I’d done my best to be civil. I’d spoken calmly, rationally. I’d been perfectly cordial and fought everything I was to become something I knew I had to be.
I was the exact opposite of insane.
“You really shouldn’t have said that,” I muttered.
She knew what I expected. I’d told her. It wasn’t my fault she was totally stupid. I’d warned her never to question my mental state. And I wouldn’t permit such ridicule from a girl who didn’t recognise the entire world was fucking nuts.
Punish her.
I stood, towering over her. Moving forward, I grabbed the whip from the top of the bag, slapping it against my palm. “On your knees.”
She scurried backward, slamming into a tree behind her. “Jethro. Please—”
I pinched the brow of my nose. “You insulted my mental state again, Ms. Weaver. I told you what would happen the next time you did.” Bending over, I grabbed her shoulder. “On your damn knees.” With a sharp push, I shoved her from sitting to kneeling.
Tears streaked her dirty face. “I didn’t mean—I’m—”
I cocked my head.
If she apologised, I’d stop. Just one little word. A sign that she was permitting my power over her.
It wobbled unsaid between us.Sorry. I’m sorry. Please, forgive me.
Her lips tasted the words, the syllables echoed silently in my ears.
But then she ruined it by sucking in a breath and clamping her lips together. With a glare that shot heat straight into my heart, she planted her hands on the blanket, and cocked her hips.
Fuck. Me.
My cock immediately sprang to attention. The perfect lines of her overly skinny body. The pert breasts and hard muscles of her back and thighs.
Shit.
I squeezed my eyes.What the fuck is going on with me?
Sure, I wanted her. Sure, I wanted to use her and come so deep inside her, she’d taste me for days. But lust had never made me see things like this. Never made me lose the fine frost of control. Every second spent with her undid all my hard work.
She was my pet. Her wellbeing and happiness hinged on me. Just like Bolly, Wings, and all the other hounds tethered in the forest just out of ear reach. I’d left them there so I could sneak upon her silently.
I’d known she was up there. I’d felt her eyes boring into me.
But this was all a game.
What was the fun in reaching the destination when the chase was the best part?
Nila looked over her shoulder, daring me with flames in her eyes. “I hate you.”
Her words slammed me back to earth, her fire somehow giving me back my ice. I smiled. “You don’t know the meaning of hate. Not yet.”
Hair fell over her shoulder, hanging thick and enticing. “You’re wrong again, Mr. Hawk. I know the meaning of it. It’s becoming a favourite emotion of mine. I told you before you’ll never own me. And you never will.”
That reminds me.
“I caught you. You agreed you’d willingly sign that nonsense away.”
“What nonsense?”
I fell to my knees, positioning myself behind her. Grasping her hips, I dragged her against my front. My jaw locked as my erection dug into her firm arse.
