Obsession

Hunter shrugged. “I had some trouble falling asleep.”

I started to squirm. How in the world could his stare be so intense without me even seeing his eyes? I turned my attention to the bacon. Extra crispy. My favorite.

“Eat,” he said.

My stomach grumbled in response, but I couldn’t stand his commanding tone. So I ignored him. “About last night…”

“You want to talk about it? Which part? The one where you didn’t listen to what I told you?” Hunter tipped his head back. The shirt he wore gaped, revealing a bigger glimpse of his rock-hard chest and abs. “Eat.”

My hand tightened on the cup as I took a deep, slow breath. “No. You…we…”

God, this was awkward. “I mean, I don’t normally let guys…or whatever…kiss me.”

“That’s good to know.” Hunter slowly lowered his head and looked at me. “Eat.”

“Is there ever a moment when you’re not bossing someone around?” I asked.

“Probably not.”

“And do you realize how rude and annoying it is?”

A half smile appeared. “Yes. And before you ask, I don’t give a shit if it’s annoying and rude. Eat, Serena.”

Well, he got points for being honest, but I was half tempted to throw my mug in his face.

“We really didn’t kiss,” he said. “I kissed you.”

Heat flooded my cheeks. “But it was more than that.”

One eyebrow arched over the dark shades. “Well, I was on top of you for a few very enjoyable moments.”

“That’s not what I was getting at,” I snapped. “Did you feed off me again?”

Hunter said nothing.

Anger flooded me. “Damn it, you can’t keep doing that!”

“You’re fine, but you should probably eat.”

“It’s not okay. How long have I been out of it?”

He didn’t answer for a long moment. “It was a day ago.”

My brain didn’t fully register that for a minute and when it did, I was stuck between anger and panic. “I…I lost another day?”

“You slept through another day.”

I gaped at him. “Slept? I slept through another day because of what you did to me.

You can’t do that and—”

“I know,” he cut in. A muscle flexed along his jaw. “I stopped when I realized what I was doing.”

I started, unsure if I should believe him. “You didn’t mean to?”

“No.”

“Then why—”

“Eat, Serena.” He turned back, giving me his profile. “Feeding is in my nature.

Sometimes it just happens. I didn’t want to—okay. That’s a lie. I did want to, but I shouldn’t have. That’s why I stopped.”

I glanced away, biting down on my lip. I didn’t know what to say about that. The fact he fed on me twice pissed me off. It couldn’t be healthy and it wasn’t right. Even if he hadn’t meant to and stopped, I wasn’t okay with it.

“Don’t do it again,” I said, looking at him.

“I won’t.” He paused. “While you were sleeping, I had some clothing picked up for you.”

I remembered the bags in the room and I didn’t know what to say, but words came out. “Thank you.”

Hunter stiffened like I’d insulted him.

“What are you doing on my balcony anyway?” I asked after a few moments, changing the subject.

“I’m out on my balcony, which happens to be outside my guest bedroom that you’re borrowing, because I like the view out here.”

I looked up. There was another deck, most likely attached to the loft upstairs. “Your bedroom is the loft?”

“It is.”

“Then the view there has to be much better.”

He tilted his head to the side. “I also like the view inside my guest bedroom.”

Heat infused my face.

A grin played across his cheeks, almost teasing in nature. “Not that I was watching you. That would be creepy.”

“Yes. Yes that would be.”

“Eat, Serena.”

Back to that again. I set my cup down, but didn’t move toward the bacon. His commanding attitude sparked a rebellious nature I never knew I had. “Did you make them?”

He nodded. “I can cook.”

“What else can you do?”

Hunter’s grin spread. “There are a lot of things I can do. I’m more than willing to give a detailed breakdown of them, or I’d gladly show you.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m sure you would.”

A deep, infectious laugh rumbled out of Hunter, and I felt my lips start to spread in response. “Eat,” he said.

“I wasn’t talking about those things, by the way.”

“I know.”

I did smile then, only a little, because there was something about his unapologetic nature that was humorous—irritating, but definitely humorous.

He sighed. “I can hear your stomach growling, so it seems pointless that you would fight me on this. And you don’t look like one of those women who starve themselves to have the body of a pubescent girl.”

I gaped at him. Should I be offended or not? Hell, I was a woman, so I was going to go with offended. “You’re an asshole.”

He chuckled deeply. “Look, no man—human or other—wants a woman that is straight up and straight down. Men like curves. Men like softness.”

Well, I had plenty of that. “Good to know aliens appreciate hips on a woman,” I muttered, picking up a piece of bacon.

“We also like a nice heart-shaped ass, in case you’re wondering.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

In a low, sexy voice, he said, “You do that.”

I cleared my throat. Another change of topic was needed. “I didn’t realize I was fighting you on anything. I just don’t like to be bossed around.”

Setting his mug down, he folded his hands across his chest…and waited.

“Oh, for the love of God,” I griped, shoving the bacon into my mouth. “Happy?”

“Very.”

I shot him a dirty look as I picked up another slice of bacon. Arrogance aside, he made a mean cup of coffee and some damn good bacon. It was sweet with a hint of spice.

“Look, things will be easier for you here if you get used to the way it needs to be.”

This was going to be a dandy. “And how is that?”

“You do as I say. It’s that simple.”

I stared at him a moment and then burst into laughter.

He frowned. “I didn’t say anything funny.”

“Oh, but you did.” I giggled. He couldn’t be serious. “Just because you’re supposed to be protecting me doesn’t give you the power to tell me what to do.”