I’m tormented by conflicting emotions. I clench my fists and breathe in through my nostrils.
She doesn’t deserve my anger.Sheisn’t the one I’m angry with.
I tell myself I need to push her away. Savannah is too trusting.
Too innocent.
“Maybe I have nothing to say.”
“Unlikely.”
I snap my mouth shut in an effort to keep myself from snapping at her again.
“Okay, then, maybe I do have something to say but I don’t want to say it toyou.”
I turn to face her this time. Her eyes meet mine—so gorgeous, my heart turns in my chest. She’s curious, and if I’m not mistaken, a little aroused.
I tamp down the urge to set things straight. To tell her my expectations. To discuss hard limits.
I’ll never be one to go for a modern relationship. It’s not who I am.
The first time I discovered I’m a dominant, I felt as if a whole world opened up to me. Fabien was the one who took me to a club in Paris. The first night there I knew. This was where I belonged.
I need to be the one in charge. I’m the one who needs to protect. To command.
Call it old-fashioned, but I know who I am. I know what I like. I know what I need.
My job is to protect her, no matter the cost.
Even if she hates me.
I open my mouth to respond, to tell her off. I snap it shut again.
She isn’t mine.
If Savannah was mine…
My phone rings. I glance down. Lyam.
“Yeah?”
“Coast clear. Let’s go.”
I jerk my chin at her. “Come here.”
I take a quick minute to send Lyam a text. I’ll need a few things for this trip.
“I really wish you’d learn to treat me half decently,” she snaps.
I turn to her and imagine what it would be like to hold her down, strip her, and fuck her until she doesn’t have a single thread of resistance left in her.
I swallow the urge and reach for her.
“My job is to keep you alive,” I tell her honestly. “I don’t care what the fuck I have to do to make that happen. You’re not mine, Savannah, and we’ve covered what that would look like if you were.” I close the mental door on that fantasy so quickly it splinters. “But your sister and brother-in-law have asked me to take care of you. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Maybe,” she seethes through gritted teeth, “I don’t want your protection.”
Without thinking, I take hold of her wrists and pin them to her sides.
