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“What’re you gonna do about it?” she asks softly, backing into the counter one step at a time without even realizing she’s doing it. “Throw me over your shoulder again? Lock me in here? Ground me?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Oh my god,” she laughs, rolling her eyes. “You’re so dramatic. I came back because I wanted to. You don’t own me.”

My jaw tightens.

“No?”

“No,” she says immediately. “And you definitely don’t get to tell me where I can go after disappearing for weeks like some emotionally constipated vigilante biker boyfriend.”

“I already told you I wasn’t your boyfriend.”

“Right, right,” she says dryly. “Because that’d be too emotionally mature for you.”

I keep moving closer.

She keeps talking anyway.

Brave and stupid. My favorite fucking combination.

“You can glare all you want,” she continues, voice softer now but somehow even more provoking because she knows exactly what she’s doing to me. “Still doesn’t change the fact you can’t make me leave.”

“Blair.”

“No seriously, what’s the plan here?” she asks, lifting her chin. “You and Noir gonna put me on a leash? GPS tracker maybe? Little shock collar every time I go somewhere you two have decided I shouldn’t be?”

“You think this shit is funny?”

“I mean, kinda, but mostly I just think you’re really fucking hot when you’re angry.”

That one nearly snaps something in me.

Because she says it while looking directly at my mouth. Like its a fucking challenge.

Because she’s standing there in my kitchen still smelling like smoke, sweat and bad decisions while pushing every fucking button I have just to see what happens when I finally lose control.

“You don’t know when to fucking stop,” I mutter.

“No,” she says softly. “But neither do you.”

That does it.

I grab her by the throat and slam her back against the counter hard enough to make her breath catch.

Not fear.

Never fear.

Her pupils blow wide instantly instead.

Fuck.

“There he is,” she breathes, lips parting slightly.

My hand tightens just enough to feel her pulse hammering beneath my palm.

“You keep running that mouth,” I say lowly, stepping between her thighs, “and eventually I’m gonna stop being nice to you.”