Page 78 of Unwrapping Deviance

She’s pissed.

I saw that same fire in her eyes right before she smacked me the other night. Whatever hurt she had over my careless stupidity is now a solid wall keeping me out.

I like a challenge. I excel at them.

It should concern me, I should take it as defeat, but her fight fuels me. Her resistance, her attempts to deny the things I do to her only feeds me. It makes her submission all the fucking sweeter.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I have every intention of groveling. Of falling to my knees before her ... with her legs over my shoulders and my tongue writing my penance between her folds, but she’ll be the one begging God. Now that Daniel has given her to me, now that she’s fucking mine, I’m going to spend as long as she’ll give me erasing this from her pretty head.

My cock is hard and confined beneath my jeans. I want to reach down and adjust it but Mabel takes that moment to stalk over with two steaming plates. They’re dropped a little too hard on the table and shoved in front of Mira and Daniel.

“Anything else?” she grumbles.

“Your breakfast special, please,” I announce. “Sunny side up, whole wheat toast and extra crispy bacon.”

Her round eyes narrow at me like I personally insulted her shoes. “Found your appetite?”

I ignore the jab, sliding my gaze sideways to Mira. “Something like that.”

Mira only glares back even as her cheeks darken.

Mabel huffs off, but veers away from the pickup counter to a nearby table of church women. She pulls out a chair and drops into it. I guess I’m not getting my food anytime soon.

That’s fine.

I toy with my mug of barely warm coffee while I wait. Mira isn’t touching her plate at all but sipping idly on her orange juice and watching the cars flowing in and out of the parking lot with that adorable chin propped on the heel of her hand.

There’s a deep crease between her delicate eyebrows and a hard set to her full lips that screams of her displeasure.

“Mi?” Daniel touches her thigh lightly, pulling her attention to him, but the frown doesn’t lift.

Her gaze shifts from him to something over his shoulder but it’s too quick for me to follow. Whatever it is, it only deepens her annoyance.

“I’m fine.” But she doesn’t sound fine.

Daniel seems to agree with me when his eyes narrow. “Is something wrong with your—?”

“Can you excuse me?” she blurts.

Daniel blinks, but slides out of his seat to let her out. He doesn’t regain it, but watches as I do as Mira pads over to where Mabel is still chatting with a group of women I vaguely recognize, but can’t care enough to remember, or care when I’m riveted by the flicker of surprise on Mabel’s face when Mira steps right in her face.

“Oh shit,” I breathe, body bracing to lunge at a moment’s notice.

Daniel stands as tense as I feel watching Mabel register the confrontation. We can’t hear what Mira is saying, but the finger she jabs in our direction followed by the second finger waving at the kitchen, my guess is she also noticed Mabel not putting myorder in, but unlike me, she had a whole different set of thoughts on the issue.

The table Mabel was chatting with hasn’t moved. Unlike us, they’re right near the action and whatever Mira is saying in her soft murmur has them clutching their metaphorical pearls.

“That is not—” Mabel’s irate exclamation is silenced by the stride Mira takes for her, like she’s ready to swing.

“Shit!” Daniel hisses and bolts to grab the feisty brat.

I stand when the three men in the corner look like they’re about to get up. Truthfully, I doubt they’d do much. Each one is tipping seventy, but I’ll knock grandpa out if he goes near Mira or Daniel.

Gunner comes out of the kitchen, massive frame draped in a white apron he’s wringing his pitcher mitts in. His dark eyes swing over all the standing bodies and stops on where Daniel has Mira firmly around the middle.

“What’s going on?”

“She threatened me!” Mabel squeals. “We all heard it.”

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