“I’m reading,” I pointed out with a glance that suggested I thought him stupid.
“I can see that.Whatare you reading?” Nix rumbled, feigning interest over my shoulder.
“Dur, a book,” I snarked, seeing his strong thighs flex. “But don’t worry, I won’t leave it in here. Wouldn’t want to find it in the trash.” I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my face. I brought up the Harry Potter atrocity on purpose.
I was sitting in one of the sofa chairs in their den with my feet up. I knew it was boys’ territory, but it was the first place Nix would come when he got in.
The well-read copy of The Hunger Games I was clutching was merely a prop; I wasn’t reading it. I was there for another reason. I needed to speak with Phoenix before dinner. And now I didn’t know what to say. I felt tongue-tied.
“Is it a good book?”
“Yes, you wouldn’t understand it, though. It doesn’t come with pictures in it.”
Nix huffed past me and moved around the coffee table, which sat in the middle of the leather chairs. “Fuck me, Harper. It’s just a question. Why do you have to be such a smartass all the time?”
Looking up, I closed the book as he continued to chew me out. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as argumentative as you.”
That got my back up, considering his cold-shoulder treatment. I’d established that being bossed around was better than being ignored. Fuck him and the high horse he rode in on.
“What do you expect when you don’t even say hi to me. I haven’t seen you for days. You maul me in your bedroom one night and then disappear without the hint of an apology,” I rasped moodily.
His brow creased. “I’d hardly use the wordmaul, and why would I apologize?”
So, hedidremember the kiss. Relief jetted through me.
“It would be the gentlemanly thing to do,” I replied tartly, masking my joy.
“Since when was I ever a gentleman?” Nix snorted.
The guy had a point.
I leveled him a look. Blast, he was tall when I was sitting, and he was standing. The beauty of the man was obscene. I wanted to keep talking about the kiss. “Well, you certainly weren’t on Saturday night. Do you kiss all the girls likeyou're tackling a wild boar?” I provoked him on purpose to get a rise out of him, maybe force him to admit something real for once.
I could see he was agitated as his hand lifted to the back of his neck. “We’ve been through this. If you didn’t enjoy it, you shouldn’t have kissed me back,” he puffed, massaging his skin with his fingers.
“You’re right, I shouldn’t have,” I agreed, hating that he knew I was with him all the way. That must have shown on my face.
“Your self-loathing is so fucking loud,” Nix sneered, shaking his head. “Just make peace with the fact that you loved it.”
I moodily rolled my shoulders. “You took me by surprise—and as I said, I could have been thinking of someone else,” I reminded him bitchily.
He lowered his hand and folded his arms, staring down his perfect nose at me. “Sure, like who?” He was so cocky.
I smiled back at him in a taunting way. “Why should I tell you?”
His expression darkened. “Because I’mtellingyou to. How can I break his jaw if I don’t know who it is?” A thrill at the thought of him being jealous swept through me.
“Who says it’s a guy?” I teased with a flash of my eyes. Take that!
With an elongated sigh, he dropped his arms, moving back to the three-seater sofa where I was sitting. “Funny. Move the fuck up. Why are you reading inhereanyway? If I remember correctly, you said something about having to drag your cold, hard body through the door the last time we invited you to join us.”
Had I really been that dramatic?
I shifted to the far side of the sofa, allowing space for his big body, stating, “The room is fine. It’s the company that sucks.”
My words didn’t penetrate his thick hide as usual. I narrowed my eyes as he shrugged. “Sounds like a you problem.”
“I don’t mind it in here when it’s free from annoying boys.”
