Page 26 of Tales You Win (Grim & Beast Duet 1)

“That hurt?”

“Not in the slightest,” she lies.

“I don’t think they’re broken, but I will clean and wrap them up, that should help when we go to the shooting range.”

“I’m not going,” she says stubbornly.

“You’re going,” I reply just as stubbornly.

“What’s the matter, scared you’re going to get fired if I refuse to go with you?” she asks, as I grasp her elbow and walk her over to the small medical room just off the gym.

“Sit down.”

“Oh my God, you are, aren’t you?” she laughs. “The great Beast is really a fucking pussy.”

“Sit the fuck down, Princess!” I growl, losing my fucking patience as I gather up some cotton wool pads, iodine solution and a bandage to wrap her knuckles once I’ve cleaned them up.

She’s on a downward spiral tonight, and whilst I get where she’s coming from, understanding she feels trapped by her father and resenting the fact that she can’t let loose like any other person her age can, there’s a line she’s crossing with me right now and I’m not fucking cool with it.

“Orwhat?” she counters, picking a fight, clearly needing to take her frustrations out on someone, and that someone happens to be me.

“Or nothing. I’ll leave you to fix yourself up and wait outside. Then I’ll drive you to the shooting range just like Carter asked me to do.”

“You didn’t do what Carter wanted you to do the other night though, did you? Pretty sure he’d have something to say about you slow dancing with me.”

“Listen, Princess,” I snap, striding towards her so quickly that she stumbles back, her arse dropping to the gurney. “If you think for one second I’m going to stand here and listen to this bullshit, you can think again. You’re angry at Carter, I get it, but don’t take your shit with him out on me. I’m just doing my fucking job!”

She snorts with derision. “Like you were doing your job the other night?”

“We’ve gone over this already. It won’t happen again.”

We stare at each other, a series of mingled breaths and heavy breathing as I stand between her parted legs, my hands flat on the gurney beside her hips as she leans away from me. I hadn’t even realised I’d gotten so close, and right now I can’t seem to back the fuck up either.

“Why not?” she asks eventually, and her voice is so quiet, so tinged with disappointment that I can’t help being affected by it.

Fuck, I want to pull her in my arms and reassure her that one dayI’llbe the man who will treat her the way she deserves to be treated and not talked down to or ridiculed like her dad has been doing lately, but I don’t, because what’s worse than hope… False hope. So, instead I give her the truth.

“I can’t get involved with my boss’s daughter.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Both.”

“So you’ve thought about it?”

“What gave you that impression? I overstepped once,” I counter evenly. If she thinks she can get me to admit I’m attracted to her, she can think again. “Now give me your damn hands.”

“I’m pretty sure this is overstepping,” she murmurs, shifting forward an inch as I move closer.

“Nope, this is me taking care of you,” I reply, pressing my hips against the edge of the gurney so that I can keep my bastard dick in check.

“Exactly. This isn’t part of your job description.”

“I’m your bodyguard—”

“Babysitter,” she interrupts.

“Bodyguard,” I insist, trying not to pay attention to the way her inner thighs rub against my legs as she shifts on the gurney, but failing spectacularly. “And it’s my job to keep you safe, to take care of you.”

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