“You followed me to Wild Ink?”Why she felt the need to ask him that when she’d felt his eyes on her was ridiculous.Her mind just needed confirmation of all the times she’d felt him watching her.
“Are we going to keep having to re-establish that I’ve been following you?”he asked dryly.“Do I need to qualify it with, ‘everywhere,’ and pretty much all of the time?”
Why she wasn’t running, or zapping him, or at least, throwing the taser at him so she’d have at least a little bit of a head start.Instead, she stopped moving,again,because she wanted to knowwhy.Always, she wanted to know why, or how, or what, or where.She was like a freaking Dr.Seuss character.
“I’m still coming to terms with your level of psycho.Give a girl a break.”Lola rubbed her brow with her free hand.“Why?”she asked.“I don’t understand.”
“To keep you safe,” he answered, sounding completely sincere.“And because I have to be near you.I have to see you, and know what you’re doing, that you’re okay.”
Her eyes snapped up to his.“You do realize that you’re not making me feel safe, right?”
He nodded.“I hope to change that.Once you know everything.”
“What’severythingentail?”
He let out a deep breath and seemed to be considering his options.Hopefully, one of those wasn’t simply throwing her over his shoulder.“We can start with the tattoo.Which, by the way, you shouldn’t have been about to let a male tattoo over your heart.”
“How do you know where my tattoo is?Okay,” she held up her hand.“Dumb question.You were there.But that means you saw me undress?”These words were not a whisper, but very close to a shriek.One of those shrieks that comes from a woman on the verge of going into eye-scratching and hair-pulling mode.
“No,” he practically snarled.“I heard you tell Kian where you wanted it.If you will recall, I didn’t take it well.Not to mention, he undressed in front of you, and you’d been about to touch him.Do you just go around touching men that take their shirts off in front of you?”
Lola’s brow furrowed as she thought back to that day.Then it dawned on her.The noise that caused Kian to leave her sitting there in his chair.“You’re his cat?”She couldn’t help the burst of laughter as Kian’s words filled her head.“You’re the unstable, possessive, royal pain in the ass?”She grinned.“Man, he hit the nail on the head.”
“Kian always has had a way with words,” he grumbled.
Lola had given up holding Taz out.Her arm was tired and she was too interested in what she was learning.“You were the one making all that racket?Not a rabid cat?Why?And what the hell were you doing?”
“As I said, you were with him with his shirt off and your hand millimeters from his skin.Not to mention, he was going to put his hands on you,” he hissed.“He knew that was unacceptable, and yet, he started to do it anyways.”
“He’s a tattoo artist, a professional.He was showing me his ink because I asked.That’s the only reason he unbuttoned his shirt.It’s not like we were about to jump each other, or he was going to feel me up,” Lola pointed out, though she had no idea why she’d explain herself to this complete stranger.
“He’s still a male you don’t belong to, it was unacceptable,” he slashed his hand through the air as if to punctuate his words.“And you shouldn’t allow another male to touch you in such an intimate way.”
“You’re a freaking stalker andyou’relecturing me onmydecisions?”she growled back.“I can let whoever I want touch me, wherever I want, however I want.”
“Not if you don’t want that someone to die,” he bit back.“Friend or not.I will kill any male who puts his hands on you.”
“If I could reach your damn face I would slap the ever-loving crap out of you right now,” she said without thinking.As if she could take on someone his size.
“Would you like me to bend down?”Sarcasm laced his voice as his jaw clenched.
“You’re actually angry atme?I don’t even know your freaking name, you stalking, dog-hating, peeping Tom, Creeper!”Lola was yelling by the time she finished, and literally stomped her foot.Who does that?
“It’s Callon Leo, and yes, I’m angry.”His hands rested on his hips as he seemed to grow in size.“You put yourself in a risky situation.What if it hadn’t been Kian?What if it had been some sleazy male with ulterior motives?”
She laughed.“A sleazy male?Like the damn stalker I have?And surely, you,” she motioned to his whole form.“Could deter anyone else away.Even a sleazy tattoo artist.You scared Kian away, and as I said, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t about to fondle me.”
Something like a rumble, or growl, rose up from his chest as he was suddenly in front of her.His face was so close, she could feel his warm breath.“Ihavebeen deterring others away.I will always deter them away, you’re mine,” he snapped.His lips pressed together tightly as Callon took several deep breaths.This time he was much calmer as he spoke.“I will always deter them, because you’re mine,” the words were just as firm, but not growled, “I want to keep you safe.”
I’m his?What the hell does that mean?I’m his?I mean, I know what that means in my books, but is what he’s saying the same thing?Lola didn’t move away from him, even though her mind was screaming at her to do so.There was another part of her that wanted to lean closer, and rub her face against his impressive chest.Listen to his heart beat, and see what he smelled like.“I have lost my freaking mind,” she whispered.
“No you haven’t,” Callon said just as softly.“It is normal for you to feel this way.”He stepped back, and she felt bereft at the distance.That quickly changed as he started to lift his shirt.
“Umm, what are you doing?”Lola glanced around again to see if anyone else was noticing the massive man undressing on the sidewalk.But just like all good New Yorkers, their heads were down and their feet were moving at ridiculous paces.“Seriously,” she huffed.“I can’t get one single night tourist determined to get mugged for the entire Big Apple experience?”Her eyes turned back to Callon whose shirt was midway up his stomach, revealing quite impressive—okay, really,really impressive– abs.His abs are not important, the fact that he’s stripping is.“But they’re sort of important.”
“You’re talking to yourself again,” he said in a teasing tone.
“And you’re stripping like the batshit crazy person you are, but by all means, let’s focus onmyissues.”
