(Emma’s POV)
I could feel the pulse in my neck, the rapid beat that echoed in my ears, like a warning, or maybe it was my body betraying me. I was angry—furious, in fact—but I couldn't deny the way my body responded to him. The way he made me feel when he touched me, when he kissed me.
I hated him. I hated everything he stood for. His arrogance, his dominance, the way he thought he could just claim me as his, like I was some object for his taking.
But when his lips had pressed against mine just now, when he had pulled me into him with that forceful grip, I couldn't lie to myself. There was something else there, something I didn’t want to acknowledge.
I felt it—every time he kissed me, every time his hands were on me. A fire. A dangerous, scorching fire that threatened to consume me.
I
