“No, you have to get used to it,” he countered, moving to the coffee table and dropping his wallet and keys onto it, settling in.
I stared at them for a moment.
Then I snapped.
“You lost the right to talk sweet to me and be all hot and shit toward me when I woke up alone in my damn bed,” I seethed, my voice shaking by the end of it.
He came to me, but I didn’t want that. So I backed up until I hit the wall. Unfortunately, he didn’t stop until his front was pressed to mine, my chin pinched between his fingers. He tipped my head back. “Told you at Grayson’s that when I returned, we would be having a conversation about that,” he rumbled.
“And I told you there was nothing to talk about.”
“And I told you I begged to differ. You wanna know why?” he growled, getting deeper into my space.
“No,” I lied.
“Because you infuriate the fuck out of me, Margo Bennett. You made me feel alive for the first time in nearly thirteen years when you poked your black nail into my chest and glared up at me with those big, mossy green eyes. You’ve been in my head, under my skin, infecting every aspect of my life for over a year, and a few weeks ago, you gave me something precious.” I tried to jerk out of his hold, but he held firm. “Fucking beauty,” he clipped. “That’s what you gave me, and I was ready to spend the rest of my days savoring it. God, I was ready to worship you, to love you because I knew when I finally allowed myself to fall, baby, it would be detrimental to the life I convinced myself I deserved.”
“Stop,” I whispered.
“I left your bed because you moaned another man’s name in your sleep, and after finding my ex in my bed with another man, I couldn’t stomach the idea of suffering through that again,” he continued, his voice firm again.
I blinked, still stuck on the first half. “Wh-what? You found another—”
“I know now that I should’ve woken you, demanded answers, but I didn’t. That’s on me. I fucked up, and that’s the last time I’ll ever fuck up anything with you.”
“Hayes—”
“I don’t want to have this conversation with you pressed against the wall where I slid my cock into you for the first time, beautiful. It would taint the memory.” I sucked in a breath, my body aching for him to do it again, the memory of us rushing, desperate for connection as our hands fumbled to get our clothes off. His eyes dropped to my lips for a moment before he collected himself. “In fact, I don’t want to have this conversation at alluntil you’re fed. You slept the majority of the day. You need calories in your system.”
My lips parted and I stared up at him as he lifted his head, staring back. His knuckles brushed over my lips then. “Maybe if I hadn’t left your bed, you wouldn’t have that bruise on your face,” he murmured, more to himself than me. “Maybe if I wasn’t so fucked in the head, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
He tried to drop his hand, but I caught his wrist. I could give him this piece of truth. The last thing I wanted was for him to feel guilty for something he had nothing to do with. “What happened to me isn’t your fault,” I said.
“Yeah, it is,” he said sadly, his eyes on my bruise. “Gutted me when you took those shades off, baby, but that’s something I have to live with.”
“Hayes—”
He pulled me from the wall, bringing our hands to his chest, his free arm banding around my waist. “What do you want for dinner?” he asked softly, clearly having moved on from the subject. “And don’t say cereal. Love that shit too, but you need protein.”
I ignored the fact that he loved cereal. I couldn’t take it, not after everything he’d just said to me. “I can make it. It’s my kitchen.”
“I can find my way around. While I’m cooking, I want you to go take a bath. Soak your muscles. I can tell you’re sore.”
“But—”
His eyes darkened. “I would really appreciate it if you listened to me, Temper. Give me that shred of mercy.” When I didn’t respond, he softly added, “I’m holding on by a thread here.”
Pressing my lips together, I nodded.
He bent, brushing his lips against mine. “Thank you.”
Heart thundering in my ears, I started to move away, but his arm tightened around me, his lips now at my ear. “One morething. If you ever refer to yourself as a failure in front of me again, I’ll take you over my knee.”
My head snapped up, leaving mere centimeters between our faces.He…he wanted to spank me?A rush of heat flooded me at the thought. “What—”
His mouth landed on mine hard, and just as quickly as it started, he pulled back and turned me toward the hallway, leaving me breathless.
“Be out in thirty,” he commanded.