“This isn’t what it looks like. He’s not anything to me,” Jenna assuresher date.
There are feathers littering his shoulders. “You did this to humiliate me!” he’s yelling at her. “You planned this. You women are all the same.”
The parrot starts screeching along with his ranting.
Parrot Guy’s eyes widen when I stand up. I’m a good foot taller than him, though I’m about eye to eye with the parrot on his head.
I address the parrot. “Sometimes this is how it goes. You really can’t trust online dating. I got here first. Therefore, she’s mine. Show up on time.”
I drop a twenty on the table. “Buy yourself a drink. Cupcake, let’s go.”
“…everbeen so humiliated. You ruin everything!” Jenna’s yelling at me as I drag her through the tower lobby.
“I ruin everything?” I finally lose it in the elevator. “I had to listen to you in the car for the last twenty minutes berate me for actually taking action and not letting the shitty males you keep scraping up ruin your life. Meanwhile, I am the only man in this city who actually gives a damn about you. I’m the only person taking your stalker problem seriously,” I snarl at her. “And I bet the only decent dates you’ve ever had were with me.”
“We are not dating. I will never date you.” Jenna slams her hand on the elevator button. “You burnt down a building. That’s freaking insane; that’s psychopathic.”
“Psychopathic is running around with all those parrots.”
“This isn’t a joke!” she yells when I push her into my penthouse.
“Trust me.” My jaw is tight. “I spent quite a lot of time, energy, and money on this endeavor. It’s not cheap to burn down a ten-story building like that, you know.”
“Gosh, I wish I’d never met you.” She’s sniffling. It’s driving me crazy.
“Stop crying,” I finally snap. “This is your fault.”
“Your shitty actions are not my fault,” Jenna sobs out.
“So you did read those self-help books after all. You’re just not going to apply it to any of the men that actually pose a threat to you. Just to me.”
Jenna stumbles as I haul her into the living room. She’s sobbing in front of me.
“Admit it!” she cries. Her tears are an ice pick to the brain. “You just like to scare me, to lord your power and strength over me, to make other people feel small so that you can be strong. I know exactly the type of man you are.”
“Fuck you, Jenna.” I slam her back against the wall.
“You think I’ve been threatening you? I’m scaring you?” I force her chin up, making her look at me. “I’ve shown considerable restraint. You’re out there collecting stalkers likePokémon Go. I take care of one, and three more pop up in his place. Your dog has moved in here because he’s sick of your shit. You get to flaunt your little independent-woman shtick with me because you know, deep down, that I actually care about you.”
“You don’t.”
I grab her hair, force her head back. “You have no idea what I’d do to you if I didn’t care. Maybe you want me to show you, huh?” I growl at her.
I crush our mouths together. Her nails scrape at my throat.
“That what you want me to do? Tie you up, use you, demean you?” My teeth scrape the underside of her jaw. “I want to treat you like a princess, but I can treat you like a prisoner if you make me. I like to play with my food before I eat it. That what you want?”
I grab her wrists and pin them up on the wall over her head, and the scent of her makes me even crazier. She tries to turn her head away from me then gives in, her mouth slack as I kiss her like I own her. My tongue slides in to claim her, and the taste of her shoots straight through my body.
My dick is hard in my pants.
“You want me to treat you like my own personal little come slut.” I grab her chin, and she shudders as I nip her bottom lip, puffy from where I’ve been sucking on it. “You want to be like those other girls? Want me to use you, use you up?”
Her arms drop to my shoulders. I hike her up against the wall.
“Word of warning, I don’t actually go down on those girls. I do, however, fuck them in the ass.”
“You’re such…” She moans as I suck on her breast, freed from the stretchy purple top. “A dick.”
