I twist the handle, throwing it open before she has the chance to lock it. She turns around and sees me behind her, eyes widening before she runs to the bathroom.
She attempts to slam that door shut, too, but I stop it with my boot and shove it back open.
“What! What do you want?” she screeches, chest rapidly rising and falling with each breath.
I grab her wrist, pulling her toward my chest until she’s flush against me. Her eyes are sparkling with rage and … excitement. It makes my dick hard.
“I want you, Baby Red. On my bed. Now,” I grit out.
Her lips form an O. “I’m not your baby. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
I lift the rope. A gasp slips from her pink lips as she stares at it.
“What are you doing with that?”
“Making good on the promise I made you.”
“Which was?”
“To help you gain some confidence and experience.”
“I don’t need your help.” She huffs, trying to jerk herself free from my grasp. But it’s half-hearted. I know she’s stronger than that.
“Stop lying to yourself. I think you do. And more importantly, I think you want me to be the one to give it to you.”
“Why would I? So you can keep ignoring me one minute, then pretending to be someone else while you get me to confess all my deepest secrets? You’re disgusting, and I want nothing to do with you!”
Her bottom lip quivers for a few seconds before she inhales deeply, steadying herself. She lifts her chin, and that beautiful, defiant, bratty attitude she’s always had rears its head.
The guilt over the things I’ve put her through roars through my veins. I’ve been a dick—I know that.
And I still firmly believe she deserves better than me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t fulfill the promise I made as Ropes. She wants this. And it’s all I can give her.
I lean down, brushing my lips against the space where her hairline meets her temple.
“Let me make you feel good. You can hate me the whole time, Red.” My voice is a throaty whisper.
She shakes her head. “I don’t trust you. You don’t just get to come in here and start messing with my head like this, demanding things because you’re bored. You know I’m weak when it comes to you.” Her lips are trembling against my ear.
I pull back, my eyes studying hers to see the look in her stormy eyes. A tear has slipped out of one of them, running down her cheek. My already-bruised chest feels like it’s caving in.
“You can’t actually believe that I’m not completely ruled by you. You have to know how … miserable and pathetic and … fucking destroyed I was, seeing you with him, over and over again.”
Her tongue darts out, wetting her bottom lip. Her eyes are shiny as she shakes her head. “You don’t care. Don’t lie to me again.”
I press my forehead to hers, inhaling steadily to try and calm myself down before I speak again and tell her how much she consumes my every thought.
“I know I am not right for you and that you deserve to be with a man who doesn’t have to pretend to be someone else to share his feelings, okay? I know that. I also know that, one day, you’ll meet some perfect asshole with a nice haircut and clean hands and two loving parents and a history of communicating what he wants like a big boy. You deserve that, Dolly.”
I start to pull back from her, to give her the space she wants and leave her be, but she stops me by fisting the front of my shirt and pulling me down to her.
“I’m still pissed off about the Ropes thing, all right? I’m still pissed about you crashing my dates, all of it.” She nibbles her bottom lip, crosses her arms and sighs.
I wait, leaning closer to her again. She shifts toward me, slightly.
“But you made me a promise. And if I am going to ever meet my perfect asshole Prince Charming, I want some experience.”
She tilts her head up to me, clearly an invitation. I look down at her lips again, anticipation like a living thing inside me. I want to taste her so badly that my mouth is watering.
