He must anticipate my next move because his finger presses against my lips, making me frown, but he’s not looking at me now. Grabbing a piece of bread, he rips it apart and soaks some in the soup dregs. Then he presses his finger between my lips and pushes my jaw down before shoving the soupy roll inside my mouth.
I bite down, too slow to catch him, and chew. The tomato and basil flavors of the soup are rich and tasty.I wonder if he’ll give me the recipe. This can’t be store bought.
“Good girl.” He winks and grabs his own bowl when I swallow, slurping it up a lot faster than it took for mine to disappear.
I think I’m growling…although it’s more of a grumble coming from my throat, but I can’t deny that he just made me do exactly as he commanded with ease. He chuckles, just the once, then his eyes flick over to mine and the solid contact is back.
The way he sucks up the soup makes me want to be a spoon…never before have I wanted to be an inanimate object so badly as I do now.Stop it, Berkleigh. You are a smart, independent woman, and you do not want to be a spoon.
“Are you still hungry?”
Am I…? Kinda…but not for food. I’m obviously delirious from the last twenty-four hours, so I claim insanity here.
“No, thank you. That was amazing.” Clearing my throat, I attempt to stand and clear away the dishes.Attemptbeing the operative word there because before I get even halfway up, Tanner is bringing me straight back down by the waist.
“We need to talk, and we can’t do that if you spend the next hour hopping around trying to be a good house guest and tidy up. So keep your tight ass on that couch until I get back.”
“Did you just call my ass tight?” That means he’s noticed. I have been doing workouts with an app on my phone a few times a month, for like, the last two years.
“If you’re going to spend all your time asking me if you heard me correctly, then this is gonna take all fucking night, Sweet Bee.” He sighs as he piles the dishes and trays on top of each other, then takes them to the kitchen.
It’s been ten minutes, and he’s back with two steaming mugs of coffee in his hand…and I think I’m in love. This is exactly what I’ve been craving.
“How’re you feeling?” he asks as he sits down in his usual spot on one end of the couch.
“Like I had a fight with a dumptruck, but I’ll live.” Holding the coffee mug between both hands, I hum with delight at the bitter scent wafting up my nose. It’s all I can do to concentrate on anything other than what happened to me last night as I sip down the black nectar. Yes, I’ll live, but I’ll never be the same woman again. I refuse to think of myself as a victim, though. I’m a survivor. A warrior. I won’t get back the piece of me that was taken, but they can keep it. I don’t want it back.
“Lie back down, rest your feet on my legs again.”
“But I haven’t finished my coffee.” I’m close to pouting. Close…but I resist.
“Put it on the table and let it cool down first. You’ll burn your tongue if you keep trying to drink it right now.”
He isn’t wrong, but I’m reluctant to admit that I did, in fact, already burn the tip of my tongue a little.
“It’s all orders, orders, orders, with you, isn’t it, Mr. B?”
He growls and holds a finger in the air, twisting it in circles to indicate for me to turn and do as he says…lie down. Of course, I do, but only after following his other instruction to put my coffee mug down on the small table.
It’s too late to do anything with work or my clients. Even the mall will be closed by now so there’s no chance of getting a new cell phone today.
Closing my eyes when Tanner rests my feet on his lap again, I try to make some kind of plan to try and reorganize my life, but without my sim card or my organizer, I have no numbers to call, no emails to check…anything of importance for work is in my office.
I guess there’s nothing else holding me back from asking the burning question on the tip of my partially burned tongue…
“Okay, the anticipation is eating me up. What do you want to talk about?” I half-thought he would want to get me out of here ASAP and that was a passing comment from him to pacify me in some way, but his actions are saying otherwise, so I’m intrigued.
“I have a way for you to be Karma.”
Chapter Nine
Tanner
Age 7
Ican’t look at her.
The plan was to ignore her and walk home alone for the first time. We always walk together to and from school, but I can tell by her silence that she’s disgusted by me. I’m supposed to care what other people think but I just don’t.
