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His jaw clenched. “That’s because he was checking out your butt instead of paying attention. An infant could have knocked him off his feet.”
Which brought me to a question that had plagued me for the last week. “Where is Ulgar, anyway? I haven’t seen him for a while.”
He wrapped a towel around his neck. “You won’t be seeing him again.” His tone was definitive.
“Why not?”
“Don’t you think it’s beneath you to ask questions you already know the answer to?”
“You can’t keep me in this golden cage forever,” I protested. “And you can’t make every man disappear who’s just being nice to me.”
“I can do anything I want. As for Ulgar, he knew the rules. He’s lucky to still be breathing.”
I sighed with relief. At least he was still alive. “I’m not a kid. I’m almost twenty-one and intend to have a life. To date. To kiss a boy.”
His eyes flickered to my lips for a second. It happened so fast I could almost believe I’d imagined it. For a moment, I transported back to that fateful night I had experienced my first kiss. My eighteenth birthday. That moment in time I had asked Kristoff to kiss me.
“Not a boy like him.”
I wrenched my eyes from his lips to concentrate on the topic at hand. It was like talking to a wall. I wasn’t even sure why I tried, except that I could be pigheaded too.
“Fine, but as for this weekend, I would like to stay here. It’s been three years. I’ll stay in my room.”
“No.”
With more roughness than was probably necessary, I yanked off his second glove.
Did the corner of his mouth pull up? Oh, hell, it made me want to punch him, so punch him I would.
I gave him an evil smile and went over to grab two bataka bats. Before he could protest, or worse, give me his back, I smacked him on the shoulder with one. His eyes lit up, and not in a good way. At least I had his attention.
I stepped back and threw the other bat at him. He grabbed it straight out of the air.
I pointed at the MMA fighting ring to my left. “Whoever gets in three hits first gets his or her way.”
His gaze pinned me down. “You’re going to regret this.”
I probably should have heeded his warning, but the she-devil inside me cheered me on. “What doesn’t kill me…”
I climbed into the ring and made a ‘come-get-me’ gesture.
With a powerful sweep of his legs, Kristoff followed me in. He made a swooshing sound with the bat, showing me he’d mastered it. My heart raced and for a moment I debated backing down, but my pride wouldn’t let me.
“What’s in it for me?” Kristoff asked, almost sounding bored.
“I‘ll leave before the gathering, just like you want.”
He shook his head. “You were already leaving. Remember our deal?”
You can rule your life on the inside.
I will rule it on the outside.
I hated that deal. Especially since I had no say in it.
“Fine. What else do you want?”
Again, just for a beat, his eyes went to my mouth. Heat engulfed me and my chest expanded. I didn’t know how much longer I could take it before I would snap. How much longer it would be before I’d give in to my feelings and jump him. The only thing stopping me so far was my pride. And that maybe, just maybe, I was making this all up in my head. I wished I had a friend, a confidant, who I could share my thoughts with. I was a woman in a house filled with tough-as-nails men. The only woman who came close to being a friend was sturdy Olga, and she wasn’t exactly chatty.
