Chapter Seven #2
“Do I? Because from where I’m standing, it looks exactly the same.” The words came faster now, hot and sharp. “The whole point was you took away my choices. You knew I’d balk, and you decided it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.”
“I’ll never apologize for trying to keep you safe. I told you why.”
“What would it have hurt to just ask me? I’m not a child!”
“I’m not trying to hurt or control you, and I think you know it.”
“You’re treating me like I can’t take care of myself or make my own decisions!”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.” The words came out clipped and sharp, the first crack in his facade.
“The Audi circled your block for six days. The fire marshal couldn’t rule out arson on that storage fire.
The storage unit belonged to his ex-girlfriend soon after they broke up.
Brett Calloway has a history of escalation with women after they part ways.
And you walked away in front of a bar full of people with another man wrapped around you.
So yeah, I put eyes on you. And I’d do it again. ”
“Without asking.”
“Without fucking asking.” He didn’t blink. “Every Goddamned time.”
We stood there in his living room, gold light from the rays of sun filtering through his blinds spilled across us.
Inferno stood close enough that I could smell the soap on his skin and feel the anger radiating between us.
My chest ached. I clenched my jaw so tight I could feel the tendons in my neck standing out like cords.
I had more to say, but all I could focus on was the man standing in front of me and the fierce determination on his face.
Neither of us moved. Neither of us conceded a Goddamn inch.
I closed the space between first, grabbing him behind the neck and pulling him down for a kiss. The second our lips met, Inferno kissed me like he was starving. I bit him, because I could, because I was still angry. He growled into the kiss and pressed me backward until my back hit the wall.
“You want to hate me, go for it,” he said. His breath was hot and furious against my cheek, his hands pinning my jaw in place like he’d burn it off if he let go. “But I will protect you with my Goddamned life, Juniper.”
“Fuck you,” I spat. The words were muffled by his lips. I thought I tasted blood where I’d bit him, which I kind of liked because it was savage.
“Fuck me, huh?” I felt him grin against my lips, could see the mad energy in his eyes. “You got it, birthday girl.”
He gripped my throat in one big hand, holding me there while he continued to kiss me. He tugged my T-shirt up so it caught under my armpits and pushed his hand up underneath my bra, grasping my breast in his large hand. I gasped at the roughness, both shocked and insanely thrilled.
I kicked off my shoes and threw my weight into him. He didn’t let me get the upper hand on him, pressing me back against the wall to pin my body, one thigh wedging between my legs. My brain went blank under the flood of sensation, every cell in my body burning to conquer this man or die trying.
He yanked my jeans down, rough and impatient, the denim scraping my thighs in his haste. The button popped off and I heard it bounce across the floor, a weirdly funny detail I’d wonder why I even noticed later. Then he shoved two fingers into my underwear and curled them inside my pussy.
I thrust my hips at him as I cried out. I latched onto his neck, biting down hard, needing to leave my mark on him without understanding why.
He seemed to like it, the muscles jumping in his shoulders.
He groaned, and I felt his cock pulse against my upper thigh.
He dropped his own jeans with one hand, using the other to keep his grip around my throat, which was more erotic than it should have been.
When he stood, he urged me to wrap one leg around his waist while he lined up. He met my gaze, his cock kissing the entrance to my pussy. “I’ll get a condom if you want, Juniper. I’ve got one in my wallet in my jeans.”
I opened my mouth to tell him I didn’t want to fuck him at all and that, yes, he needed to get a condom before he actually fucked me. What came out was, “Don’t you fucking dare stop.”
That was all he needed. Inferno shoved himself inside me in one long, brutal thrust. It was rough and angry and exactly what I wanted.
Every thrust sent a dull ache inside when he bottomed out, but the discomfort only added to the pleasure. He fucked me hard and fast, grunting with each thrust as I clawed at his shirt, needing it off so I could touch his skin.
He refused to move back enough for me to get his shirt off, but I managed anyway. When I raked my nails over the skin of his back he shuddered around me.
Reaching between us, Inferno found my clit and rubbed in tight, unrelenting circles. “Go ahead,” he said, low and almost gentle in contrast to the brutal way he fucked me, “come if you want to.”
I did, because of course I did. The orgasm hit me like a freight train.
The devastating impact took me by surprise, my whole body going rigid as I seized.
Then I screamed. For a long fucking time.
Inferno never let go of my throat, not until I came down and my knees gave out.
He had to catch my weight or I’d have fallen into a puddle of goo at his feet.
He pulled out, stroking himself a couple of times before he came all over my belly in hot, angry spurts of sticky cum. He braced himself against the wall, breathing hard as he buried his face in my neck and rested his lips against my skin.
We stood there, tangled and shuddering, for a long minute.
Then he set me on my feet, bracing his hands on my hips until I was steady.
He pulled up his jeans without fastening them before moving to the kitchen just to the right of us.
He found a washcloth in the small laundry nook next to the kitchen and brought it to me to clean myself.
Once I’d finished, I righted my jeans, sans the button.
He took the cloth and tossed it in the washer, not speaking as he did so.
When he finally spoke, his voice was cool, his careful control somewhat restored.
I could see the struggle in his eyes, though.
This man rode the very edge of his control.
The explosive sex we’d shared should have calmed him.
Right? Instead, if anything, he looked worse off than he was before.
“If you agree, I’ll keep a man on your shop through the weekend.
I’ll leave off the tail on your car if it bothers you that much. ”
I matched his flatness. “Fine. Leave the shop alone after Monday. I’ll deal with it from there.”
He backed away, tension in every line of his body. “I’ll let Zero know. You’ll see him through Monday morning. Let me know if you want more.”
I made a face, then laughed, sharp and humorless. “You’ve got this whole protection thing down to a science, huh?”
He shrugged, like it was nothing. “It’s what we do.”
“Thanks for the heads-up about Brett,” I said. “And for hauling flour this morning.”
He looked at me for a long, loaded second, then said, “No problem.” Then, quieter, like he hated the words even as they left him. “If you want to hate me for this, you go right ahead. Won’t change a damn thing I do next time either.”
I almost laughed, except it wasn’t funny, not really. “God, you’re impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.” He nodded toward the door, some of that terrible stillness draining out of him. If anything, he looked tired. Spent. “I still expect you to call me if you need help, Juniper. I need that from you.”
“Sure,” I said, feeling more than a little defeated and had no idea why. Probably because he let me leave without a fight. Unless the sex was the fight. Which, I guess maybe it was. I just didn’t know if I’d won, and that pretty much told me I’d lost.
The ride down the lift went slowly. Darby met me with a smile when the door opened. She took one look at my face and gave me a quizzical look. “What did he do?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Thanks for the escort.” The smile I gave her felt forced, but I needed to forestall any questioning.
Because I had the feeling Darby would get any answers she needed.
I also thought that maybe anything I said, Darby would lay squarely at Inferno’s feet and not mine.
And I wasn’t altogether certain that was a fair assessment.
“I’ve got an early morning tomorrow.” I left her and hurried through the common room before she could stop me.
The compound yard was deserted when I stepped out. The air was brisk and clean. I made it to my car, started the engine, and sat there for a second, hands shaking on the wheel.
When I drove up to the gate, it rolled up. I went through, no questions asked. Again, the guy at the gate threw his hand up at me in greeting. I checked the rearview all the way down the block, and for the first time in a week, there was nobody behind me. Not a soul.