Before I’d had time to process what she’d told me, she’d fled the room, grabbing her clothes as she was leaving. What in the hell? Where did she think she was going?
I glared at Zorro, shaking my head as I did. “You growled at me, buddy.”
I’d be damned if he hadn’t done it again, this time the low, throaty snarl accompanied by an admonishing look. I had no clue dogs could so easily put someone in their place.
“Fine. I shouldn’t have barked at her. No pun intended, buddy. But she drives me crazy and she’s hiding something that could place our family in danger.” Or at minimum place herself in harm’s way.
Now I was talking to my dog as if he understood everything I was saying.
Woof.
I closed one eye when I turned my attention toward him. “What? Should I go after her?”
He harrumphed as he’d done before but with more effort.
“Fine. But she’s going to listen to me.” He cocked his handsome head just before I rushed from the room, taking the stairs two at a time. We would talk whether she wanted to confide in me or not. Games were not allowed.
She appeared on the top landing, glaring at me with all the gusto I’d seen from her at least a dozen times before. “Get out of my way.”
She’d yanked on jeans and a sweatshirt, but if she thought the baggy clothes would keep me from taking what I wanted, she was wrong. Dead wrong. The feisty woman was not going to say to no to me.
I glanced at the bag in her hand; the fact she’d quickly gotten dressed made a series of emotions flash from deep within. “You are not going anywhere.”
“You can’t keep me your prisoner. I won’t allow it.” She shoved me with enough force I slipped on the top stair.
While I wildly grabbed for the railing, managing to snag it with my hand after rolling down four steps, she gasped.
Still, with all my effort, I managed to land on my ass, the brutal thud almost as painful as when she’d tried to smash my head in. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“Just trying to make you leave me alone.” She had her hand pressed against her mouth, which muffled her words, but didn’t do a damn thing to her laugh.
Her soft and adorable laugh that irritated the hell out of me.
The sound that drove me wild, including right now.
I pushed myself to my feet, noticing Zorro was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. I’ll be damned if my dog wasn’t happily grinning at me as well. In my own house.
“That’s not going to happen, Anna.” I righted myself, taking a single long stride and was on the landing once again. When she backed away, I advanced.
She repeated the move.
I did so again. Only this time I grabbed the duffle bag, tossing it aside.
“I’ll call the police,” she breathed, her eyes falling ever so slowly to my already fully aroused cock. Around her I stayed both alert and aroused.
“Go for it. They will enjoy the fact I have a beautiful woman staying in my house. Oh, wait. You’ll need your phone, but it’s safely locked away.”
“You did not!”
“Yeah, I did.” I continued crowding her space, but she’d stopped moving, preferring to stand even taller than before. Gah, she was such a tiny thing. I could easily crush her with a single hand.
Only that was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted nothing more than to protect her.
“Why?” The way she was standing up to me was as surprising as the woman. And her desire to make her own way in life while also fighting all the same urges I had regarding the nonsensical need to have someone in my life. She’d captured it perfectly. That person or that pup was a weakness.
But goddamn it, this woman had done something to me that I couldn’t explain or shove aside. Only a few days into barely knowing anything about her and the possessive need was off the chain. As vibrant as the hunger. “Because I don’t want you to be hurt.” I was now towering over her, noticing how much her breath had hitched and how aroused her nipples were.
Even the scent of her desire was stronger than before.
