Mace stil ed and started to look impatient.
Amused, but impatient.
“Stel a, in case you forgot, I got a bad guy to catch.”
“I know that but we aren’t done talking.”
“If that’s what you want to talk about then we are.”
“We aren’t!”
“We are.”
“Damn it, Mace!”
His hands on my waist got tighter and his face came closer and that face had lost its amusement and was now very serious.
“This is how it’s gonna go down,” Mace stated, his voice firm.
Effing hel .
I don’t think I want to know how it’s gonna go down, my brain sounded kind of scared.
I don’t either, I told my brain.
“You’re obviously gonna fight it and that’s fine, I already told you I’m happy to take you on. We both know where we stand with this; we’re goin’ over old ground. You gotta know, though, that this kind of fight, there aren’t any rules. If it means I gotta fuck with your head then I’m gonna fuck with your head. You don’t like it, tough.”
Did I say he was unbelievable?
In case I didn’t, he was just unbelievable!
“I don’t like it,” I returned. “As I already told you, I’m not going there again. Not with you.”
“You’re already there,” he informed me.
“I am not!” I snapped back.
The amusement returned. “Babe, you’re sitting naked in my lap on the morning after a night where you begged to suck my –”
I put a hand over his mouth to stop his words and drowned out the muffled noise with a sharp, angry scream that came from the back of my throat.
I thought back and I had begged and then he’d let me and it was nice, for both of us.
Shit, I was so weak!
I took my hand from his mouth, shut my eyes tight, lifted my arms and grabbed my hair in both of my fists.
This, I decided, was not going my way.
At al .
And it was al my fault.
Then it hit me, something else we had to talk about.
I dropped my arms, opened my eyes and looked right into his.
He was ful on amused now.
I ignored his amusement.
“Tel me about yesterday morning in the kitchen,” I said quietly.
The amusement disappeared instantly.
Oh dear.
“What about it?” he asked, his voice was guarded.
“You know,” I answered, my voice stil soft.
His hands stil at my waist, he made to move again but I did the hands-pressing-on-shoulders, thighs-locking-on-hips move again and he stil ed.
His eyes came back to mine and now t h e y were guarded. No warm amusement, no determination, no impatience, nothing.
Blank.
Hidden.
He didn’t say a word.
And that’s when I knew.
Mace was going to do whatever he had to do to win me.
Except what would actual y work.
“I get it,” I whispered.
I watched his eyes flash with anger. “I don’t think you do,” he replied.
“No, you’re right. I don’t. And you aren’t gonna give it to me,” I retorted, knowing he wasn’t going to share, knowing he was wil ing to take but he wasn’t wil ing to give. This hurt, it shouldn’t hurt, I didn’t want it to hurt but it was a kick to the gut al the same.
Then I said softly, “Same shit, Mace, just a year later.” It was my turn to try to get away but he twisted and we ended with me on my back, he was on top of me and we were face-to-face.
“You think you got it figured out, Kitten, but you don’t.
Bottom line, you aren’t ready for it,” he told me.
I probably wasn’t ready for it, if the look in his eyes yesterday morning was anything to go by.
But I had to know. I knew I shouldn’t want to, shouldn’t need to, but I had to.
“And you get to decide when I’m ready?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“And when’s that gonna be?”
“I’l tel you when it’s not gonna be, it’s not gonna be when you’re trying to push me away because you stil don’t trust me,” he returned.
“So you get to screw with my head, fuck with my life, take what you want and you give me nothing?”
“You got it,” he answered, total y calm.
He could not be serious.
“I don’t believe you. You’re just… unbelievable, ” I spat my earlier thought out loud.
His hand travel ed down my arm, locked around my wrist and pul ed it up. When he had it between us, his hand shifted, pressing mine flat against his beating heart.
“You want in here?” he murmured, his eyes intense, so intense I felt my gut clench with fear. This was a fear I didn’t understand, it wasn’t even logical, but it scared me al the same. It was the same fear as yesterday morning, huge and uncontrol able.
“No,” I lied. Except for the ability to play my music, being in his heart was the only thing I’d ever wanted in my whole effing life.
He shook his head. “Until that answer changes, babe, you get what I’m wil in’ to give you. My protection, my attention and my cock.”
I gasped at his frankness and my body went solid with fury.
“Unbelievable,” I hissed.