Heath was just too distracting to me. Even now, when I was angry and more than a touch frightened of him, all I could focus on was how he was reacting to me.
He had all of these little tells I was starting to notice, ones that told just what level of pissed off he was.
Nostrils flaring. Teeth clenching, followed by his jaw flexing were pretty typical. But tonight, with him more pissed than I’d ever seen, he was doing all of that and added into the mix was him biting his lower lip like he just couldn’t help himself.
Perverse as it was, and in spite of myself, a part of me kind of loved it. It was hot.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said in a soft growl that somehow almost managed to be a croon. “You heed what I said. You keep away from Dair, and I won’t pry into your business anymore.”
“Him specifically?” I asked, baffled by it. Did he have a problem with Dair in particular? Or was this jealousy a more generalized thing?
It would have been much better for my ego if it were the latter.
“Him specifically. Stay the fuck away from him, okay?”
Apparently it was not.
“It was not okay to—were you—were you actually spying on me?” I barely got the question out.
Barely kept the line of thought in my head. One of his hands had gone to grip into my hair, pulling, while the other snaked back down to my sex. He pushed two big fingers into me, working them in and out at a rough rhythm.
He was distracting me, deliberately, blatantly.
And, damn it all, it was working.
What I’d just learned should have been the brakes.
I was old enough to know the difference between an intriguing man and one that was fucked in the head.
“You’re upset,” he noted. The way he said it, something about his tone, told me that he hadn’t expected that, like me being upset about being spied on was totally out of left field.
“You’re crazy, you know that?” I spat at his reflection.
He didn’t disagree, instead bent down and put his lips to the nape of my neck. “To say the least,” he murmured into my skin.
“Listen,” his voice rumbled into me. “I didn’t know what this was when I first came after you. I still don’t know what this is . . . but I care about you. I’m messed up. Majorly. I’ve got some problems, mental problems, serious problems acclimating back into society, and I’m very well aware of it. There are things I do, habitually, that are not socially acceptable. Yes, I stalked you. I know more about you than I should. I had my reasons, but I understand how it looks. It looks bad. And, hell, if I could tell you the full truth, it would probably look even worse than whatever you’re thinking.
But I want you to know something, and it is the truth. I’d never hurt you. If it was within my power, I’d do anything to prevent you being hurt.”
“I don’t know what to do with you,” I gasped. In spite of myself, I was losing this battle. It was embarrassing how fast he could get me to come with just his fingers.
His hand had wandered down my body to grip at one aching breast. He thumbed my nipple, kneading and pinching at the tender flesh around it.
“I won’t keep you guessing,” his voice rumbled into my skin, right before he bit the flesh between my neck and shoulder.
My breath punched out of me and back bowing, I came.
What the hell? I thought to myself, eyes on my hands where they gripped into the edge of the counter.
I was still catching my breath when he shoved into me. I glanced up at our reflection, watching the top of his bent head as he started to move in short, rough thrusts, inching in deeper with every shove.
Finally, he slammed home, pulled out, then slammed right back in again.
He pulled my head back by the hair and started fucking me in earnest.
And that was when he looked up, met my eyes, and I realized that he was still pissed the hell off.
Seething as he took me.
He was growling. Literally. Growling.
I just about came right then.
I knew it was perverse, knew it made me fucked in the head right along with him.
But I loved it. Fucking loved that I did that to him, that he was as out of his mind into this as I was.
A series of rough thrusts later, and I was losing my mind. I could barely keep my knees from buckling as I came again. Hard.
It was scary how hard. An utter loss of self, where I forgot what I’d even been upset about. Forgot everything but the man behind me, inside of me, the man owning every inch of my trembling body.
And his eyes when he came captured mine in the mirror and made it all so much worse.
Oh no. No way.
There was no way I was falling for this psycho.
Was there?
Or the real question, How had I fallen for him?
I didn’t even know him. He was a virtual stranger. An unpredictable one. A complete mystery.
And none of that seemed to matter. I couldn’t lie to myself about this. More than my body was involved here.
It was the small glimpses I got of his sweet side, I thought. The side of him that looked at me in wonder every time he got off.
“Mine,” he said gruffly to my reflection just before he bent to kiss the side of my cheek. “You’re fucking mine, you understand?”
I whimpered. That’s what he did to me. Took my words away and turned me into a quivering mess.