Jillyanna squeezed her eyes tightly shut, her muscles tensing into iron as she braced herself for an immediate, violent assault. Yet seconds ticked by in agonizing slowness, and the expected blow never landed. The footsteps simply ceased, bringing him to a sudden halt mere inches from her face.
He was far too close—so unnervingly close that the warm, rhythmic puff of his breath fanned against the sensitive skin of her cheeks.
When Jillyanna slowly cracked her eyes open, she found him staring down at her with unblinking, predatory intensity. He was examining her features with a cold, detached fascination, scrutinizing her every subtle tremor like an exotic insect pinned beneath a laboratory microscope.
Her heart hammered a frantic, violent rhythm against her ribs, and a sudden wave of dizziness threatened to throw her off balance. They locked eyes in a suffocating staring contest, neither party willing to concede a single inch of ground.
