Page 15 of Hate Me

“Not as an adult, then the responsibility is all hers. It’s not easy to get out from under that shadow and influence though.” I challenged, “Is it?”

He didn’t respond, his expression didn’t change.

That was a good sign.

I smiled as I put the book down on the coffee table. “Just checking it’s holding.”

“It’s holding very well,” he assured me, walking up to me.

“Intense after not giving it proper breath for so long, yeah?”

Again, he didn’t respond. Instead, he drew ever closer, and I studied him, trying to get a read on him. What was he intending?

He rounded the coffee table, then stepped over my legs, straddling them as he stood over me.

Then he had excitement thrumming through me as he slapped his hands down either side of my head on the couch. “Is that what you want?”

I swallowed hard. “What’s that?”

“To provoke that side of me.”

Nice try. “Please, you won’t hurt me. You consider me your inner circle.”

“Interesting that your mind went there.” He leaned in real close, his hot breath fanning over the side of my face as he whispered sexily, “I’m not talking about hurting you. At least not in that way.”

His minty cologne wafted over me, his closeness making my cock twitch.

The next thing I knew, I was turning into him, my cheek brushing against his. My breath hitched at his delectable closeness.

And then he breathed me in. Fuck, yeah.

“You want that intensity from me. You want me to unleash all over you.”

“Ash—”

He nipped at my earlobe, making me groan. “You want what you’ve always wanted from me, what you’ve barely been able to admit to yourself. My domination, sweetheart.”

“You think I want you to top me?” I asked, scoffing.

I hadn’t gone that route in a long time. I always topped these days, always dominated, always controlled. The truth was, I hadn’t trusted anybody to top me but Caspian. And there was also the fact that it would mean letting go in a way I hadn’t allowed myself since that fucked-up night two years ago.

But with Ash as he was right now, in this beast state, it called to me in a way that threatened to transcend all that, a way that made me want to transcend it all just to have that with him, to experience it.

Ash fisted his hand in my hair, dragging my gaze to his. “Absolutely. You want me to own you. While I’m in this specific state. You wanted it back then, but I was focused on burying this part of me at the time.”

He brushed his lips against mine and, fuck, he had me under his spell, the needing pulsating through me.

I leaned in.

But then the fucker pulled back abruptly and released me completely, smirking. “The thing is, you’re right about me considering you part of my inner circle. That means I’ll protect you, come what may. Even from me.”

“You think I can’t handle you?” My voice came out as a croak, so fucking hoarse that it was damned obvious how turned on he’d gotten me.

“I don’t think, I know. If I come at you fully unleashed, no holding back, like you want, I’ll decimate you.”

“I’d be willing to take the risk.”

“Because you don’t understand what that truly entails.”

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