I looked up at him, about to say something but thought better of it because his face was Badass Angry.
“Something to learn about me, since you haven’t already taken it in,” he said in his scary, calm voice, “I recognize I’ll have to put up with you receiving attention, I’ve no problem with that. I’ve had a lot of practice. What I don’t like is that you flirt as easily as you lie, it’s second nature. You’re gonna have to make an effort to stop because I don’t like it. I especially don’t like it when you do it with my men, they have to keep focused and we’ve already established you’re distracting. It’s okay for me to think of fuckin’ you on my couch. I don’t want it shoved in my face that Vance’ll be thinkin’ of fuckin’ you in the surveillance room or on his Harley which he no doubt saw you starin’ at like you’d do anything to be astride it.”
“So that’s Vance’s Harley,” I said. Yep. Aloud. Again.
Lee came even closer and his body pressed me back into the lockers.
“Lee, move back,” I warned, beginning to get pissed off.
He didn’t move.
So, I went into being full-fledged pissed off, wedged my hands between us and shoved.
He still didn’t move.
“It’s harmless,” I told him.
“Does it feel harmless to think of me workin’ late nights with Dawn?”
I blinked at him, confused. After the mind-bogglingly good time we had on the couch, I was way over any upset about Dawn.
“Well, yeah,” I said.
He stared at me, his face stony.
“For goodness sake, she’s not your type. Vance is cute, for certain, but he isn’t my type.”
“From a decade of keepin’ close watch, I wouldn’t say you had a type.”
It was my turn to stare at him, because that was just plain insulting.
Men were so stupid and Lee was at the top of the list.
I mean, didn’t he just admit this morning to reading my diary?
Didn’t he realize I only had one type and that type was him?
Wasn’t he the one who told me I was in love with him and I’d eventually admit it?
We were together. Finally. Liam and India together, even moving in for goodness sakes.
This was something I was going to have to get used to when I had time to wrap my mind around it. Truthfully, unlike nearly everything else in my life, it was coming naturally and it was one of those few things I didn’t have to process at length with Ally, Andrea or Tod and Stevie.
Did he honestly think I was going to screw it up by engaging in some by-play with one of his men?
“You’re an idiot,” I told him.
His eyes narrowed and that scary muscle jumped in his cheek.
“What did you just say?”
“You… are… an… idiot,” I repeated. “Think about it and when you’re ready to apologize, I’ll listen. But I’ll accept an apology now for the insult you just dished out.”
“How about you explain,” he suggested in a way that was clear it wasn’t a suggestion.
“No explanation, but I’ll give you a hint. In all my vast experience of men through what you consider was India’s Decade of Slutdom, I’ve never, not once, even so much as had a toothbrush at another man’s house.”
He just stared at me, he didn’t get it or was too angry to process it. And he wasn’t moving and still had me pinned to the lockers. I was forced to explain further and I got a little carried away.
“I had one at yours after the first night I stayed there. Okay so it was in your stash, but it’s a toothbrush, Lee! One use and it’s mine. And we hadn’t even done it yet! Not to mention undies in your drawer and wearing your t-shirts.” I put my hands on my hips. “And sleeping at your house, like, all the time. None of that, never with another guy, never, never, never. Huh! Get it now?”
Something changed in his eyes but whatever it was just intensified the feeling already there. It went from scary-but-under-control to totally-out-of-control.
My stomach did a clench because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next.
His hands went to my hips and pulled mine against his, then his arms wrapped around me, one hand going into my hair. He tugged it, not gentle but as if he couldn’t control his strength.
My head went back and I let out a little cry but it was cut off when his mouth came down on mine and he kissed me. It was not like any kiss he’d given me before, it was hard and wild.
Somehow he’d lost control and I had to admit that I liked that I could make him lose it.
I liked it a lot.
When his head came up, he immediately dropped his forehead to mine, his eyes closed and he didn’t say a word. We were both breathing heavily and my hands were at his waist, clutching the t-shirt there. He was having an internal battle, I could tell, and when his eyes opened I realized whatever battle he was waging, he’d won.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked when he lifted his head.
I shook mine.