Page 19 of Nikolai (Kansas City Reapers)

“So? My God, do you have no self-preservation? Stay inside where no one can see you!” His raised voice did notscare me. Not one bit. I lifted myself onto my elbows, reclining as I looked up at him.

Lifting my shades from my eyes up onto my head to keep the hair out of my eyes, I gave him a piece of my mind. “Listen,buddy, we are in the middle of nowhere. There is no one around here. Hell, we are in the middle of your property, which is lined by trees. No one can see me here. You’re being ridiculous.”

“No,you’rebeing ridiculous. And donotcall me buddy.” He replied with cold fury.

With an exaggerated sigh, I stood from my happy sunbathing haven and stared him down. Blazing sun be damned.

“Listen,buddy, and listen good. I am here. I’m forced to be here, so I’m here. But you are not going to keep me caged up in that house like some prisoner, while you are all out here doing stuff. I have no computer. No phone. No access to anyone or anything. And if you think for one second that I’m not safe sitting out here sunbathing where no one but the four of you can see me, then maybe you aren’t doingyourjob to keep me safe. Give me one logical reason why I’m in danger out here.” While I might be pissed at his arrogance and sheer lack of reasoning skills, I kept my tone calm and cool. I was right, and like it or not, he was about to come to terms with it.

“Because I said so.”

Jesus, the arrogance of this man.

“If you cannot give me a logical reason, then you’re just being an ass to be an ass. So,buddy,” I all but barked at him, “I am not about to listen to your ridiculous demands any longer. Be reasonable, or just stay out of myway. Got it?Buddy?” I jabbed my finger into his chest to drive my point home.

Just as I had begun to think I had made my point, his large hand wrapped around my smaller one, gripping it tightly and pulling my jabbing finger from his body.

A narrowing of his eyes was the only warning I got before my world turned on its axis. His hand gripped around the small of my back, hoisting me up in the air and flinging me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, storming off towards the house.

“Put me down!” I screamed, only to be answered with chortles of laughter from the peanut gallery in the garage. Curses and threats poured from my lips like water from a pressure sprayer. One after the other, I cursed the very ground he walked on as he made his way into the house, slamming the door behind us with a resounding crash.

“I swear toGod, if you do not put me down this very instant, I will —” but my words halted as he flung me back to my feet again in front of him. Standing mere inches apart, his eyes narrowed on me, piercing me with the heat of his fury.

“Listen, if you think—” I began my tirade anew, only to be cut off with a finger pressed against my lips.

“No, princess,youlisten. It is my job to keep you safe. A job I take very seriously, I’ll have you know. And if—”

“I am not about to sit here and be lectured by some soldier with a god complex. No thank you, Sir,” I bit out. He growled in response, his hands gripping my upper arms. For a moment, I thought he might actually shake me. His eyes told me he wanted to.

“First of all,princess, I am not a soldier. I am a veteranof the Marine Corps, and so, a Marine. Get it right. Second, I do not have a god complex. I have a responsibility and an obligation.”

“Well, you can take your responsibility and obligation to serve and protect or whatever and go fuck yourself with it,buddy.”

He yelled in frustration, pulling away from me and running a hand through his thick, wavy hair.

“My responsibility is not to serve and protect. My responsibility is to keep your bratty little ass safe,” he fumed.

“Bratty little ass, huh? Well, you’re going to have to deal with the fact that this bratty little ass of mine is going to go sunbathe outside. Not everything has to beyour way,you know. Maybe ease up and make some room for other people to have thoughts and ideas.” Hands on my hips, I narrowed my gaze at him. I was not about to let up.

He leaned in close, closing the distance between us until nothing but our seething anger toward one another remained.

“Princess, if I had it my way, you’d be —” His words halted abruptly, the threat hanging there in the silence between us, unspoken, unknown. And, Christ, how I wanted to know whatever he was about to say.

“Cat got your tongue…buddy?” I knew I was playing with fire, but in that moment, I yearned for the burn.

A single second of silence passed between us, our labored breathing the only sound to be heard before his hands were on me, pressing me back into the wall behind me.

My head hit the wall with a soft thud, but I paid no heed as his face lowered towards mine.

I thought he was going to kiss me — but I was so fucking wrong.

The tip of his nose touched the edge of my jaw, his lips dangerously close to my ear.

“If I had it my way…princess,” he breathed against the shell of my ear, his hands pressed to the wall on either side of my head. “If it were up to me, you’d be bent over my knee.Right this very second.” The heat in his voice made my pussy ache. His tone. Our anger.Those words.

“Why?” I breathed out, finding myself unable to resist the spell he was weaving.

“Because that round ass of yours deserves to be spanked,” he growled. My eyes fluttered closed as my panties flooded with arousal.

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