Silence. That’s all it’s been since our mini-screaming match. I say mini, because I’m pretty sure it’s going to get much worse before I break through the walls she’s trying to erect between us. I wish I knew how to get through to her. Some magical formula which could just end this shit. I don’t. All I have to give her is the truth. I hope that’s enough, because she sure as hell ain’t going anywhere.
We get about halfway home when I decide to stop for the night. I pull into one of the big chain hotels. It’s going to take a soft king-size bed, a Jacuzzi, and anything else I can find to make her happy. She’s still not talking to me, so fuck it. I’ll leave her chained to the arm-grip handle and get out. Her voice stops me right before I close the door, surprising me.
“Torch. Make sure you get two beds,” she says.
I don’t answer. There’s no reason to. She’s out of her fucking mind. She’s sleeping with me tonight. No. Hell no. I’m sleeping inside her tonight.
Once I get us checked in and parked up, I unlatch her from the handle and help her out of the car.
“Can you walk?”
“I’m fine,” she huffs.
I frown, but I’m too fucking worn out from the day to argue much with her. I latch her to my wrist and basically pull her with me to the back entrance. We get into the elevators and the minute the doors close, Katie decides to talk.
“You’re such a fucking asshole.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes, trying to remember why I wanted her to talk in the first place.
“Katie, don’t push me anymore,” I warn her. “You won’t like what happens.” I’m at the end of my fucking rope.
“Let me go, Torch. You have what you want. Just let me go.”
“You’d leave your sister and niece behind?” I ask, pissed off and biting my fucking tongue to keep from asking her how she could leave me behind.
“No, but I’ll get to your club on my own.”
That does it.
“So it’s me you’d leave behind. The fucking man who put everything on the line for you. The man who’s dick is good enough to use, but nothing else.”
“Don’t do that! You don’t get to do that. You don’t have the right.”
I push the button to stop the elevator. I grab her hand and hold it over her head, which lifts her other one, since it’s still cuffed to mine, and I push into her tightly so she’s trapped by me and the wall, unable to move.
“What don’t I have the right to do, Katie? Tell me. Shouldn’t I be upset because the woman I love is running from me and trying to push me away?”
“You don’t get the right to act like I’m the one hurting you! I never promised you anything more than I gave you. I never used what we had together against you!”
“That’s right, sweetness. You never promised me anything more than your *, right? That’s all you ever invested. How can you use anything against me? I mean, all I was to you was a real life vibrator.”
“You’re overselling yourself,” she hurls back. “My vibrator is better.”
“We’ll just see about that.” My hand goes to her pants to undo them.
“What? What are you doing??” she shrieks.
“Giving you one last time to compare the two,” I snarl back, pushing her clothes down over her hips.
“I am not making love to you!”
“Making love has nothing to do with what I am going to do to you.”
“You’re crazy! If you do this, it’s rape!”
“And you’re full of shit,” I tell her, undoing my pants.
“I’m serious! Don’t do this, Torch!”
“Stop calling me Torch!”
“It’s your name! Stop it! Oh my God!” she hisses, trying to run away from me when I push my fingers through the lips of her *. Hot, wet heat gathers on my hand immediately. She’s fucking drenched and I’ve done nothing.
“You might be saying no, but your body sure as fuck isn’t,” I tell her, my voice firm but quiet. “You’re so wet, it’s painted on the inside of your thighs.”
“The bellboy we met in the hall was hot. It’s all for him.”
“Well, since he’s not here, I’ll just take it,” I tell her, and for some reason, I’m smiling. Maybe it’s because I thrust my fingers into her at that exact moment and my lips swallow the gasp that leaves her lips.
Hunter’s fingers thrust into me at the same moment he takes my mouth. His tongue wraps around mine and I try not to kiss him. I truly do. But, he’s right. I do want him. I’ve wanted him from the first moment I saw him at the bar. I may always want him. I think my fate has been sealed.
He says he never means to turn me and Beth over to Colin, and I even believe that. Maybe I’m a fool. Maybe I’m completely and utterly fooling myself, but I believe him. So, maybe that’s why I kiss him back. Maybe I just need his lips on mine and his tongue in my mouth. Who knows?
All I know is that with one touch, he sets me off. I pull on my hands, wanting them loose so I can touch him. He doesn’t let me, though. If anything, his hold tightens. He breaks away from my mouth, and I’m panting when he looks at me.