“Goddamn it, I don’t have a fiancée. Come talk to me outside, and I’ll explain.” Chase’s dark expression suggested he found nothing remotely funny about the situation.
Well, fuck him. Neither did she. Fiancée or not, he had obligations to another woman, otherwise why would she be calling? Nope. She was done with him and his “trust me” bullshit.
While he’d been talking to the colonel, she’d made new plans. None of them involved Chase Mackenzie, but they did involve alcohol. She reached for her drink, and he made to grab her wrist. Too slow. She knew him well enough by now to snatch her glass and back up fast. As an extra precaution, she drained the vodka in three swallows.
“We need to talk about this, Gray.”
Making a face like she’d chugged vinegar, she waved her hand back and forth between them to make sure Chase got her meaning. “There is no this, asshole.”
“Goddamn it, I want to talk to you alone.”
She threw herself into the last free chair and grimaced. She’d forgotten her sore hip. “Let me check my give-a-shit-o-meter.” She looked at the ceiling, then back at him, shaking her head. “Nope. I got nothing.”
Getting nowhere fast with her, Chase addressed her military escorts. “Can we have a minute here.”
He hadn’t asked a question. He’d given a command. And she knew the difference.
Before her prison guards could execute the order, she deadpanned, “If they leave, I leave.” Already half out of his chair, Cody gingerly sank his ass back down.
Chase’s jaw clenched, and his black eyes narrowed. Gray looked forward to him going full-on whacko. Finally, she’d figured out how to push his buttons. The cooler she got, the hotter he became. It gave her some satisfaction. Some. Not much. Not enough to repair the damage the spark of his kisses had inflicted.
“Tomorrow is soon enough, Mac.” Tak cut the fuse on Chase’s temper with a soft voice, and the big bang Gray looked forward to didn’t materialize.
With a heavy sigh, Chase turned his attention back to her. “Fine. You need sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”
In response to his reasonable tone, Gray infused her own with a “fuck you” inflection she’d honed to perfection.“Whatever helps you get through the night, Rambo. I’ll be sleeping until noon. Knock before you enter.” She stood and stretched. “Let’s go, Cody.”
Her way immediately blocked by six-feet-four-inches of “not a fucking chance,” Chase looked down his nose at her and smiled. Well, really, he bared his teeth, but she got the general idea. “You are not staying in Cody’s room.”
“According to your commando clowns”—she hitched her thumb over her shoulder, indicating clown one and clown two—“there are no other free beds at Defcon One. Where did you think I was going to stay?”
“You’re not leaving this room tonight, Gray.”
Roles reversed, her control over her emotions started to slip while he had his in an iron grip. “Screw you. You can’t stop me.”
He bent his head and whispered in her ear loud enough for the whole damn room to hear, “Wanna bet?”
He could stop her, and judging by the dark look on his face, he hoped she’d give him the chance to prove it. Fucking bastard. Who the hell did he think he was?He didn’t own her. And as of an hour ago, she wanted nothing to do with him.
Backing down not an option, she met his gaze, took aim, and fired. “Does your ass ever get jealous of the shit that comes out of your mouth?”
The silence that followed filled the room with violence. She could practically see Chase’s effort to control the anger coming off him in waves. Yeah, she should probably take a step back. Maybe more than one. Unfortunately, her legs had stopped receiving the signals her brain tried to fire her way.
“I’ll sleep in Cody’s room,” Tak said.
“Like hell you will.” She didn’t take her glare off Chase.
“Don’t I get a choice in the matter?” Cody asked.
“No!” The rest of them growled in unison.
With eyes so angry they were blacker than black, Sergeant Mackenzie conceded the point. “Fine, I’ll bunk with Cody. Tak, you stay here with Gray—tonight.” The emphasis he put on tonight made her pulse jump. Without a doubt, they’d be reenacting this battle again tomorrow night and quite possibly the night after that.
Persistent fucker.
She crossed her arms to hide her shaking hands and cocked an eyebrow at him. He stepped aside, and cool air rushed in to take his place—a relief she desperately needed.
“Let’s go,” he said to Cody, opening the door. “You too, Tak. I need to speak to you outside.”
