“What’s the problem with me drinking, concerned I’ll turn into an alcoholic like you? Please say whatever it is you have to and then leave.”
“Come on. You can do better than tossing a dig at me about my drinking. I don’t crave it anymore. I crave you—my new addiction. What’s next to come out of that pretty little mouth? That you didn’t miss me. My touch, mouth, cock, ears that listened when you talk. I’m adult enough to say I missed you.”
If possible, the corners of his lips curl upward more.
Bastard.
Him and that crude, sexy mouth and those quirking lips. A man shouldn’t be that beautiful when he’s rude and crass and one-upping me.
Except he is.
“You can’t miss something you threw away. You seem to have forgotten something about me while you were gone. You’ve never been able to push me around. You might want to get that through your thick skull. I don’t answer to you. I don’t need you looking at me as if you want to take care of me. I want nothing from you. I just want to be left alone.”
Just me and my fragile heart will get along just fine.
“I do want to take care of you. You deserve someone too. Hear this right now and let it sink in deep. I’m never leaving you as long as I did again. I found you passed out on the kitchen floor last night, angel. It scared the fuck out of me until I smelled your breath. Were you drinking over a man who had to die or your grief? Trust me. It won’t help on either.”
Both, actually. They snuck up and took me under their arms in an instant. It’s the vulnerability busting me wide open when it comes to him. It’s this frantic connection we have, and I don’t like any of it.
“I’ll do what I please.”
Another grin. This one is showing his perfectly straight white teeth.
I tilt my chin and cross my arms over my chest. It takes every ounce of control I have not to get up and slap it off his face.
“The fuck you will. I didn’t enjoy seeing you a sloppy mess. It scared the fuck out of me, Victoria. I did, however, enjoy the white lace matching bra and panties. Although I think you should wear blue since it’s the hottest part of a fire. Now tell me, are you burning between your thighs, angel?”
He’s not wrong. My core is pulsing, nipples aching to stiffened peaks. I’m torn over believing him or not, and it confuses me all the more.
“You must be in a fantasyland. I suggest you wake up. I’m not yours to boss around. I’m not one of your submissive little whores, and I find it hard to believe you are scared of anything.” I’m so mad I swear steam is flowing through me and blowing out my mouth and ears.
“Well, then, I guess you learned something new today because I was. That shit is poison.”
He lifts a brow, uncrosses his legs, takes another sip as if standing in my bedroom, and telling me how I’m supposed to feel, how he feels, what I’ll be doing, wearing or won’t is an everyday occurrence that he expects me to obey.
Fat chance of that, I answer to no one.
He searches my face, his expression so mysterious that it drives me insane.
“The suffocating fire inside you calls to mine, you know. Once the two reach each other, we’re going to explode. Although yours needs a hell of a lot of stoking, poking, and prodding until it’s roaring the way it should be.”
Not really. I’m burning up just by looking at him.
My hands curl into balls at how well he knows me. I know him, too, though. He’s gorgeous and demanding and wrong for me.
“Has anyone told you you’re an inconsiderate asshole?”
“Asshole, yes. Inconsiderate, no. You don’t have a choice regarding alcohol anymore, do you understand? I’m not sure if you know or not, but Agent Wozniak had a tape of us together. I thought about keeping it, but you know, the considerate guy I am and all, burned it with his body last night.”
I swallow down the urge to thank him. He doesn’t deserve it, especially when he’s just twisted my words around and tossed them back in my face.
“Considerate my ass. If I want to drink, I will. I’ll do whatever I want, whenever I want. You don’t own me.”
“We’ll see about all of that. You might want to watch your mouth, Victoria. It makes me hard as stone.” He winks at me. There’s so much temptation behind that wink and his words. So much that I glare at him, doing everything I can not to squeeze my legs together to ease the ache. Instead, I tighten the sheet in my fists, forcing my eyes not to drift south to see if he’s hard, but I can’t help myself. His thick, rigid cock is kind of hard to miss through the towel.
“Aren’t we a little old to play games? You don’t want me any more than I do you. We’re no good for each other.”
His line of sight drops to where I’m clutching the sheet. Pure heat blazes in those green eyes burning a hole right through it, making that ache between my legs throb all the more that only he has ever had the power to cause.
No man before him has ever frustrated the hell out of me and made me want him at the same time. It’s maddening. This man is tipping me over the edge and straight toward insanity.
“That’s where you’re wrong. We’re perfect for each other. Until you admit you want me as much as I do you, then I’ll play every card because winning means I get you.”
I inhale sharply. There are several feet between us, but it suddenly feels like he’s touching me. I’m way too hot, and God, do I wish I could believe he’s telling the truth, but I can
