“Angry? No.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the door, very effectively blocking the only exit. “Angry brings to mind a slight argument or bad day. What I am is fuckin’ pissed.”
“Well now, that does sound worse than angry.” She gave up any pretense of facing him head-on and backed farther away and into the apartment, keeping him in her sights. She’d learned long ago to keep a threat in view, and there was no doubt Tace was all threat at the moment. “I’m thinking we should talk about it tomorrow.”
“I’m thinking you showed up here to fight it out, which is exactly what’s going to happen.” His voice remained too low and soft, which was all the more frightening for the fury behind it.
She swallowed.
The good ole Texas boy was long gone. She’d seen him disappearing the last few weeks, but now, facing the deadly furious soldier, she knew it was for good. Oh, Tace would always carry part of his former self, but this guy was harder and deadlier. Yet this form of him, the impenetrable strategist, was the one who softened her thighs and quickened her breath.
Right at the moment, however, she wasn’t sure she could handle him. “What do you want from me?” she whispered.
His eyelashes swept up in a curiously dangerous way, and his focus narrowed. “I want to break you, Samantha. Completely.”
Her mouth gaped open. Warning ticked through her, but so did spirit. “Not a chance.”
He was on her then. Faster than she could track, he had her up against the wall, one hand fisted in her hair.
She gasped and sucked in air.
Heat poured off him, surrounding her. Slowly, deliberately, he rolled his wrist, forcing her face to lift to his.
Weakness swept through her legs. Worse yet, her nipples hardened to diamonds at the show of dominance. What was wrong with her? “I don’t play these kinds of games,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.
“I’m not playing.”
Her body did a head-to-toe tremble.
His answering smile held a darkness way out of her experience.
Her breath quickened, and she panted quietly as she tried to keep her chest from exploding. This was too real. She had to create some sort of distance. “Listen, Texa—”
He jerked her head, and a slight pain rippled along her scalp. “What did you call me?” His heated breath brushed her face.
She opened her mouth, but the look in his eyes stopped the words in her throat. “Um.”
He leaned into her. “What’s my name, Sami?”
“Tace,” she breathed, her instincts taking over.
“Good. Don’t do it again.”
He knew. He totally knew she’d been trying to put him off. She wanted to challenge him, to fight whatever he was doing, but she felt as if she were balancing at the edge of a jagged cliff and trying not to fall. Her entire body shot into overdrive, nerves firing, breath catching. Tears pricked the back of her eyes.
“No. No tears,” he ordered.
She batted them away, and her vision cleared.
“I’ve been inside you, and you’ve cried out my name. What did you think would happen when you came clean about the lies?” he asked, a liquid curiosity in his tone.
“Not this,” she whispered.
“What is this?” His upper lip barely curved.
She swallowed. “I don’t know.”
“You will.” He nipped her bottom lip none too gently.
She jerked, and raw heat clambered down her body, zinged a few times, and landed between her legs with a fierceness that scared her. She reacted, shoving a leg toward his ribs and shooting her arms up in a defensive move.
