Page 18 of His to Unwrap
“You shouldn’t want me,” he insists. “Fuck, Noelle, you don’t even know me.”
“Whose fault is that?” I shoot back. “You’re the one who’s always putting distance between us. Who’s always shutting me down when I try to talk to you.”
“I’m fucking protecting you!” he bursts out.
“From what?”
“From me!”
Silence falls between us as we stand there, staring at each other, both breathing heavily, both tense and angry.
“Why do you think I need to be protected from you?” I finally manage to get out.
He shakes his head, frustrated. “I’m not right for you. I’m a grumpy, moody, inconsiderate asshole.”
“You’ve always been considerate of me,” I argue. “You’ve always treated me well. Better than any other Dom at this club.” He snarls at that—literally bares his teeth at me, and I let out a bitter laugh. “Look at you! You can’t even stand to hear me talk about any other Dom. So why won’t you just admit that you want me?”
“Of course I want you,” he snaps, and my heart swells with hope. He crushes it immediately. “But that doesn’t change anything. Nothing is happening between us. Not tonight. Not ever.”
My stomach drops at his words, at the look on his face. He’s always been stoic, sometimes even cold, but I’ve never seen him look as shut-down and unmovable as he does right now. He’s not going to change his mind. I can see it in his face. For whatever reason, he thinks we shouldn’t be together. And there’s nothing I can do about it.
Rejection crashes through me, making my knees feel unsteady and my eyes sting with tears. I refuse to cry though, not in front of him.
“Fine,” I say, running a shaking hand up to smooth my hair, trying to regain some composure before I leave this room. “Fine. I’ll see you around, Roman.”
I’ve barely taken two steps toward the door before his hand is on my arm, stopping me. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
“I’m leaving.”
His hand tightens. “Like hell you are.”
I refuse to look up at him, even though he’s only inches away from me now, close enough to feel the heat radiating off hisbody. What I wouldn’t give to feel all that heat, all his strength, wrapped around me in his arms.
“You said yourself,” I say, trying to keep my voice even. “Nothing is going to happen between us.” I finally give in to the pull to look up and meet his eyes. Their blue depths are darker than I’ve ever seen them. “So I’m going to go find someone else.”
His head jerks back, like I struck him, but I refuse to drop my gaze, refuse to back down.
“No.” His voice is low and demanding, a clear Dominant’s order to obey him.
But he doesn’t have that power over me. Oh, I’d give it to him. All he has to do is ask, and I’d promise to follow his every command. But he doesn’t want that from me. He might not want anyone else to touch me, but he also doesn’t want to be my Dom.
“It’s not up to you,” I say.
His grip on my arm tightens and he brings his face closer to mine. “Fuck that. I won you tonight, remember? Your time is mine.”
I laugh—actually laugh, even in the midst of all this anger and hurt. “First of all, you didn’t win me. You weren’t playing the game, Roman.” He opens his mouth to argue but I barge on. “And secondly, you just said you aren’t going to touch me. That means you forfeited your time with me tonight.” I shake his hand off. “So I’m going to go find someone who won’t push me away.”
There’s a beat of silence and my breath catches a little at the anger I see building in his eyes. He’s been pissed off the whole night but right now, his control seems to be hanging on by a thread.
“You aren’t leaving this room.” His big body crowds me, pushing me back toward the door, caging me in when my back touches the wood behind me. “I will fucking tie you to that bed before I let you go to some other bastard.”
I glare at him. “That’s exactly what I want, you idiot! Tie me to the bed! Cuff my hands! Spank me for disobeying you. Just fucking do something! Give me what I need.” When he doesn’t move, I groan in frustration. “Or let me leave and find someone else who will.”
I can see the exact moment he decides, the moment the dam seems to break and his control goes out the window. There’s a flash in his wild blue eyes and then, suddenly, I’m in the air again, this time pressed close to the front of his body as he takes the few steps back to the bed.
“You think you’re in charge?” he asks as he drops me on the mattress, already reaching for the straps hidden under the pillows. He works quickly, securing each of my wrists to the headboard. “You think you get to threaten me, make me jealous, and I’ll just do whatever you want?”
Part of me wants to point out that he basicallyisdoing exactly what I asked for, but I’m enjoying this way too much to rock the boat. He’s so unbelievably beautiful to me in this moment, exerting his control, putting me in my place. There’s so much barely restrained strength in his body that I know I couldn’t fight back against him, even if I wanted to.
