Winder shook his head. “I’m not accusing you of anything, Blaire. I’m asking you to take a moment and look at the situation frommypoint of view, and ask yourself if you would’ve done the same, because I feel like you would’ve.”
“You have no idea what I would’ve done. No fucking clue. Because you aren’t me, and because you didn’t give me the fucking option,” I snarled. “It’s kind of hard to make an educated decision when you’re working with only half the information.”
“I’m not the villain here,” he snapped. “I did what I had to do to keep you safe.”
“Safe?” I threw my hands in the air, spinning around his messy room. “You call this safe? Being locked in your bedroom for days, waiting for this person Idon’tremember topossiblycome finish the job they fucked up the first time around?”
“It’s safer than your goddamn apartment they broke into no problem. Or did you really think an extra deadbolt or two was going to keep them out?”
“Don’t insult my intelligence,” I spat. “Obviously you think you can get away with these mind games, feeding me little bits of the truth when it suits you. Maybe even play with my emotions a bit, just for fun, right? Hell, maybe nothing you’ve told me is even the truth! I can’t wait to see what lies are next. Don’t leave me in suspense.”
“Blaire.” Winder’s voice held a warning. “I get you’re pissed. I’d be pissed, too. But all I’ve wanted to do is protect you, and I wasn’t left with a lot of options. Don’t push me.”
“And last night?” I stomped closer, toe to toe with Winder like he didn’t tower over me. Fear had no place in my life right now. It was only going to get me killed. If Winder was looking to frighten me, it wasn’t going to work. “Was last nightprotectingme, when you acted like you couldn’t bear to touch me?”
“Stop talking, Blaire.” Winder’s eyes were stormy, every muscle in his body tensed. I’d struck a nerve.
Good.
“Or what? You going to walk out that door again, and leave me all alone? Might as well do it now. I’ve been alone for the last five years, I’m sure I can handle a few more.”
“I said, stop fucking talking.” He grabbed my face, and my eyes widened at the unexpected touch. “You really don’t know when to stop, do you? Because you’re a fucking brat. So keeprunning your mouth about shit you know nothing about. See what happens.”
I glared at him, unable to move my head in his tight grip. “Did you ever think I know nothing because you tell me fuck all, trying to protect me from some invisible bogeyman?”
Something in Winder snapped, and he pulled my face a breath away from his. “Baby, you’ve got it all fucking wrong. I’ve been trying to protect you fromme.”
“I don’t need protection from you,” I breathed. He was too close. It was hard to remember exactly why I was angry when he overwhelmed my senses.
“You do when all I’ve wanted to do since I saw you all those weeks ago is fucking destroy you. Do you know what it’s like to crave something that’s not yours? To watch it belong to someone else? It eats away at you, Blaire. Chews away at your humanity. It strips you of everything that makes you human, until you are nothing more than a single thought.Youare my single thought. You. And there is this…this, animal inside me who wants to fucking devour you. So you sit there, in my T-shirt touching your skin like I can’t, and your pretty smile, and you push, and you push, and you fucking push.” He took a deep breath, sucking the air directly from my lungs. “Ten years, Blaire. Ten fucking years, of convincing myself you could never be mine. You want to push? You want to play games? That’s fine. But I’m not stopping myself this time. So you better be damn certain before you take another step, because I’m not letting you go again.”
If I had words, they wouldn’t have made a difference. Nothing would ease the ache of time Winder experienced. Anything I could’ve said would’ve been worthless compared to the weight of the story written in his blood.
I did the only thing I could.
I kissed him.
His entire body sank into me, wrapping me up in his arms. He pulled back for only a second, panting. “I’m not stopping. Not now. Not ever.”
I dragged his mouth back to mine again, until we shared the air between us. “Shut up and kiss me, Winder.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. His kiss was laced with something addictive, the desperation of a man who had craved this for longer than he should’ve. Every moment of his longing was transferred into this kiss, his mouth on mine.
He tugged at my shirt, until he finally broke us apart and tore it over my head, tossing my underwear to the side with it. For a breath he just stood there, looking at me like I was a dream brought to life. Like cotton fucking candy.
There was a vein of disbelief in his gaze, and then again when he spoke, nearly reverent. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Yet again, I was struck speechless by the words Winder carried for so long. He pushed me, until the backs of my calves hit the bed. I sat down.
He dropped to his knees in front of me, spreading my legs.
“Winder,” I moaned. “Winder, I need to feel you, inside me. I need to know this is real.”
He looked up at me, running a careful finger between my legs, gathering my desire. Winder popped his finger in his mouth, sucking on the taste of me, while I watched, breathless.
Pulling his finger out, he gave me a smile, one that rang more dangerous than his normal grin. “I told you there was an animal inside me, baby. If I don’t get to taste you at least once before you come to your senses, I’ll go feral. Open your legs for me, or I’ll spread them for you.”
I widened my legs for him as he kissed his way up my bare thigh, my breaths coming closer and closer together the higher he got.
