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“It’s about time you realized who I am to you,” I say, mostly because I want to see how she’ll react.
“My queen?” She crowds my space, her body nearly pressed to mine. There’s only a whisper of space between us, and my dick throbs and demands.
Touch her, take her. Claim her.
“Your lord and fucking master.” I grin at her, challenging her. Your play, Ruthie.
She takes another step closer, and I nearly hiss at the press of her bare thighs against my suit. I want to run my hands over them, to cup her ass. To switch positions with her so I can push her against this wall. Rule Number One is the slightest whisper in my ears at this point, and it’s hard to remember why it once seemed so important.
“Why did you stay, pretty, pretty princess?” she asks, her head angled up to me, just inches away—a distance I could span in an instant.
“I think you and Izzy should stay somewhere else until we can figure out the Rita situation. Maybe with Danny. We’ll go talk to him tomorrow anyway. Tell him about all of this.”
She laughs in my face. “Look at you, trying to control me. You think that paper we signed today gives you the right? It’s a lie. It’s not even a lie that holds water because we aren’t in a relationship.”
“I care about Izzy’s safety,” I say, because I know she won’t believe me if I tell her I care about her, too, in my way.
“So do I, you sanctimonious dick,” she says, pushing me into the wall, her hands hot brands against my chest. “Why would staying with Danny make me the slightest bit safer?”
“He has an alarm system,” I say. “And an attack hamster.”
“I have Flower,” she says, gesturing to the living room. I don’t look away from her, but I already know the only thing that dog’s dangerous to is my suit. She’s probably less threatening than Danny’s hamster, given the cuts on his fingers. “And Mrs. Longhorn. You think she’d let anyone break into my apartment?”
“She might not always be there,” I say, even though that’s probably not true. But it would be foolish to count on a busybody old neighbor as an alarm system. Nosy Mrs. Longhorn may be, but she wouldn’t be a deterrent to a person with bad intentions.
“If you think my mother’s truly dangerous, then you were a fool to help her.”
“Dangerous people have dangerous friends. She said she wanted to introduce Izzy to someone. I don’t like that.”
“Do you think I like it?” she asks, giving me another shove.
“There’s nowhere for me to go, Ruthie,” I say thickly. “You already have me up against a wall.” I leave off the—and now what are you going to do with me? But I’m thinking it. It would take a stronger man than me to not be thinking it.
Her breathing catches, her hand wraps in a fist around my tie, the slight pressure a fault line leading straight to my dick. “I’m going to call her to tell her to back off,” she says. “And I’ll put in a security system. I’ll pay for it too.”
“With what?” I ask as she keeps tugging on the tie. My heart is racing, everything inside of me revved up and wanting.
“With the deposit you’re going to give me, just like Eden said.”
“How about you let me buy it with the deposit?” I ask, because any system good enough to keep them safe will cost more than five hundred dollars.
There’s a flash of frustration in her eyes—of rage—because I’m sure she knows it. “You love manipulating me, Vain. If you had your way, you’d be in control of everyone. The lord and master of the world.”
“I’m trying to keep you and Izzy safe, dammit.” I want to touch her. I need to touch her—it’s pounding in my veins like a curse. Like a blessing. But if I let myself fully break Rule Number One, I don’t know if I’ll be able to find my way back. I’ll be lost in the woods. In her. I curl my hands at my sides, digging my fingers into my palms hard enough that my short nails are probably leaving marks on the skin.
“That’s my job,” she says scornfully. “I’ll take care of us. I’ll provide for us. I have a long-term plan.”
“With Vanny?” I sound dubious because I am dubious. I know enough about the bookmobile to have gathered that she doesn’t have a plan for making steady money off of it, or adapting her setup to account for changes in weather and circumstance.
“You’re an asshole,” she says heatedly, hatred flashing in her eyes. “You love nothing better than putting me down.”
“I don’t love putting you down,” I say, my voice rising slightly. I remember Izzy, hopefully asleep down the hall, and lower my voice. “I never have.”
“It amuses you to watch me fail.” Her eyes are glistening as she says it, but if they’re tears, I doubt she’ll let them fall in front of me. Regret digs into me.
“Never. I’d like to help you, if you’d let me. Your ideas aren’t bad—”
She lets out an incredulous laugh, her hand tightening around my tie, as if she’d like nothing better than to squeeze the very life out of me.
