Page 73 of Mad As Hell

“Hysterical,” she snapped, her focus narrowing on Ryan. “Are you really this dense?”

“Are you?” Ryan let out a low chuckle while his fingertips played with the ends of my hair. “Because from where I’m sitting, you’re the one who fucked with my fiancée yet again.”

She glared at him and popped her hip, planting a hand on it. “You should be thanking me for trying to save you.”

“Save me?” Ryan’s fingers slid to the hair at the base of my neck and tightened. He turned my head toward his, his eyes searching mine. “Think I need to be saved from you, babe?”

I swallowed my confusion and played the part, starting with a smile that slowly spread across my lips. “Maybe? I mean, we both know who the boss is in our relationship.”

His fingers flexed, jerking my head back. The small yelp that escaped my mouth was entirely natural. As was the hot rush that shot through me. Ryan’s gaze simmered as he watched me react to him.

He knew my body too freaking well.

Holding my gaze, his fingers relaxed and went from clenching to stroking my hair like I was his favorite pet. Which, to these people, I might as well have been. He had just proven who was the alpha in this relationship.

My teeth snagged on my bottom lip, scraping across it as Ryan watched, and his eyes darkened. With a soft groan, he pulled me to him and kissed me. The bruising force of our kiss scorched my nerve endings and fried my brain.

I gasped, and his tongue swept into my mouth. He dominated the kiss, and I could feel myself softening and surrendering because I wanted this. I needed this.

The fact that we were doing this for Brylee’s benefit and in a room full of people completely fled my mind as I kissed him back. My tongue stroked against his, and I sank into his kiss as my hand lifted to cradle his jaw.

The rough kiss softened, his lips turning gentle as he moved them across mine. He licked into my mouth, sipping and taking while giving.

“Get a fucking room,” Brylee snarled, breaking the magic of the moment.

I jerked back, but when I turned my head, I couldn’t help shooting her a smug smile.

“We have a room,” Ryan reminded her. “Trust me—we use it often.”

“She slept with Dean!” Brylee practically shrieked.

Ryan gave an indifferent shrug. “Last year. Things change.”

I glanced down at my half-eaten salad and then back up at the girl melting down in front of me. “Do you want this, Bry?”

Startled, her lip curled up. “Why would I want your fucking salad?”

I lifted my shoulder insolently. “You seem to like going after what I’ve already had. I was just trying to make it easier.”

Linc’s loud laughter spurred the rest of the room to join him. Someone whisper-yelled, “Burn!” and Brylee’s face turned crimson.

“You stupid slut,” she seethed, taking a step toward me like she would vault over the table to wrap her fingers around my throat.

“And now you’re done,” Ryan said with a grim smile. He snapped his fingers. Literally snapped his fingers, and people left their tables to collect the kiddie furniture and take it away.

“Here are your choices,” he went on in a cold voice as he held up one finger. “You can leave and figure out where the fuck you’re eating the rest of the year, because it sure as shit isn’t in here if you can’t stop insulting Maddie.”

Brylee went still as she seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation.

Ryan ticked up a second finger. “Option two, apologize to Maddie and beg forgiveness. Then you can sit on the floor like the bitch you are and eat. Maybe one day, if you behave, we’ll give your table back.” His gaze drifted over her shoulder. “That goes for your friends, too.”

She stepped back, her face pale. “You can’t be serious. Do you know who my father is?”

“The coke-addicted CEO of a company in multiple violations of the S.E.C. who’s too busy screwing his eighteen-year-old mistress to come home to your mom every night? Or to see that his partner’s embezzled millions over the past five years?” Ryan’s grin was evil. “I’m well fucking aware. The question is, are the feds?”

Holy shit.

“You better pray your daddy gets caught up on his bills before someone comes to repo that shit nose job you got over the summer,” Court added with a dark chuckle.

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