Page 37 of Tamed

Her pretty green eyes flared, the flush in her skin deepening, giving her away. “I don’t. Don’t be so fucking stupid, Caleb.”

But I locked my gaze with hers and took another step so that we were mere inches apart. “Really? Tell me you’re not desperate to follow my orders. That if I told you to go down on your knees right now, you wouldn’t do it.”

“No!” She didn’t move. Not an inch. “No, I fucking wouldn’t.”

“No?” I took another step, getting even closer, the tips of her breasts almost brushing my chest, and I heard her indrawn breath. “The way you didn’t like kneeling at my feet the day you spilled coffee in my office?”

A tide of rose crept down her throat, moving under the neckline of her dress, and this time I was very deliberate about where I looked. I allowed my gaze to drift down over the curves of those perfect breasts, where the fabric molded to her, giving me a very clear view of her hardening nipples.

She took another breath. “No. Absolutely not.”

“You’re a liar, little girl.” I lifted my gaze back to hers again and then I took another step, calling her bluff. “That’s the reason you’ve been a bitch to me for the past couple of weeks, isn’t it?”

She couldn’t go forward since I was right in front of her. All she could do was take a helpless, half-step back, which was exactly what she did. “N-no….”

“Yes, it is.” I took another step and again she stepped back. “You want me, Isabel. You want my attention. That’s what this little escapade of yours tonight was all about, wasn’t it?”

She was breathing very fast, all determination and defiance. And she held my gaze, but I knew it was only by the skin of her teeth. “Stop it,” she said shakily. “I don’t. You’re the liar, not me.”

“Don’t think I haven’t seen the way you look at me,” I went on relentlessly, walking her backwards. “You’re hungry for me, it’s obvious. But you don’t know how to handle it, do you? And you don’t know how to handle me.”

“Yes, I do. I just keep calling you out like the asshole you are.”

“Really? But that’s not going to get you what you want, is it?” I forced her steadily across the room. “If you want my attention, little girl, you don’t need your claws. You only have to ask for it.”

She stopped then, and I could see the moment she decided to dig in and stand her ground. “And if I did?” That insolent chin of hers came up. “What would you do?”

The air around us crackled. I could smell her now, the sweet, rose scent of her perfume. She’d been wearing it ever since she came back from college, and I liked it. It reminded me of a summer garden. But now there was a delicate, musky edge to it.

This is a mistake.

Maybe. But ignoring her crush hadn’t helped.

“Why?” I said. “You think you’d be able to handle it?”

Her eyes darkened. “I can handle anything you throw at me.”

No, she couldn’t. She was Ten’s daughter. She was only twenty-three, and I was over forty. I’d done everything there was to do and I had no boundaries. My moral compass was severely fucked and my tastes complex.

I liked my own way, and I made sure I got it, and there was no way this pretty little virgin would be able to handle anything about me.

And she needed to understand that.

“Then get on your knees.” I stared right into those dark green eyes of hers. “Do it, little girl. Show me you can deal.”

She hesitated only a moment, because of course she wanted to prove me wrong. She always had. She was a brat through and through, and what she really wanted, even though she probably wasn’t aware of it herself, was for someone to take her in hand.

And that’s you?

Something shifted inside me, a decision being made. A line being crossed.

Her crush on me was going to undermine any efforts I took to keep her safe, so maybe it was time to bring that out in the open. Give her a taste of what she wanted, confront her with the reality. Once she knew she couldn’t handle it she’d back off, because Isabel might have been many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them.

And Ten? It’shisdaughter you’re talking about. Ω

Yeah, but Ten was busy downstairs rescuing a virgin and what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. If it kept Isabel out of the Hamiltons hands then fuck, it would be worth crossing a few lines for.

She went down gracefully, and she kept her gaze on mine the whole way. Even when her knees hit the carpet she didn’t look away.

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