My eyes snap open, and I narrow my eyes on him. He chuckles, his shoulders shaking. “Laugh it up, Big Guy.” His eyes meet mine, and I can see the humor there.
“What are you going to do?” He challenges. Something snaps in me. I don’t have an ounce of experience with any of this, and yet, I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge. I shove his shoulders back, harder this time. He takes a small step back. I'm pretty sure he let me move him. I push him again, and he takes another step back, still smirking at me. When the back of his knees hit the bed, I push again, and he sits on the edge of the bed. I step in between his legs and put my hands on his shoulders. He's no longer smirking; in fact, I think he’s no longer breathing as well. I lean forward and put my face near his neck. I don’t touch him, but I feel the shudder that runs through his entire body.
“Harper,” he warns in a low voice.
“What? You can’t handle this?”
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” he grounds out.
My head jerks back, and embarrassment floods me. I take a step backwards and then turn to flee. I only make it a step or two before a hand grabs mine. “Harper, wait.”
“Let go.” I try to pull my wrist from his grip, but he won’t release it.
“Harper, look at me.”
“What?” I snap, looking up at him.
“I didn’t mean that how it sounded...how you took it,” he corrects.
I lift an eyebrow. “I think it was pretty clear.”
He laughs, low in his chest; and I’ve had enough. I yank my hand from his and stride towards the door. He beats me there, closing and blocking the door with his large body. “Move,” I demand.
“No.”
“Rauk—”
“Harper,” he returns. I take a breath and try to cool my rising anger. “I’m not letting you go until you listen to me.”
I cross my arms over my chest and will my heart to stop pounding. “What?”
“Will you look at me, please?”
I lift my eyes to his, hoping that it will get me out of here sooner. I don’t expect to see the gentleness there; I've never seen that soft of a look on this man. “I’m trying so desperately to stay in control, Harper.”
His words surprise me. “What?”
“You have the power to be my complete and utter undoing. The things I feel with you, for you,” he shakes his head. “I’ve never felt them with any other person before.”
I can’t help the words that slip out. “You better not have.”
A small smile builds on his face. “Rest assured; I haven’t.” The smile fades, and a new intensity takes over. “I feel so much for you; it sometimes feels like I’m drowning in it.” His words shock me to my core. “I know how averse to touch and emotionyou are, so I’ve tried to keep myself completely under control at all times. When I was sitting on the bed, and you were doing what you were doing, I wanted to lose control. That's what I meant—that you have no idea how you affect me, what you do to me.” He blows out a breath. “Harper, no one has ever had as much control over me as you do, and that scares me. You could ask me for anything, and it would be yours. And that makes you incrediblydangerous.”
I cock my head to the side. “You called me that once before.”
“Only once?” he asks with a laugh.
“Once or twice,” I concede. “You said I was like the tree I’d painted...dangerous.”
He nods back. “Yeah.”
“I was dangerous to you back then?"
“Harper, you were dangerous the moment I met you. The first time you tossed your braid over your shoulder and asked me if I was ready to stop hiding?” He grins. “Your eyes shot fire at me, and I knew I was never going to be the same. And when you threw that knife?” His grin widens.
I scoff. “You didn’t even know who I was.”
“It didn’t matter. I knew I would do whatever it took to make you mine.” He grins, but it’s dark. “You called me King Jerkface.”
