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“Ground rules?” I ask.
My heart begins to race again after just calming slightly. Though notthatslightly. I’m on the edge, and if I don’t have a nervous breakdown or anxiety attack, I’m going to be surprised.
“Ground rules,” he murmurs. “Like, for instance, you don’t check my phone. If you want to know something, just ask. If I can tell you, I will.”
“If?” I ask.
The single word bursts out of me. I don’t think I should have said it, but the expression on his face is unreadable. He tilts his head to the side, his gaze searching, then he closes his eyes and shakes his head once before reopening them.
Then, before I realize what’s happening, his fingers are curled around the front of my throat and he’s squeezing. My vision begins to blur, and I gasp, reaching up and wrapping my fingers around his wrist, digging my nails into his flesh, but he doesn’t release me.
Coleman leans forward, his lips touching mine as I silently gasp for air. “You already know that I am notjusta real estate investor. Don’t play coy or stupid, Claire. It isn’t cute.”
I try to nod my head, but nothing happens. My eyes are beginning to feel as though they’re going to pop out of my head. I scratch his wrists again, but he’s too strong, and I feel as though I’m about to pass out.
Just when I think that I’m done for, Coleman releases his grasp on me. I suck in a breath, holding back a cough as I stare at him. I don’t know what to do or say, but every part of me aches, and not in the sexy way it did moments ago.
“I’m sorry,” I rasp.
He shakes his head. “Don’t be sorry. Just be smart.”
“I am smart.”
He snorts. “Hummingbird, you’re a great many things. You’re sexy, sweet, and cute as fuck, but you aren’t smart.”
Narrowing my gaze on him, I start to move off the bed. I am ready to get away from this asshole.
God. What a fucking asshole.
I am smart.
I only missed three questions on my SATs. But I don’t say any of that. I’m not going to sell myself to him. I know who I am… at least when it comes to my intelligence.
As I try to scramble from the bed, he doesn’t allow me. Instead, he places his hand in the center of my chest and pushes me down. My back slams against the soft mattress, and in a flash, his hips are between my legs, his palms next to my head on each side, and his chest is pressed against mine.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he growls.
“I am not stupid,” I hiss through clenched teeth.
His eyes search mine for a moment before he slowly lowers his head. His mouth touches mine. His lips brush my own before he speaks.
“You’re not stupid, but you’re not smart. You walked into a sex club to lose your virginity to a stranger. You let me slip into your room and you lay with your body bare more than once without knowing who I was. You did all this thinking that I would somehow set you free when in reality, I likely would have killed you had it not been me who was your midnight stalker.”
I hate that he’s kind of right. In my head, it made sense at the time. Even if I knew it could end in my death, I didn’t really think it would. I was banking on being set free to live my life, even if it meant starting with absolutely nothing. I was prepared for that. But I wasn’t really anticipating death.
It’s what would have happened, though. He would have killed me. And what draws the line on that? What else will he kill me for?
COLEMAN
The fearin her eyes is something I didn’t think would bother me. But it does. Seeing that look in her eyes is nothing I could have ever imagined. And the way it makes me feel is even more unfathomable.
When those fearful eyes find mine, I should feel guilty, but instead, I bury my cock deep inside of her with one thrust. Moaning, I stare into her frightened gaze.
“I should lie and say that I don’t want you to be scared of me.”
“But you do.”
Humming, I dip my chin, touching my lips to hers without deepening the kiss. “Yeah, hummingbird,” I exhale.
