Page 84 of Queen of Spades

I grin, shaking my head. “If you have to ask, then I’m not sure you’re ready for a bond at all.”

Tossing open the door, I move to climb out, but Kane grabs my arm.

“Just fucking answer me,” he growls.

Shaking out of his grip, I look him dead in the eyes. “Because, Kane, it’s not about what I want, it’s about what Annika needs. If you can’t put your own wants aside to ensure she’s happy and fulfilled, then you and me, we’re going to have problems.”

More than that, they’ll never last long-term. Annika has been surrounded by enough selfishness in her lifetime. Her family wanted her to become who they needed her to be to take over the family business. Her brother wanted her to be an easily managed doll that he didn’t have to put any thought into caring about.

I might be a chameleon, but it came in clutch.

I’m adaptable.

I was able to transform into exactly who she needed me to be, to be content with a long-term partner, and I have no complaints about that. But Kane’s ultimate goal is keeping her safe, and if he’s not careful, he’ll alienate her completely in the process. Not that I’ll take needless risks with her safety, but at the end of the day, I would rather fight by her side than have her shoot me in the back for a chance at freedom.

I stand to my full height, rolling my shoulders back and pasting on a friendly smile. “Now, come on. If you cheer up, I’ll tell you what I learned about tampons. It’s fascinating.”

I shut the door while he’s still looking completely flabbergasted.

“Just pick something, so we can go,” Kane growls, gesturing to the frozen case in the grocery store. He still hasn’t simmered down at all. We’ve picked up everything we need, but groceries had to wait for last.

“I’ve got to make sure I grab her favorites.” I shrug, perusing the options. “See, she likes the double chocolate fudge brownie.” I snatch that one up, tossing it into the overfull cart. “Then we need the peanut butter cup.” That one goes in too. “And Anni is simple at times. When she has a bad day, she wants plain chocolate.”

“How the hell do you know all of that?” he asks, leaning farther over the shopping cart handle.

“You’re always on edge.” I drop the last container in and aim for the health section. “You’ve got to learn to multitask. Scan for threats, but keep your ears open. It’s really not that hard.”

“I hate you,” Kane grunts, ramming the cart into the back of my legs.

I pop my ass out, slamming it back into him. He lets out a satisfying oomph, and I chuckle.

“Let me put it to you this way. You want her to come to you to keep her safe? Then, you’ve got to make her feel safe enough that she looks to you for safety.”

“Wow, thanks for that shocking piece of wisdom.” Kane snorts.

“You don’t get it.” I sigh, shaking my head. “You want her, but you’re not able to curb your alpha impulses to control everything. Anni doesn’t really want to be in control, she just thinks she does. She wants to be consulted and allowed to have an opinion. If you do that, nine times out of ten, she’s going to let you take the lead, as long as you give her options. Does that help?”

“Not a fucking bit,” he says, following me down the feminine care aisle.

I browse the limited selection of lube and grab a couple, because why not? Then we move to the pads and tampons.

“You really think she needs two kinds of pads?” he asks with a snort.

“Yup.” I nod, tossing them into the basket. “Day and night. Then tampons, let me tell you about this. The size on the box has no correlation to the person’s size. It’s actually how much blood they can hold. Isn’t that a revelation? Why didn’t they teach us this kind of shit in school?”

“That was your fascinating fact about tampons?” Kane asks dubiously.

“Yup, now you never have to sound like an idiot when you have that conversation with Annika.” I smile a little ferally. “You’re welcome.”

Kane scoffs. “I am genuinely fucking baffled how she puts up with you.”

“That’s why I’m giving you all my trade secrets…” I swagger off toward the checkout counter. “You’re just a shitty listener.” He rams the cart into my legs again, and I smile without looking back. Oh yeah, he got the picture. He just needs to digest the information now. “Hey, when you were doing your perimeter sweep, did you happen to see what’s behind the house?”

“The pool?”

“Nope, behind that.”

Kane chuckles. “Yeah, why?”

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