Page 88 of The Protector
He asked his question again but a little differently. “You want her to like me?”
My chest rose in a deep intake of air. “I guess so.”
The edges around his eyes softened and he caressed my cheek with his fingers. “You’re falling for me.”
“No, I’m not,” I defended myself.
With a small grin Boulder placed a kiss on my forehead before he turned me around and smacked my butt. “Then find me something to wear that will make you proud.”
Stunned by the itching pain of his palm on my behind, I took a few steps before I found my voice. “Did you just hit me?”
A chuckle came from behind. “No, love, I smacked you lightly.”
Confusion filled my mind. Boulder had clearly hit me on my behind. It was a known fact that domestic violence had been an issue of the past, and I would have sworn that if any man ever laid his hand on me, I would report him instantly.
While I stood flabbergasted trying to reconcile his use of the word “love” with his act of brutality, Boulder snaked his arms around me from behind. “I’m flattered that you want Pearl to like me,” he whispered by my ear.
“Youhitme,” I said again, unable to get past that offensive behavior.
“Only a coward would truly hit a woman, Christina. I just smacked your butt playfully because my hands are drawn to that amazing ass of yours.” He nibbled on my earlobe while letting his large hands knead my buttocks in greedy movements. “I could just undress you and bite into your creamy skin, it’s that delicious.”
“First you hit me, and now you want tobiteme,” I said and tried to push him off me.
“Did it hurt… or did it excite you?” he teased in that deep voice of his.
Oh, no– the warm moist feeling between my thighs had returned and I was mortified. At the University, I had taken part in discussions about the enlightenment of modern society and argued that women had evolved from the days when we would allow men to dominate us. I had even argued that women from the past had suffered from general low self-esteem, and that would explain why they had allowed men to oppress them with sexual violence.
Boulder had hit me and now he was biting my earlobe while squeezing my breasts. This could be classified as sexual violence, couldn’t it? So why wasn’t my body reacting to it with disgust? I should be repelled, but instead my body was humming with a fire that made no sense.
I’m sick!Closing my eyes, I let the shame roll over me and then I did something desperate to salvage my pride and restore balance between us. I bit him back.I’m not as evolved as I thought I was, but at least I can dominate him back.
Boulder reacted very differently from what I had expected. He made a low sound in the back of his throat and fisted his hands into my hair, pushing my head back and meeting my eyes full on. “You wanna play rough?” he asked excitedly.
“No, I…” I blinked a few times and didn’t have much time to react before he’d picked me up and carried me to the bed with a grin. “Bite me again,” he said encouragingly and followed me down to kiss me deeply, sucking on my lower lip.
“I’m not a violent person,” I said, disturbed by his suggestion.
With mischief pouring from him, he tickled me until I laughed. “Come on, beautiful, fight me.”
“I’m not going to fight you,” I got out in between his tickling attacks.
“If you can get on top of me, I’ll shave my beard off,” he tempted me, and it instantly made me stare at him.
“You will?”
“Uh-huh,” he said with a grin. “But you have to fight for it.”
Adrenaline was pumping through my body and with an intoxicating feeling I let loose a side of me that I had never explored. I bucked him off me with determination. He got up on his knees and lifted his hands to grab my shoulders. Amusement flared in his eyes when I rudely pushed at him to get him down on his back. He was too big and strong for that and didn’t budge.
“You gotta use more than your hands,” he challenged. “Use your whole body if you want to succeed.”
Narrowing my eyes, I got up, standing with my hands on my hips looking down on him. With me standing and him on his knees, he still reached my chin.
“So what are you gonna do?” he asked.
I had no plan and acted from instinct when I jumped him and pushed at him, placing my hands on his shoulders and using my entire body weight to get him down on his back. He laughed and the minute we hit the bed he rolled me under him. “So close.” He grinned from ear to ear. “Now what are you gonna do?”
With a small cry of battle, I bit his earlobe. It was hard but without drawing blood.
