Play with the Phantom (Midnight, #2)

by Amanda Richardson

“Just to warn you, I have a black belt and I’ll kick your fucking ass if you try and hurt me⁠—” “Hurt you?” His voice dips lower, edged with something rough, something almost… offended. He leans closer, his body pressing into mine, solid, unyielding, the heat of him sinking into my skin like a brand. My pulse stutters, betraying me. Then, his lips brush my ear, his breath hot against my skin. “Angel, the only way I’d ever hurt you is if you begged me for it. If you got on your knees, looked up at me with those pretty, desperate eyes, and asked me nicely.” A sharp, traitorous shiver dances across my skin. “And even then?” His fingers skim my jaw, tilting my chin up until my breath is trapped between us. “I’d make sure you loved every second of it.” I can’t breathe. I can’t… think. This is all so wrong, but why does it feel so… inevitable? Like I was always meant to end up here, trapped between him and the door, drowning in the storm of his presence, his words curling around me like smoke. “I can feel it, you know,” he murmurs, his fingers tracing the barest line down my throat, not applying pressure—just reminding me that he could. That I’d let him. “The way your pulse is racing. The way your breath shudders every time I get close.” I swallow hard, my throat working against his touch. “You’re imagining things.” Maddox chuckles, low and knowing. “Mmm.” His lips brush my temple. “If that’s true, Ari, then why are you still here? Why haven’t you screamed—or run?” Because I don...