Up goes the chin, and out comes the practiced haughtiness. “I don’t recall asking your permission.”
“And yet, you forget you need it.”
Oh, how I’d love to smack the sneer right off his mouth.
I curl my lips in an arctic grin. “My darling, you don’t want to do this.”
That I keep the tremble out of my voice is a genuine miracle.
“You’re right. I don’t. You’re a bloodthirsty bitch.” He narrows his eyes on me, and I have to resist backing away. “But now that thedeedis done, Atticus is off limits. He’s too dangerous.”
David is obsessed with trying to control me, but the man lives for a challenge. That’s what I am to him, a ripe challenge. He believes enough money and patience can buy him anything. Anything except me, and this drives him insane. I’m not a manipulative bitch by nature, but it’s how I’ve survived this long as his wife.
Rising on my tiptoes, I shove aside disgust and brush my lips across his. “Nothing is off limits. Your rule, husband, not mine.”
David grabs me by the waist and pulls me in close. “You can’t have him.”
“Yes, I can.” I trail my hand down his chest, the material of his suit soft under my palm. With my hand hovering at the waistband of his pants, I finger his leather belt. I keep my gaze fixed on cold eyes. “Please.”
“You’re evil.” David’s groan tells me I’m winning the battle, thank God. I go to move away from him, but he catches me by the wrist and holds me where he wants me. “You won’t go in the cell unless he’s chained.”
A wave of relief rolls through me in the wake of the tension. I cross my heart and kiss my finger. “You have my word.”
David hoods his eyes, lust melting some of the ice in their glacial depths. I resist the urge to pull away when he runs the tip of his index finger along my bottom lip. “I love it when you obey me.”
“That’s because it’s a novelty.”
In an instant, he shifts gears. He clamps a hand around my throat, squeezing hard enough to bring my simmering fear to a boiling point. When Wraith grabbed me, I wasn’t afraid. But David’s touch awakens horrific, blood-soaked childhood memories.
“If anyone else dared to disrespect me…” He lets his sentence trail off, the unspoken threat hanging between us.
I’ll be damned if I let him see my terror. Instead of kowtowing, I lift my chin to give him better access. “Don’t tease me with a good time.”
With a curse, he squeezes tighter. “You drive me insane.”
His words are laced with the perfect blend of thrill and exasperation.
I’m the one person with any level of control over him because in his own sadistic way I think he does care about me. If he didn’t, he would have killed me already. Especially since, I can cause irreparable damage to his reputation if I leaked it to his friends that David Crane can’t get it up.
“Damn right, I drive you insane. Now take your fucking hand off my throat.”
He releases me, and I force myself to breathe normally. To act as if I’m not gasping for breath, even as my lungs scream for air. I eye the table littered with the remnants of brunch. My hand itches to palm one of the knives and embed it in his chest. But I think about the armed guards stationed outside the door. They’d shoot me dead before David’s done bleeding out. I think about Wraith and the rest of the men locked in the dungeon. They’d be collateral damage. Their bodies incinerated, and their ashes disposed of like garbage.
I hold my temper and hunker down behind my wall, where no one and nothing can hurt me.
“One day I’m going to make you love me.”
Good luck with that.
His pretty face and elegant disposition may fool everyone else, but I see through him, right to his rotten core.
I step back and smooth a hand over my depressing gray dress. “Today’s not looking good for you, babe.”
“Maybe not, but there’s always tomorrow.”
“We’ll see.” I run a finger along his freshly shaven jawline. “Now be a dear and tell the guards Atticus is mine.”
David exhales loudly, on a combined sigh and a chuckle. “You’re ruthless.”
