“I’m telling you how it’s going to be.” Her voice went breathy on the last because he started moving toward her. She stiffened. He kept coming. Straight at her. “Wh-what areyoudoing?” she stammered, taking several unwilling steps backward.
He kept moving inexorably toward her over the ugly shag carpet, taking his time, keeping her in his sights like any hunter stalking prey. Her stomach fluttered, and her hands clenched. She stumbled backward, instinct taking over. There wasn’t time to turn and run. His long stride easily caught up to her lurching one.
And then the wall was at her back.
Nowhere to go. She held her hands up to ward him off, and he stepped in, gracefully flattening his palms against the paneling on either side of her head. Caging her. The heat of his body rushed over her as if in a physical touch, and her body sprang wide awake. Her nipples hardened. Her breath quickened.
She curled her fingers into her palms, her hands still up but not touching him. Not yet.
The look in his eyes stole every thought from her head. Lust and anger. Need and determination. Pride and warning. “Trained dolphin?” he asked slowly. Clearly. Softly.
She swallowed. All right. That might’ve been a bit much. “Denver.”
He wasn’t touching her, but he was all around her. His warmth and his strength. She was at his mercy, and instead of feeling frightened or even angry, she felt alive with an edge of sharp awareness. Who was this man? The Denver she’d known had been sweet and gentle. She’d just pushed this guy—on purpose—way past sweet. “Back off,” she hissed.
“Make me,” he rumbled.
Tingles blew through her abdomen to slam right to her core. She inhaled the scent of him—male and forest, wild and untamable. Like something she could lick and taste but never quite define. That was Denver. Her knees wobbled. If she put her hands on him, if she tried to fight him, what would he do? She truly didn’t know. But her body—her entire damn body—clenched with anticipation. Any fear she’d felt disappeared, and a very welcome anger tried to shove through her haze of scary arousal. “Last chance,” she snapped.
He smiled then, giving him a feral look.
A tremble shook her. She uncurled her fingers and pushed his chest as hard as she could.
He didn’t move. Not only didn’t he move, he didn’t resist. Fully relaxed, caging her in place, he didn’t need to do a thing to defend himself from her. The hard plane of his chest mocked her palms. Her temper flew, and she aimed her knee up.
He easily stepped into her, forcing her leg down. “You already tried that. Remember?”
God, she had. Never in her life had she tried to knee a guy in the nuts, and now she’d attempted it twice in a matter of hours. Both times she’d failed. “What do you want?” she gasped.
His eyes deepened. All of those blue flecks commingled into something dark. “Baby, if I answered that, I really would scare you.” His heated breath brushed her face.
Oh, she wanted to know. What did thatmean? What did he really want? Her chest started to rise and fall quickly, giving away her state of mind, but she couldn’t stop it. There was too much, he was too much. Anger filled her, finally pushing away the intrigue. “We agreed we didn’t know each other, so whatever you have in mind would probably bore me.” Why in the hell had she said that? Her mouth seemed to want to push Denver as far as possible.
Even half out of it, she knew pushing him was a bad idea.
“Bore you?” he whispered.
The threat in that tone forced a whimper from her. She barely bit it down, so it came out as a sigh instead. “Enough of this.” Her voice shook.
“Oh, baby. You started this.” He leaned in, his lips nuzzling her earlobe. “I’d hate to bring you to my nice safe house and bore you.”
Her breath caught. Panic rippled through her on the heels of a desire so sharp it hurt. “Stop playing.”
His hand slid across the paneling with a rough sound and then tangled in her hair. He drew back her head so she met his gaze directly above her. “Listen good.”
She gulped.
“I understand you’re mad, and you have a right.” His firm hold tightened, sending sparks of erotic pain across her scalp. “But enough for tonight. You have a choice. Think before you answer.”
She couldn’t look away from the heat in his eyes. Her mouth dried up. He was so close, she couldn’t move her hands from his chest. Every inch of her was caught by him. Unable to move. The hard line of his erection dug into her stomach, and she could feel him pulse with need.
“We can continue this, and I can show you exactly why it was better I left. Or you can nicely turn and go get some sleep while I work.” He slowly released her and took a very small step back. “I’m done right now, Noni. It’s your call.”
He wanted her. That much she knew. If she pushed him, they’d be in bed again for the night. A part of her—the physical, lonely, needy part—wanted to grab and kiss him. But the smart part of her—the one that had learned self-preservation at way too young of an age—urged her to get away from him. He’d given her the choice. She’d barely survived her heart breaking from the nice and easygoing Denver. This guy? This guy would eat her up, consume her, and take everything she had.
For good measure, she shoved him again.
This time he took several steps away.
