h4Chapter 406: Hold Me/h4

    "So angry." iThunk. Thunk. Thunk./i The knife hit the chopping board again and again, steady and sharp. Mnie grinned and popped another grape into her mouth.

    "Anger makes you look sexier," she said, voice light. "At this rate, I’ll have to find ways to keep you jealous and angry. Hmm... maybe I should flirt with a lot of men."

    iThunk./i

    The sound stopped with one heavy, final thud as Adam turned to look at Mnie who was holding arge grape in her hand and ying with it.

    Narrowing his eyes, he walked over, slow and deliberate. Without a word, he leaned in and bit the grape right out of her fingers, his tongue brushing against them just enough to make her breath catch Then, in one easy motion, he caught her by the hips and lifted her, setting her on the cool surface of the kitchen ind.

    "My sweet little Melon," he murmured, his voice low but teasing. "Do you need me to remind you what happens when you try to make me jealous?"

    Mnie wrinkled her nose at him, and her lips twitched but she refused to give him the satisfaction and forcefully suppressed her smile!

    He was far too smug already. Her back still throbbed faintly from the morning, proof of how possessive he had been, and she wasn’t about to let him see the way it made her heart race now. It had been two hours since the two ’guests’ had left and this one had arrived.

    She shifted slightly on the counter, pretending to adjust her bnce, but really, she was sore all over, then deliberately hooked her legs around his hips. The move pulled him in until there was no space left between them. The hard line of his body pressed against her knees, his warmth seeping through as she leaned closer.

    "No need to remind me," she said with a softugh, and even though she knew she was baiting him, she could not help it. As much as she pretended it, she was likign his closeness more and more each day. "It’s not like I’ll be able to move the entire day without... remembering it." Her eyes flicked to his mouth, then away, taunting him without a word.

    His grin came slow,zy, like he was savoring every second of this. He leaned in until his breath mingled with hers, and she could already feel his interest rising against her...

    "I want to steal you away," he muttered finally, voice lower now, rougher, carrying a promise in it. "I don’t like what you have nned next."

    Mnie tilted her head slightly, a small smile curving her lips at his tone. "And yet," she whispered, her hands sliding lightly over his shoulders, "you’re still going to let me do it."

    His grip on her hips tightened just enough to make her breath hitch. "I’m going to be very, very, very jealous," he warned, eyes dark on hers. "I didn’t like you kissing Spencer. And back then, you weren’t even mine. I hate this even more."

    "Rx," she said, rolling her eyes, though her arms stayed locked around him. "It’s not even going to be a real kiss. Cadence will run faster than a rabbit after that kiss."

    Adam frowned, his jaw tightening even further. "You’re looking at it too simply. Cadence kissed Dr. Jung. A man. And he did it impulsively. Right now, he might be questioning what that even means for him. He would be confused by his own feelings. You think that if you kiss him, he’ll see there’s nothing there and just walk away after realizing that there is no chemistry between the two of you... But what if he sees it differently? What if you kissing him gives him a chance to prove something to himself-that he isn’t attracted to men after all? That he can be attracted to you instead. What if he takes it as his way of proving he isn’t... gay?"

    Mnie froze at that, the possibility hitting harder than she expected. For her, the next part of the n had been simple. n a seduction scene. Try to seduce and kiss Cadence when he returned, eventually make him realize there was no spark, no attraction, and end the whole mess before it grew into something worse still. But now, with Adam spelling it out like that, hesitation crept in where confidence had been.

    What if?

    What if Cadence didn’t pull away? What if he decided to take things further just to prove something to himself? She hadn’t even thought of that. She had no n B, nothing prepared if Cadence reacted in a way she hadn’t expected... if he saw the kiss not as a barrier but as an invitation? Her fingers tightened slightly on Adam’s shoulders, the first hint of unease breaking through her usualposure.

    "Then... what should I do? He must be about to reach here and now..."

    Adam smiled," I have an idea. Take out your phone.."

    Hurriedly, Mnie grabbed her phone, trying to focus as Adam’s mouth trailed over her skin. He scattered small kisses along her cheek, down the line of her neck, while his hands roved over her body as if he were trying to memorize every curve. It was distracting and her fingers fumbled over the screen more than once.

    Just as she messaged the words that Adam told her, Adam whispered in her ear,"Lift up and move forward, Melon."

    Confused, she asked him, "why?" with distraction, but then her eyes widened as she looked down at him.. This ba*tard... Before she could utter the words, his fingers tightened on herbottom, lifted her a** and he entered her in a single smooth stroke, making her breath catch.

    "Are you crazy, Adam Collins? Cedence is going to be..."

    Before she couldplete her sentence, Adam bit the corner of her lip and pushed forward his hips slowly, thrusting and withdrawing with each word," You. Still. Have. The. Strength. To. Think. About. Other Men?"