“That’s enough about him! Nothing ever happened between us!” I realize I’m shouting and stop, panting. “Nothing has ever happened.”
“Disappointed?”
My face burns. “Oh, shut up, Zach.”
He sighs. “I’m sorry. I’m… jealous.” He seems stunned at the realization. “Every time I think of you with another man, I get so damn angry I want to punch their faces.”
I stare at him. “Then why did you run after kissing me? Oh, wait…” I shake a finger at him. “Wait. You’re jealous, but you still don’t want anything to do with me, is that it?”
“I—”
“No pack, no family, no steady relationships. Got it.”
“That’s not why I left last time,” he breathes.
“Then what was it?”
‘It’s… complicated. Coco, listen…”
“I’m all ears,” I snap.
“You’re annoyed right now.”
“No. Really. What gave me away?”
He smiles faintly. “I know you well enough to tell. That, and you not wanting to see me.”
“Don’t exaggerate. It was only one week.” Sighing, I turn around and he follows me into the sitting room. Yeah, I’m annoyed, and even more annoyed that I drank in the sight of him, every sculpted part of that perfect body shining through his jogging pants and loose T-shirt, that perfect face drawing my gaze like a magnet.
I’m angry with him, dammit. Disappointed. I’m disappointed with all three alphas I’d started falling for, and with myself for letting it happen. I set myself up for failure and heartbreak, and I got what I deserved.
Zach is quiet, observing me from under those blond lashes of his. “Shall we start training? I’d like you to be ready if anyone tries to grab you again.”
“Sure.” I shrug. “Let’s train.”
“Don’t get too excited,” he mutters. “Think of your heart.”
I give him a grin that’s all teeth. “Do you honestly think any move you show me can help me escape from two huge alphas if they want to take me?”
“Yes!”
“Fine, then. Go ahead.”
“You can escape any situation once you realize what’s happening,” he says. “You can do anything you want to do, Coco. Be who you want to be. I believe in you.”
“You…” I swallow hard, caught off guard, dammit. “Just… show me the moves.”
“Also, a knee to the dick can work wonders.” He winks at me.
That makes me laugh. “I know that move.”
“No, you know how to throw a punch to the heart,” he mutters, so low I wonder if I heard him right. “Okay, let’s begin.”
“Good. Now lift your arm to block me. Yeah! Good girl.”
The heat suffusing my cheeks is from the exercise he’s putting me through, I tell myself, not because he insists on calling me “good girl” every time I do something right.
Like Ryder had done as he’d fucked me.
