“Fuck you, Mackenzie. You’re a coward. You had no right to keep the information about Tara from me. The choice to go to her was mine. Not yours.Mine!” The strength of her outburst set her in motion; she threw her toothbrush into her bag and pulled out a pair of pants.
He took offense at being called a coward, and his limited reserves of control tanked. Angry and on edge, he ripped the cargos out of her hand and balling them up, he threw them over Tak’s bed and onto the floor. “I had every right to do what I did. In fact, I have the only rights that matter. I’ll do whatever the hell it takes to protect you.”
“Protect me? Is that what you call it? The way I see it, Rambo, you’re a lying bastard. As far as I’m concerned, you have no rights. And you can take your protection and shove it up your ass.” She dug to the bottom of the duffel, producing a pair of black workout pants.
In short order, they joined the first pair on the floor.
Seeing red and definitely not thinking straight, he pointed his finger at her and shouted, “You belong to me. If that makes me a lying bastard, fine. I’m a lying bastard. But make no mistake. I’m a lying bastard who’ll do whatever it takes to protect you. Get used to it.”
She sidestepped him in an attempt to gain access to her discarded clothes and shouted right back at him. “You’re seriously cracked. You know that, right? I don’t belong to anyone. Especially you.”
Snaking an arm out, he grabbed her around the waist, holding her in place. “You belong to me. The sooner you get that through your thick head, the better.”
Turning to face him, she arched a brow. “You sure about that?”
“I’ve never been more sure about anything.”
“Well, maybe this will change your mind.” She took two steps back and hesitated before blurting, “I kissed Grant Kincaid. Today. Earlier. In Palo Pinto.”
His ears echoing her words, he felt the blood drain out of his head. His hands balled into fists, and an urgent need to kill Kincaid took over his mental faculties. Breathing like he’d just run a marathon, his brain wisely disconnected all other neurotransmitters, freezing him in place.
When he somewhat had his shit together again, he asked the one question that mattered, his words clipped, his gaze never leaving her face. “Why exactly?”
She shrugged a shoulder, her gaze trained on the floor. “I needed a ride.”
Christ, she was ripping him apart here. “Is that all?” he asked, taking her hand.
She pulled her fingers from his grasp. “No. I offered him a hell of a lot more than a lip lock to take me to Tara.”
“But he turned you down.”
“Yeah, well. You interrupted us.”
“Really? Don’t pretend like you would have gone through with it.”
“Pretend? I’m not the one doing the pretending around here.”
“Are you suggesting I am?”
“Well, if the title of rebound champion fits.”
Chase threw his hands up in frustration. “First of all, we haven’t slept together.”
“Technically, we have.”
There was no winning this argument with her. But every bit as stubborn as she, he wasn’t giving in either. “Fine, we haven’t had sex…yet.”
She waved his reasoning away with a hand. “Semantics.”
“Goddamn it, Gray.”
“And what if Kincaid had accepted my offer, huh? What then? Would I still belong to you after banging his brains out in a warehouse in Savannah?”
“You want the truth?” he growled.
“Yes, I want the truth,” she shouted.
Grabbing her by the arms, he pulled her against his chest. “You belong to me. So yeah, I’d beat the shit out of him for sleeping with you. And then I’d fuck you within an inch of your life. You belong to me. Unfortunately for you, there’s no getting around it.”
