4.THE EDGE OF YES

Arden

I told myself I wouldn't come here.

Told myself I wouldn't let it happen again. Wouldn't let him happen again.

But here I was-sprawled on his desk, dress bunched at my hips, lips swollen from the kind of kiss that undoes women like me. Strong women. Unshakable women. Women who don't beg.

Except my body didn't get the memo.

Rhett's hands gripped my thighs like they belonged to him. His mouth was a sinful trail from my collarbone to my jaw. His voice still lived somewhere in my spine-rough, low, dark enough to curl around the places I tried to keep guarded.

"I could ruin you right now." he murmured against my skin. "You know that?"

I did.

God help me, I did.

And worse-I wanted him to.

But I was still Arden Blake. And Arden Blake didn't give in to ex-lovers with too much muscle and too little apology.

So I said nothing.

I held my breath. I held my pride. I held onto the silver of dignity that told me not to fall back into him just because he still knew where to touch. 

But Rhett was patient in a way that should've terrified me.

He kissed me like a storm rolling in slow- sure of itself, certain of destruction. And with every second, he stripped something away.

My silence. 

My resistance.

My resolve.

"You want it, he whispered, his lips ghosting over the corner of my mouth. "I can feel it in your body, Arden. You're shaking for it."

My thighs clenched instictively.

His grin was wicked.

I bit my bottom lip.

He leaned closer

"Say it ,"he growled.

"No." I said directly.

His hands tightened on my waist, dragging me forward until there was no space left. His thigh pressed between mine, the pressure excruciating and perfect. His mouth hovered above mine like he was waiting for permission.

"I want to hear you say it," he said again, slower this time. "Tell me you want me to touch you.To take you. To make you forget everything but my name."

I wanted to slap him.

I wanted to kiss him harder.

I wanted to break his hands and pretend it was still five years ago. The time before he left, before I learned how to survive without him.

But then he said my name, "Arden Blake", just my name- and I came undone in a way I hadn't in a long time.

"Maddox..."

He stilled.

That was the name. The one I used to say when I stopped pretending.

He brushed a kiss over my cheek, his voice softer now. "That's it, baby. Just like that."

I didn't say the word. I didn't have to. My hips shifted torward him. My fingers curled into the back of his shirt. My breath hitched, and he felt it.

And that's when he gave me what I needed, what I have been craving.

His hand slid under my dress, calloused fingers tracing slow lines up the inside of my thigh. I gasped, and he caught it with his mouth. The friction of his palm made my back arch. Made my legs tighten around his waist. Made me whisper a curse I hadn't said in years.

"God, yes..."

And he froze.

"You said it," He breathed.

I blinked up at him, confused, dazed. Wanting more.

Then he kissed me-slow, deep, reverent.

Like he hadn't earned it.

Like he didn't believe he deserved it.

"I'm not going to take you here," he murmured. "Not like this. Not when I want more than just your body."

My heart stuttered.

"Then what do you want?"

He rested his forehead to mine.

"I want all of you. And I'll wait- until you're not saying yes just because you're angry. Or lonely. Or because you missed the way I make you feel."

My mouth parted.

But he was already pulling away, smoothing my dress down with careful hands.

"Next time, he said, walking to the door, "I want you to beg because you trust me again."

And then he was gone.

Leaving me breathless.

Shaking.

And even more than I ever wantedto admit.