Hunted(6)

Such was the crux of their almost non-existent “relationship.” She might have moved on by now, as a matter-of-fact, she would have, if she could’ve. That’s the thing. There was no moving on from Ryon. He was embedded deep her skin. He’d lodged a place inside her years ago, and like a girl harboring a pathetic crush, she’d been unable to rid herself of the General’s Affliction as she liked to call it.

Aptly named, she thought. For he was an affliction. An affliction on the senses, on the mind, and on her heart—which he tested the hardest.

Because of her uncertain, volatile feelings for Ryon, Penelope had kept him at arm’s length. Whether he liked it or not—he clearly loathed it. She saw it in his angry eyes, in the narrowing of his pitch black eyebrows, in the disappointed frown that dented his full mouth.

There were certain “things” Penelope had never dared attempt with Ryon. Everyone knew who he was and what he did. This made things between them ever more complicated. The man threw her world into disarray every moment he entered the room with her. And while she loved having fun, she did not like the kind of trouble that Ryon brought. That trouble being one of desire. Whenever he was near, she felt the most irresistible urge to touch him, even kiss him.

Dangerous thoughts for such a dangerous man.

At the thought, her gaze dipped to his mouth, then caroused over his flexing arms where muscles rounded and bulged in pleasing ways. She nearly sighed at his strength. Something so purely physical and it made her feel giddy as a schoolgirl.

Her gaze continued over his torso down to his tapered hard hips. She licked her lips as warmth gathered in her body. Hulking and strong, he was big, making her feel so much smaller by comparison. His bottom lip was slightly puffier than the top which formed two perfect mountain peaks.

A lump formed in her throat somewhere around the time he grabbed her nipple like he owned it. There could be no kissing of the general. Even if his mouth was a sight for sore eyes. Last time she’d kissed him, she’d barely managed to get away with her senses intact, let alone her heart.

She couldn’t go through that pain again. It still hurt. And that night transpired two years ago. Here in this very same spot. Of course he would bring her here. To their spot.

Ryon wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck and gently tilted her chin up. Their eyes met and locked. He had dark brown eyes like wet mud—and they saw through her—scaring her far worse than any Ava ever could.

He was large and virile, tougher than a bull. All things she wasn’t, but craved in a man. Those deft hands covering her body could hurt her in an instant, could steal the life from her body, or crush her heart into a million pieces. The last he’d already proven he could do with a few choice words.

He may be strong and all-powerful, but she wasn’t. Her strengths were limited and she knew where they lie—and relished in them, as a matter of course. But she didn’t have the power to deal with Ryon every day. He was dictating. He’d crush her spirit whether he meant to or not. He couldn’t even deal with her profession. On more than one occasion he’d asked her to consider other work because he didn’t like the way men ogled her. When she’d tried to explain that they were supposed to watch her, he’d shaken his head in disapproval.

That happened years ago. And here they stood today, still fighting the same battles.

She’d played the different possible scenarios in her head too many times to count, and each time it came out with a bad ending for her. And so, she stayed away from the tempting general as much as she could. When she didn’t see him for days on end, she found herself laying up at night in bed thinking about him, wondering what he was doing, wishing he was there next to her.

Yes, she had it bad for him.

But she couldn’t bring herself to be with him.

Penelope recognized, thanks in part to her sisters’ constructive support, that she was too strong for Ryon. She and Ryon were both demanding and strong-willed and too stubborn to back down. It would never work between them. Still, he did possibly have a few qualities she liked very, very much. Which made him all the more dangerous to her heart. General Ryon Amadeus Ward had a special, albeit strange, place in Penelope’s heart. But that’s exactly where he needed to stay.

Ryon dipped his head low. The close proximity snapped Penelope back to reality. She froze as his mouth neared, waiting on bated breath.

Agony. Their soft breaths collided and mixed, his moist breath wickedly close. Every muscle in her body pulled tight in anticipation for what was to come. A kiss. Would he really dare to try after two, long years? And would she let him?