"A very, very insane man."
The words emerged as a jagged whisper, but they didn't make Lucas flinch. If anything, he leaned into them, as though her defiance fed something dark and hungry inside him. He didn't move an inch off her; instead, he shifted his weight just enough to make Nina acutely aware of the sheer size of him, the solid wall of his chest pressing against her breathing space, stealing the air from her lungs.
She could feel the heat radiating from his body, a warmth that both threatened and beckoned in equal measure.
He let the insult hang in the air, thick and heavy, as his eyes tracked the frantic pulse jumping in the hollow of her neck. The rhythm betrayed everything her face tried to hide… the fear, the anger, and something else she refused to name.
