Page 21 of Conflicted Fate
“And if he tries to kill us for being spies?”
“Then we do things your way.”
“Okay,” I said after a moment, my face buried in the covers, muffling my voice. “But there’s still a problem.”
“There is? What did I miss?”
“Your hands have stopped moving.”
Kiel snorted loudly and started massaging again, moving up to the middle of my back. I rolled over smoothly as he did, leaving his hands firmly on my breasts. He tried to pull away, but my fingers clamped around his wrists, holding them firm as I stared up at him with my best inviting stare.
Our eyes locked, and I went for his neck, intending to pull him down on top of me, but he easily resisted, brushing my touch aside.
“I don’t get it,” I said as he stood up straight. “You just gave me a full body massage. Your hands wereverytouchy on my ass and sliding between my legs. You enjoyed it; I enjoyed it. Why not continue? There’s no way itwasn’tto put me in the mood.”
I knew I wanted to. The warmth between my legs was on the verge of flaring up into a full-born inferno. All that was missing was the spark that would ignite it and the rest of my body.
“Jada,” Kiel said, crestfallen. “I-I’m sorry. But I can’t. I can’t be that person to you. I wasn’t thinking. I’m an idiot. I was just trying to distract you from your desire to escape.”
“You certainly did. And now, I can think of another way to continue that.”
I was throwing myself at him.
“I should have come up with a better way. I can’t let you do this to yourself.” He shook his head and turned to move away.
My hand shot out, snatching his wrist.
Chapter Twelve
“Excuse me?”I asked frostily.
The fire was awakened in me, but it was no lustful throb between my legs. It was a surge of fury and flame that ripped through my entire body, dragging me awake and to my feet as soon as I processed what he’d said.
He said something, but I didn’t hear it over the roar in my ears. He casually broke my grip on his wrist and turned to leave me alone.
“Kiel,” I said sharply enough to make him freeze.
“My name is—”
“I know damn well what your name is. I also know who you were born as. You told me that. I listened. I came to a decision. Do you understand me?”
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
I was in his face in an instant, my finger stabbing hard into his sternum. “I am my own woman,Kiel. Do you doubt that for an instant? Do you think I’m someone’s puppet? That I can’t think for myself?”
“Of course not,” he said a bit brusquely, his hackles rising as I came at him. “I know you’re strong and smart.”
“Then howdare youpresume to make decisions for me!” I roared in his face, all my anger at his self-inflicted guilt finally exploding.
Deep down in a corner of my mind, the irony of it was not lost on me. I just chose to ignore it at the time.
“Jada, I—”
“You’re not backing away because you don’t likethis,” I said, waving a hand at my body. “You’re not saying no because you don’t likeme.” That time, I pointed at my face, meaning my mind.
“Of course not.”
“Which means,” I continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “that, as you said, you’re trying to decide for me. You don’t want me to ‘do this to myself.’ As if I’m blind and unable to think about what it means. Did you ever stop to consider that maybe, just maybe, I care about you enough to be willing to put up with it all?”
