Page 4 of Possession

We had so few of those moments. In truth, we’d had none in an actual bed since this had begun.

And they’d intruded not only on the intimacy of that, but they’d damaged her home.Myhome. They’d put at risk something—someone—far more valuable than glass and brick and shingles, and I still didn’t know what to do with my fury. I needed an outlet.

She was too convenient.

“I have staff who can see to cleaning up the place. You’re not the hired help, Grace. What would your grandmother think of you living like this? Squatting in the maid’s quarters like a common?—”

“Common what, exactly?” She whirled on me and jabbed a finger in my chest, something she was exceedingly fond of doing. “Common servant? Or common whore? I certainly traded sex for favors, didn’t I? We both know if I hadn’t been your lover, I’d be staring at the inside of a jail cell tonight.”

“Stop it.” Roughly, I gripped her upper arms. She grimaced and I released her to shove a hand through my hair. “You honestly think I would’ve brought you up on charges if I’d learned you were living here? Do you think I have no compassion at all?”

“I don’t know, Blake.” Her usage of my name was soft and intentional. It only came out when we were naked together, or just before or after. Now our bodies were long cool from each other, and she hadn’t returned to calling mesiror avoiding a personal address at all. “There’s a lot I don’t know about you.”

“Same.”

“The difference is I hid things out of self-preservation. You did not.”

“You know that, how, exactly?”

She threw back her head and laughed, the sound harsh in the stillness of the night. “The almighty Blake Carson doesn’t need to worry about that. Your very fine ass is protected at all times. You have enough money to insulate yourself until the cows come home. And that’s even assuming there’s anything you give a damn about in the first place.”

“I care,” I said, letting the words hang there between us until she spun away and clomped on her bunny slippers halfway up the drive.

I followed. It wasn’t chasing after her, if we were simply headed in the same direction.

At least that sounded good in my head.

“You can’t stay here tonight. I won’t allow it.”

“Ah, there it is. The impervious king of the world tone. I knew it would make a reappearance soon.” She stopped and swiped at the hair hanging in her face. She still looked tousled from our lovemaking, and the sight both aroused and infuriated me more.

Those officers had seen her like this. Those goddamn robbers had been feet away from her. She wasn’t meant for their eyes, not in this state. Not when my hands were tingling with the need to touch her again and my arms ached with the need to hold her tight and keep her protected.

“You think I’m stupid? I knew telling you would mean you’d boot me out the door. I also knew only a fool would sleep with you again, but I couldn’t stand to hide the truth any longer. My eyes were wide open about what would happen afterward, unless by some miracle you grew a heart.” Her eyes glittered and her jaw clenched as I moved closer. “I figured if I was going to be homeless again, I might as well get another orgasm out of the deal.”

I had a heart, though hearing she thought I didn’t stung. But that wasn’t what I latched onto from her comment. “Two,” I said automatically.

She blinked. “What?”

“Two orgasms.” While she processed that, I stepped forward and brushed her hair out of her face. I trailed my fingers along the curve of her cheek and down to the angle of her jaw, helpless against my urgency to keep my hands on her at all times. Especially now. What had occurred earlier had been too close. Too dangerous. If she’d let me, I’d put her under lock and key somewhere, far from all of this.

Whywas a better question. One I wouldn’t even try to answer. Not tonight.

She made a sound of derision. “You wish, Carson. More like one and a half.”

It made me smile when I didn’t think I was capable of it. Hell, I’d have said the muscles of my face had frozen into a perpetual snarl the moment we’d heard those bastards creeping around in the darkness outside Grace’s studio. But she’d always been a miracle worker, even when she was a young girl with braids and hands that shook as she demonstrated the glass work techniques that were as elemental to her as breathing.

Maybe more so.

“Then I’m in your debt.” I brushed a kiss over her temple and absorbed the tremor that went through her and passed through me. “I always pay what I owe, Ms. Copeland.”

“And you also don’t play fair.”

“No. Because I’m not playing.” I tipped up her chin and smoothed my thumb over the little indent I doubted she was even aware of. She was unaffected by her beauty, and I was in awe of every bit of it. Not just the external, but the beauty of the inner strength she displayed time and again. “You won’t stay here tonight,” I said again, softly now. Cajoling. Using the tools in my arsenal to get what I wanted.

Though the aims and methods might change, at heart I was a competitor. And I always won one way or another.

“I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

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