“What would give you that impression?”
“You’re passively suicidal.”
“I’m what?”
“You may not want to kill yourself directly, but you’ll do everything else to put yourself at risk and make it more plausible that you’ll die.”
“I do not!”
He chuckles at my outburst. “Oh yeah? Remind me again why you were near my territory, knowing what you did? You had to think someone was hunting you.”
“Casey ran off course. We weren’t supposed to be near you.”
“You mean youlet herrun off course. Admit it, little Casey didn’t know where she was going, but you knew.”
“I would never put Casey in harm’s way.”
“Maybe not consciously. But you did. I will say, I don’t think you would put her in a situation you didn’t know you couldn’t get her out of.”
“How could you say such a thing?”
“Admit it, Jay. You wanted to be caught—to be punished. And you’ve wanted me to be the one to do it for so long. You are a little masochist. And I’m happy to be your sadist.”
Has he been inside my brain?
“Why haven’t you told anyone what I did?”
He pauses before he answers. “They’d have your head.”
“And you don’t want them to have my head?”
“No.”
“Because . . .youwant my head?”
“Absolutely.”
The way he chuckles turns my cheeks red and face hot.
“I didn’t mean it like that!”
“It doesn’t matter what you meant. If I want it, I’ll have it all the same. And I won’t stop there.”
My breath hitches. “What?”
We approach a clearing with a single tree. He sets me down and holds me close to him. My breath hitches.
“I said I was going to devour you. If you think I’m going to stop at your head, you’re in for a rude awakening, baby girl.”
My stomach flutters.
I must be a masochist because with everything he’s suggesting, I’m hoping it’s as rude as can be.
I want this. But my inexperience causes me to giggle nervously. A quick smack to my bottom, and the giggling is contained. I bite my lip.
“You won’t be laughing in a moment,” Caleb growls his dark promise.
Yet a mix of playfulness and an eager desire lingers beneath his threat.
