I can’t stop thinking about her fucking lips. Can’t stop replaying our kisses over and over again in my fucking head. She’s black tar heroin, seeping through my lips and corrupting the very essence of me.

I want more.

Need more.

I shrugged. “You suck at it.”

Her pretty hazelnut cheeks reddened, but she just read more of the contract.

“I can’t tell anyone…I can’t talk to anyone?” She stared at me, and I shrugged. “How is that going to work?”

My jealousy—my possessiveness—had grown into a green, ugly monster that I had no right to feed. I should have killed it and buried it.

Instead I’d put it in ink and used ten million dollars to buy it the best fucking food on the planet.

“Standard NDA,” I said. “Keep your mouth shut.”

“I have to do whatever you say. If I need something, I have to ask you for it. I have to sleep in your bed.” She listed rule after rule, growing more indignant with each one. “No hugs?”

“I only want one thing from you, Snitch.” When she hugged me, I tended to forget that.

She ground her jaw, looking back at the list. “No lies?”

I don’t know what possessed me to add that rule. A hungry need deep in my chest was starting to form, and her brazen honesty fed it.

“P-Pick…” She stumbled over the second to last item. “Pick a safe word. Why?”

“That’s the most important one,” I said. “I’ve been holding back. I’m not doing that anymore. I’m not asking for permission.”

She stared at me, lips slightly parted, bottom one wet and begging to be sucked and bruised.

Fuck.

She quickly shook out of it, finishing reading.

“I have to do this until Christmas,” she finished. “So you can ruin my favorite holiday. Great. If I fail I don’t get the money and…what is this about property?”

“Just another reminder that whatever you see, discover, find, or fucking hear on my property is mine.”

“Terms to remain in effect in perpetuity. So even after Christmas?” Her eyes popped. “What the hell?”

“Keep reading, Snitch. It’s only the NDA and the part about my property. You think I’m going to let you steal my shit and run your mouth once you run off with my money?”

The furrow in her brow deepened. “This is an insane list of rules, and it doesn’t mention sex anywhere.”

I grinned. “Doesn’t need to. You’ll give it up.”

She scoffed. “Awfully confident.”

“The only reason you haven’t given it up, Snitch, is because I haven’t wanted to take it.”

“My mistake,” she grumbled. “Arrogant…” She whispered the last part so I couldn’t hear it, but I’m pretty certain it wasn’t kind.

And shit.

I really liked that.