes of one Uma R. Crane.’”

“What’s the R stand for?”

The hand in his hair tugged, harder this time. “Shut up and repeat after me.”

“Shut up and—”

Another tug elicited a groan from him, and her face moved in toward his, as if to eat the sounds right out of his mouth.

“You will not go against my wishes,” she whispered.

“I will not go against the wishes of the beautiful Uma R. Crane.”

“I’m not beautiful.”

“You’re fuckin’ gorgeous.”

“I’m not.”

“I can’t get enough of you.”

“Why? What’s wrong with you, Ivan?”

“You got all night?”

“Yeah.”

“Whatever. There’s no way we’re wastin’ it talkin’ ’bout me. Come ’ere.” He reached for her, pulling her down atop him.

This kiss was different. Like every kiss they’d shared, it had its own place in Ive’s mind, a catalogue of their time together. This one was almost unbearably tender. Gentle. He’d never been close like this with anyone. He’d been with women, and he’d even thought he was in love once—with Angela—so they must have shared something, but it had been nothing like this. How could you even feel shit like this from a kiss? And after only a couple of weeks of knowing each other.

The idea scared him suddenly. What the fuck was he doing, falling for a woman who’d leave him one day, just like the rest? The difference with this one, he figured, was she’d already warned him she had no plans to stay. At least she was honest. That was more than he could say about the others.

She’d leave him, eventually, but he didn’t think she wanted to.

Above him, Uma shimmied slightly, and he forgot, momentarily, the anger and the panic.

* * *

It happened amazingly fast between them. Every single time they touched, it was like a fuse igniting. A ridiculously short fuse. Only this time, there was something more there. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought it might be her story.

It made it all the more intense, more real, and, at the same time, completely reckless. It was in her, and she sensed it from him.

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