A small growl formed inside that unreal chest. His hand went back to my throat. His pinkie finger grazed the soft skin between my neck and collarbone. He tilted my face at the same time he lowered his, hovering there, staring right into my eyes.
He dropped his voice, the hint of a growl there as he clenched out, “You stubborn little butthole.”
I gasped. “Hey. You’re the butthole.” Rude.
“No, you are.”
“No—” What was Idoing? I was over this. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I definitely didn’t want to bicker with him over it.
He had his own things going on, and I understood it. If I carried the weight that he did on his back, I’d be a mush of bones and guts. I would’ve crumbled instantly. The last thing he needed was another human body’s worth of weight to carry.
Whatever I felt now would pass.
Alexander’s dark eyebrows rose though, and his face dipped even closer. So close if I would have leaned forward a couple of inches, his mouth would have brushed the tip of my nose. He was literallyright there.
And if he had been anyone else, if we’d had a different friendship/relationship, I would have thought something I had no business thinking of. I could have hoped that was the case. That would’ve been a dream straight out of one of my books. I wasn’t blind. I wasn’t immune to the power of his face and that incredible body. He was the most handsome, beautiful man I had ever seen and would ever see.
But this was my life, and sure we existed in a world where a person like him existed, and sure, I had some secret DNA in my body…
But none of that meant shit.
And I was tapped out in the miracles I was willing to believe in.
But his next words surprised me more than just about anything else would have. “You’re not leaving, Gracie.”
My snort hurt, but it was totally worth it to see his expression darken and his face inch a little bit closer.
He didn’t let me stop him. “You said we were friends.”
It was so petty. So damn petty, but I muttered it anyway. “I changed my mind. We don’t need to be friends. You weren’t that crazy about it in the first place.”
Oh, I felt the fucking ice in his gaze. “I changed my mind.”
Oh boy.
“We made an agreement,” he said in that super bossy voice, deciding to approach this in a different direction. “I said I was going to be there for you.That’swhat we agreed on.”
I swear… I squawked right before his hand moved and his thumb settled over my lips. Was this son of a bitch for real? Was he telling me he wouldn’t pay for my cell phone one day and now insisting he wanted to be there for me?
“You’re not leaving.” He kept going in that steady, rich voice. “We made a deal, and you don’t back out on a deal, Cookie. Not with me.”
He was fighting dirty calling me that, and we both knew it. But I wasn’t even going to poke at it. I had to focus and not let Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde get to me. “I’m not backing out on the deal. I’m releasing you from it,” I said from under his finger, feeling myself getting riled up. It was his honor making him say all this, I knew it, he knew it.
He took his sweet time shaking his head. “No. I’m not being released from anything because you forgot what I said I would do—”
“I didn’t forget anything,” I said, my words muffled under his finger.
“Shh.”
I was going to “shh” his ass.
“Listen, Gracie.”
I growled.
His nod irritated the hell out of me. Then he busted out the smoothest, most patient tone he had ever used, on me at least, as he lifted his finger from my mouth. “You’re going to live here.”
I didn’t think I’d ever bitten anyone, but I was seriously considering it now.
