Page 72 of Mariposa
“Really? If you say so.”
“I do fucking say so.” His deep voice vibrates through his chest. “Maybe I assigned you to North Carolina because I know what it’s like to lose the only family you thought you had left. Did it not occur to you that maybe I pulled some strings because of your grandmother?”
Finally, he turns to me while I try to process his outburst.
“If the only family I had left were slipping away, I’d like to think you’d want to be closer to her. It’s not Greenville, but it’s the closest damn army post to that hospital you visit.”
My throat tightens. He did this so I could spend more time with my grandmother. He remembered that conversation in the shower.
He doesn’t miss a thing, does he?
“Pull over,” he growls.
I swerve slightly but regain my composure on the steering wheel.
I turn to make sure I’m not hearing things, and sure enough, the devil next to me is looking straight at me with a familiar scorching gaze. His pupils expand, and the blue flecks in his eyes glow.
What? He’s going to take this from me, too?
“I’m more than fucking capable of driving the Humvee, O’Connell,” I spit back as I continue to drive. My heart thumps faster. Blood rushes to my ears, and I tighten my hand on the wheel.
“Pull. Over. Now!” he snarls in the same authoritative tone he used to scream at me during training.
He’s pissed, but why?
“No! You don’t get to order me around! Not anymore!”
“Stubborn woman.” Suddenly, his big, black-gloved hands roll on top of mine, and he forces me to pull into the parking lot with the rest of the military vehicles. I press on the brakes just as he unhooks his seatbelt.
“What’s his name?” He glares at the ring on my finger.
Shit. I forgot to take it off.
I shake my head. Does he really not know? It shouldn’t surprise me. Why would Adam start opening up to him now?
Don’t say anything.
“It’s none of your business.”
“Do I know him?”
“Why do you care? I’m a regret, remember?”
Darkness looms over both of us like a shadow. His aura has completely changed into something possessive.
“You want to pretend that I’m nothing to you?” With his voice deepening, he says it brokenheartedly. That’s when I realize there are dark half-moons under his eyes. Has he not been sleeping?
“You want to act like you didn’t enjoy my knife being held to your throat, that that night didn’t turn you on, that you’re not dripping wet for me right now, Mariposa?”
That night had been everything. He had unlocked something inside of me I never knew existed. A sense of need and desperation drives a tightening in my core when he reminds me of how he left his imprint on me that night.
“You want to pretend that you’ve forgotten just exactly how I ruined you for any other man?”
My clit throbs as his eyes narrow with joy.
“Let me remind you,” he dares.
“Kade…” I warn. “Don’t touch me if you’re going to run away from me and call me a regret the next day. Don’t touch me if you’re not ready to be a man and claim me like you mean it.”
