Page 61 of Killer Kiss

He leaned back on the counter and folded his arms across his broad chest. “How come you haven’t finished your job bag?”

I froze, my fingers gripping tight around the plastic bag handle. “Have you done yours?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

I raised a shoulder. “Just wondering why you care about what I’m doing instead of doing your own job.”

I cringed internally. The response was probably going to get me a backhand to the face.

But his response was worse. He went completely silent, only narrowing his eyes. A chill frosted the room as he pushed off the counter and crowded me against the refrigerator. “Here’s what I think. I think your head isn’t actually in the game and that your mother was right, asking me to get you back on track.”

Irritation rose in my chest, lifting my chin defiantly. “I’ve been working this business my own way, in my own time, for over half my life, Riddick. I don’t need you ‘getting me back on track.’”

I went to duck under his beefy arm, but he blocked me.

“I disagree.” Something flickered in his gaze. “A friend told me he saw you having coffee with some man in Providence today.”

I glared at him. “So what if I was?”

“We’re engaged to be married.”

“We most certainly are not. I never once heard you ask, and I definitely didn’t say yes.”

“You know that’s not how things work in our world.”

I might have been scared of the man, but there was no way in hell I was being roped into the marriage without my consent. I’d literally rather be dead. “It’s how things work with me. I’m not marrying someone I don’t love.”

Riddick scoffed, “So what? You want me to get down on one knee, tell you you’re the most beautiful woman in the room, and promise to love and cherish you for the rest of my life?”

I shook my head. “No, Riddick. I don’t want you to do that. You being the important word here.”

The look in his eyes darkened. “Shame. Things would be so much easier if you were agreeable. It changes nothing, though, Ophelia. You know that.”

I hated that I did.

I glared at him. “So you’ll just force me into this, no matter the fact I’ve just told you I’m not interested?”

He shrugged. “It’s a business arrangement.”

Oh, fuck him. “This is my life!” I yelled at him. “My life is not a fucking business arrangement for you and my mother to orchestrate like I’m a piece of property.”

He pressed his body against me in the exact same way Augie had a few days earlier.

When Augie had done it, even though he was angry at me for breaking into his house, I’d never felt scared.

Just turned on.

When Riddick did it, I couldn’t breathe. His weight crushed my lungs and forced me to turn my head to one side and gasp for breath.

When I reached for the knife at my thigh, he grabbed my wrist sharply. “You are property, Ophelia. My pretty little piece of ass to do what I want with. You understand me?”

I couldn’t move, my entire body pinned down with his. I couldn’t get any air to make a sound.

“Do as I tell you and nod your head. Tell me you agree with me.”

I nodded because I was going to pass out if I didn’t.

He stepped back, not bothering to catch me when my knees buckled and hit the kitchen linoleum. Pain radiated up through them as he walked away toward the door.

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