Page 74 of Bound to a Monster

“Fight me, little fencer. Don’t make me come over there and force you.”

A slight smile on her face. “You’d like that.”

“You would too.”

She comes at me then, and she lets me score a couple of touches.

I tell her to quit going easy, and she kicks my ass after that.

Chapter 30

Carmie

“Ihave rules,” I say as I dump my suitcase on the bed.

He scowls at the mess. “You’re not really in a position to make demands.”

“Actually, you’re the one that wants this, not me.” I start gathering my stuff. “I’ll just head back to my room then.”

“Stop.” His jaw ticks with frustration.

“Are you ready to listen?” I try not to smirk in his face. I very much like having power over him, even though it’s clearly pissing him off.

“Just tell me.”

“If you snore, I’m out of here. If you fail to put the seat down, you get one reminder, and then I’m out of here. If you complain about my piles?—”

“Piles?” His eyebrows raise.

“Mypiles.” He’ll understand what that means soon enough. My organizational skills are somewhat lacking. Things tend togather in neat little mounds. Usually on the floor. “I’m already regretting this.”

He comes over to me. I try to dodge away, but he catches my wrist and pulls me into him. “I don’t care. Make demands. All I want is my pregnant wife sleeping in my bed where I can make sure she’s all right.”

I shiver at his touch. We’re both still sweaty from training in the basement. I’ve been giving him some pointers, and he’s actually picking it up pretty fast.

“Why are you so obsessed with this?” I ask softly. I lean into his chest and breathe in his smell.

He tilts my chin up toward him. “I told you what my father used to do to me.”

I nod a little. I can’t imagine what that must have been like. He was basically a pincushion for his family. It’s no wonder he’s got a darkness inside of him. From a young age, he was taught that his life had no value.

That’s not how I see him though.

“I think when you told me about the baby, I realized it was an opportunity. Instead of treating someone like they’re disposable, I can treat them like they matter. Likeyoumatter, and like our baby matters.”

“You want to do better than your father did. I get that.”

“It’s more than doing better. I want to fill a hole. I want to fix the wrongs he committed. I’ll be twice as good. I’ll be the best there is.” His voice takes on an edge, and I’m a little worried about the pressure he’s putting on himself.

But if I’m honest, I like how much he cares.

“Why don’t we just start with this?” I touch his chest with my fingers and tilt my chin toward him. “We’ve done a lot of fencing and, uh, other stuff. Maybe we can focus on, you know, normal things. Like getting to know each other.”

“You want to know my favorite movies?”

“Favorite movies, TV shows, music, I don’t know, all that stuff. I guess I just want to know the man I’m going to sleep in bed with.”

“Ask me whatever you want.”

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