Page 103 of Pretty Savage: Defy

Everyone calls it power because Carrson gives the orders, but most of what he controls is in service to someone else.

Very little of his life belongs to him.

A woman approaches Carrson. She’s curvy, with long red hair and lipstick to match. He’s already raising a hand to dismiss her when an idea takes shape in my mind.

“Yes,” I tell her, moving over next to Carrson. “We’ll go with you.”

Chapter twenty-six

Two Days Until Bonding

Laurel

Green eyes rimmed with kohl move between Carrson and me. The redhead’s smile widens as she comes around the table.

A familiar sweetness reaches me.

I smelled it on Gillian and her friends earlier. On Jackson inside Silas’s bus.

Devil’s Dust.

Now that she’s closer, I see the glassy sheen over her eyes, the rapid rise of her chest, and the flush spreading from her cheeks down her throat.

“Sounds like fun, gorgeous,” she purrs. “I love to party with a couple.”

“No.” Carrson’s answer is immediate.

I take his hand and pull, but he remains seated, heavy as a mountain, his arm rigid between us.

“Come on.”

“Absolutely not.” He removes his hand from mine. “I’m not going into a room to watch another woman touch you.”

“She won’t touch me.”

His eyes narrow. “Then what are you up to?”

“You’ll find out.”

“No.”

The redhead looks between us, entertained. “I can give you two a minute.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Carrson tells her. “We’re not going anywhere.”

I lean closer and trail my fingers down the open front of his shirt. His body responds before his expression does, his pupils widening while every other part of him remains stubbornly frozen.

“I have a plan,” I say. “Aren’t you curious?”

“No.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“Laurel.”

“One room. Five minutes. She doesn’t touch me.” I lower my voice. “The only person allowed to touch me is you.”

For a long second, he says nothing. Then he stands under his own power and shifts close enough that the redhead is forced back to make room for him.