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“Why?” He glanced at the clock and almost winced. Damn, it was nearly two in the morning; no wonder she looked like she had been run over by a truck. She was exhausted. And so was he.
Now, if he could just convince his cock how tired he was.
“Because I hate nicknames,” she retorted.
Dawg shook his head. “Look, it’s damned late. I just had a killer day, and from the looks of it, yours wasn’t any better. Let’s sleep on this, then we’ll see how things look in the morning. ”
She licked her lips warily. “In separate beds?”
“In your dreams,” he grunted back. “Damn it, Crista, stop waffling like a damned little sissy. Either you’re going to fuck me or you’re not. Let’s get this over with now so we can both get some sleep. ”
“I haven’t decided yet. ” Crista narrowed her eyes on Dawg, considering the irritation in his expression and the flash of lust in his gaze.
She was trying to keep her eyes off the erection clearly displayed beneath his sweatpants. Okay, she had already made her decision. Sort of.
She was furious over it. It wasn’t enough that she had tried to stay out of his way, that she had rebuffed every overture he had made. Now he had to take the decision away from her, force her to risk her heart to him again, knowing the outcome.
As the minutes had ticked by, she had only become angrier as she showered. It had taken her years to put him behind her enough to even date another man. And still, when the nights were the darkest, she felt the same ragged pain and loss that she had felt that summer, as clearly as she had felt it then.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “You haven’t, huh? What are you waiting for?”
Crista clenched her teeth in anger. “I’ll sleep with you. ”
His brow arched.
“But I won’t just spread myself for you, Dawg. I can’t just fuck you like that. ”
“Spread yourself?” he asked softly, his voice dark as his gaze narrowed back at her. “Like what, Crista?”
“Like one of your damned playmates,” she bit out.
The more he stared at her like that, the more angry she became. Nerves, exhaustion, and the fallout from terror were crashing through her system. On top of that, she had to deal with blackmail by a man she could have never expected blackmail from.
“You are my playmate now. ” He grinned back at her, his expression becoming one of intense satisfaction. “And I do like to play, Crista. You should be aware of that by now. ”
“Aware of it!” The anger snapped through her then. “Dawg, I was aware of it eight damned years ago when you decided you were drunk enough and horny enough to fuck me without your cousins standing by to join in. I’m not the one that forgot that fucking night; you are. ”
Horror slammed through her. Her hand clapped over her mouth, and the breath stilled in her throat as his expression slowly stilled from amusement, then shock, then outright fury.
She had never seen Dawg mad. Few people had ever seen Dawg really mad. Crista had only heard of it, and she had decided long ago she never wanted to see it.
“You’re lying. ” Cold, brutal certainty filled his voice.
She was already too pissed off to take that one silently. Her hand lowered from her lips as her gaze raked over his body with heated memories and fiery anger.
“You know better,” she sneered. “You were falling down drunk outside of town the night you buried your parents, Dawg. How do you think you got home? I brought you home, and you spent the night screwing me. All night,” she cried out. “Before you told me exactly how those Neanderthal bastard cousins of yours were going to fuck me. Where and how, and how long. ”
She hated the fear and the pain and the fist-sized lump that tore at her chest every time she remembered. By God, if he was going to blackmail her into his bed and sneer at her attempts to protect her heart from him, then he could hear the truth.
“Don’t worry, Dawg,” she spoke in ragged bursts now, just trying to find the breath to sustain her through the rage. “You don’t have to worry about the one that got away. Because she never got away from anything but the foursome you seemed determined to force her into. ”
She stepped back, fear and panic raging through her body with the same force, as eight years of pent-up anger finally flowed free.
Escape. She needed to get away from him. She needed to run, just as she had before, just as far away from him as she could get.
“Touch that fucking door, and I’ll have you arrested in an hour flat. ” His gaze smoldered with anger now.
Oh, this wasn’t the Dawg she knew. The Dawg she knew was unaffected, playful, cynical. He didn’t become enraged, and he sure as hell wasn’t tormented. Which was exactly how he seemed now.
