Page 63 of Brutal Ice

“No, sweetheart, I mean it. All times. It’s small enough that you can even have it on you when you’re on the stage. I need to know that you have a weapon with you at every moment.”

The weight of the knife was light in her grip. She hit the small button on the side, and the blade vanished. He was right. The weapon was small enough that she could keep it with her. It would be easy enough to hide.

She pushed the button again. The blade sprang out.

“You’ve never used a knife on anyone, have you?” he asked.

Definitely not. But something about his voice…She peered up at him. “You have.”

Royal shrugged.

He has. Violet pulled in a deep breath. “I’ll willingly tell you every secret that I have. In return, I want to hear yours.” Not like she could hack her way into his life. Not exactly her skill set.

“No, you don’t want to hear them.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You must be tired. Adrenaline crash will hit soon. You can take your pick of the two guest rooms. My bedroom is the first room when you get off the stairs. I’ll?—”

“Have you ever killed someone, Royal?”

His hand froze. His eyes glittered.

And she took that as a yes. Her hold tightened on the knife.

“You don’t want to play this game with me,” he growled.

“I wasn’t playing a game.”

“Twenty questions.”

No, she hadn’t been?—

“You’ll find out things you don’t like. Wouldn’t it be better for you to just go on thinking I’m the guy who saved you? I like it when you think of me that way. Better for you not to see all my dark places.”

The weapon felt cool in her grip. “We all have dark places inside ourselves. Some of us just do a better job of hiding them than others.” But maybe there had been enough secrets revealed for one day. And maybe it was the wine she’d greedily gulped or the whole near-death experience, but her knees didn’t seem quite steady. Her body kept wanting to tremble, and perhaps she should walk away.

While she could.

Besides, it wasn’t like he was desperately grabbing for her and saying that he just couldn’t live without her for another moment.

Are we going to talk about what happened in the dressing room? She still couldn’t quite believe she’d done that. With him. But need had pierced through her. Her emotions and longings had raged out of control. And…

And we didn’t finish what we started.

But he was making no move to turn things physical. So she walked away. Her steps were silent as she headed for the door.

“I’m not going to be able to let go.”

So low and rumbling that she almost didn’t understand his words.

“I’m trying to stay away. Trying to warn you that I am not what you need.”

Oh, was that what he was doing? What a waste of energy. “I can be the judge of what I need.” She threw a glance over her shoulder. “And of what I want.”

His lips parted.

“You don’t have to protect me from myself,” she added.

“I’m not. I’m just trying to protect you from me.” Stark. “Until you, I never would have said I was possessive. Not fucking territorial in the least. But when I look at you, I want to own you, Violet. The fact that you haven’t been with another man makes me feel damn near savage. I want to take you and claim you and never, ever let go.” An inhale. “I did the right thing when we first met. You thought I was a hero.”

“Uh, you were.” Just as he’d been her hero on the stage.

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