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Her head dropped back and she groaned, looking like the most gorgeous brat he’d ever seen. “Ugh, I thought we got through this part. I hate this part. It’s boring and sexist and you handled it so well last night.” Her head came back up, her lips turned down in the sweetest pout. “Are you sure you want to go through this again? We could forget you said anything and get to the fun part.”
“What are you talking about?”
She frowned and rolled her eyes and grabbed the soap. “Fine. I’m talking about the fact that you are about to suggest that the world is after you and you can’t stand the thought of my nail breaking, and so in order to save the poor, weak woman, you must send me away.”
Well, put like that it sounded bad. “I didn’t say you were weak.”
“You implied it.”
“I did not,” he countered. “I think you should consider the fact that I’m in some kind of danger and we’ve got an expiration date. I’m supposed to get married soon.”
“You mean your feudal lord is in negotiations for a brood mare he intends to shackle you to. You don’t even know the name of this woman. You’ve never met her. He probably hasn’t even picked one yet.”
Well, at least she had a way with words. “Something like that, yes.”
“And you’re going to do it because you love your siblings.”
“Yes.” He shook his head. “No. I don’t know. If there’s a way out, I’ll take it, but I haven’t found one yet.”
“Then let me help you look. This whole expiration date thing… It doesn’t have to happen. There are phones and planes and ways to see each other.” She sounded so reasonable. “And don’t tell me your father might find out. I’ll tell him I’m perfectly happy to be a mistress, and all I need are a couple of presents, maybe a car and a nice condo, and I’ll ensure you do your duty. I can convince him I’m the best thing that ever happened when it comes to keeping Dare Nash in line. I’ll be his ally while I wait to cut off his head. I mean that in a rhetorical fashion. I wouldn’t really do that. I’ve been told that’s a nasty method of execution if you don’t have a handy guillotine. Sniping is the best way to go if we decide that’s the better route.”
He stared at her, trying to figure out if he was scared or aroused, and it was probably both. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am not a shrinking violet, Dare,” Tasha announced. “I am a woman who knows what she wants and tends to get it. If I decide to take on your father, I’ll do it.”
He let his head drop to hers, cradling her face in his hands. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, sweetness. He’s…he could hurt you.”
“Then I’ll show him why he shouldn’t fuck with me. I know he’s been the monster in your life since you were a kid, but I’ve faced down a couple of monsters in my lifetime and I’ve come to find they’re not so tough when you shine a light on them. There is always a way out of a trap. You just have to know where to look, and you have to be ruthless enough to beat him at his own game,” she said. “I will go if you can’t handle me being here with you. But don’t send me away because you don’t think I can handle the realities of your life.”
She was offering him something so much more than sex. She was offering him partnership. Real partnership. He wouldn’t be alone in the fight against his father.
He mentally backed away from that thought. She was the sweetest, warmest person he’d met in a long time, and he wasn’t going to expose her to his father’s toxicity, but he also wasn’t going to send her away for her own good. She was smart and capable and had apparently won the fight with Brian the night before.
And if she was staying, then their contract was in place, and he could take full advantage of it.
Actually, when he thought about it, that contract had been in place the whole time and she hadn’t followed the rules.
He let his voice go low, feeling more in control than he had before. He let his fingers wind in all that soft hair, looming over her. He tugged the slightest bit, watching as her pupils went wide and her breath caught.
Her nipples tightened as she went on her toes.
“Tasha, what were the defined times and places where I’m in control and you’re supposed to play your submissive part and respect me?”
That sexy bottom lip of hers was suddenly behind her teeth as she obviously realized the trap he had her in. “Anytime I’m naked and we’re ready to play.”
