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“Dinner it is then.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Darlin’, stop being a little shit and let me feed you.”
Caleb
She didn’t say one word at dinner.
I tried to initiate several conversations with nothing more than a shrug in response. She played around with her food the entire time, rolling it around on her plate with her fork.
After dinner, we walked down Ocean Drive for a bit, but she didn’t say a word to me until we returned to the penthouse.
“You know you’re an asshole, right?”
“Excuse me? You want to try that again?”
“Why? You heard me the first time.”
I scoffed, “Who do you think you’re talking to, Evie?”
“You. You’re the only person in the room.”
I opened my mouth but quickly shut it, keeping my temper at bay. I needed to cut her some slack when I wanted nothing more than to throw her over my knee and remind her who she was speaking to.
“I’m going to take a shower and watch a movie. You’re free to join me if you want.” I walked away.
“To the shower or the movie? Because neither sounds very appealing.”
Now she was just fucking provoking me.
“Enough of this bullshit.” I snapped around and got in her face. “I have been trying to play nice, but there’s only so much I can take. I’ve reached my breaking point with you. I get it. You’re over this situation we’ve found ourselves in, and to be completely honest with you, I’m over it too. But you don’t see me treating you like shit because of it.”
“I didn’t ask you to bring me here. I don’t need you to babysit me. I don’t even want to be here with you.”
“Then what do you want, Evie? Because I have no fucking idea.”
“I want you to stay out of my life!”
I grabbed her arm. “Is that right?” I grit through a clenched jaw.
“Yes.” She tried to pull her arm away, but I wouldn’t let her, only holding her tighter.
“Let go of me!”
“Not until you tell me why you’re acting this way.”
She didn’t falter. “Fuck you!”
I immediately yanked her toward me, and she lost her footing. Grabbing both of her arms, I sat her up on the counter and placed my body in between her legs. She tried to move away, but I held her down firmly with my hands around her waist. She wasn’t going anywhere unless I wanted her to.
“Let’s try this again. You need to stop testing me, little girl. I promise you it won’t end well for you. Now tell me what the hell is your problem?”
Silence.
“For fuck’s sake, darlin’, just tell me.”
“You can’t do this!” she yelled. “You can’t—”
“Try to stop me, Evie.”
She tried to shove me away, anything to break free and run away.
“You always do this. You always manhandle me, and it’s not fair!”
I gripped her hands, locking them by her sides, and she screamed out in defeat as she whipped her body around.
“What’s not fair, sweetheart? That you love it? Is that what’s not fair?”
“No!”
“We can do this your way, or we can do it mine, but either way, you’re going to stop with your pointless temper tantrums.”
She thrashed a bit more, until she realized she wasn’t going anywhere.
“You’re being a dick!”
“Unfortunately for you, I don’t give a fuck.”
She breathed heavily, in and out, her chest rising and falling. Her hair cascaded all over her flushed face.
“I hate you, Caleb Hawkins. You hear me? I. Hate. You.”
I growled from deep within my chest. There was something about hearing her say those three words that sent me over the edge.
I saw it clear as day.
The boundary I set for us was suddenly blurred, and I couldn’t find the line I’d drawn.
Feeling lost made me lose control, and I crashed my mouth onto hers. Clutching the sides of her face, I roughly bit her bottom lip, losing all sense of reason in that moment.
The taste of her.
Feel of her.
Scent of her.
After all these months…
I branded myself into her.
Hundreds of thoughts and questions crossed my mind, but I reluctantly pushed them away when I shouldn’t have. There was something agonizing and desperate in the way my mouth moved against hers while she tried to follow the momentum of my lips.
Her hands reached up, but I intercepted them. I couldn’t let her touch me. If I did, it would be game over for me, and I’d take her to my bed. This was already bad enough.
How could I let this happen?
I growled at the thought, pissed about my sudden weakness when it came to her. I’d spent the last year keeping her at arm’s length, and now it was all a clusterfuck of emotions I didn’t want or have time for.
I needed to stop this madness, but Christ, she felt amazing. I couldn’t bring myself to kill this undeniable connection we had between us since day one.
