Page 32 of Dark OZ

“What happens now is I go to my room and try to pretend I didn’t just get saddled with brat-sitting duty. While you try to pretend you’re not actually here.”

“What about this?” I asked, letting the silicone tubing dangle between my fingers.

“Oh, that, Princess, is how I know you won’t go wandering around the compound getting into things you have no business being in.”

“You can’t just leave me chained to the wall.”

“You’re hardly chained to a wall.” His eyes rolled in annoyance until they snagged on exposed areas of my upper thigh.

“I know that. I just spent three daysactuallychained to a wall, you pretentious dick. Haveyouever been chained to a wall?”

“Yes.” He rolled his shoulders back, tightening the seams of his partially unbuttoned dress shirt, exposing the hint of a tattoo along his collar line. Danny noticed me looking, a slow smile spreading with recognition. For some reason acknowledging the fact that I had looked at him with anything other than disdain made me want to start burning things.

“Right, I don’t mean whatever kinky shit you’re into. I mean, against your will? I doubt you’ve ever had your hand forced. You’ve never knelt at the feet of someone you despised and pretended you liked the view.” Even though I saw the blood reddening his cheeks with barely restrained anger, some sadistic part of me couldn’t stop. So, I added, “Right,Dandelion?” The word curled around my tongue in the most salacious kind of way, sparking a deviant thrill within me.

“Crowe, that motherfucker,” he hissed under his breath.

The hard angle of his jaw became more pronounced, his lip curling into a sneer. Danny prowled towards me, bracing one arm on either side of the loveseat until he’d caged me in, all of the space being consumed by his broad form. The prick wanted his growly display of aggression to make me shrink. The surrounding air seemed to disappear the longer he waited for me to cower in fear.

My back screamed in protest, but I didn’t care. I confidently opened myself to him, freely giving him access to do whatever he seemed to be implying with zero fear. It took a lot more than this to scare me. “Do your worst, Dandy.Because when you’re done,I will do mine.”

Danny hesitated, his sweeping eyes the only movement. I ran my foot up the inside of his supporting leg, hooking it behind his ass and pressing my shin into everything that counted. I gave a tug for emphasis. He jerked forward with a grunt, the displaced weight forcing his hand to brace the wall beside my head. He landed with a hard impact that rattled my entire body. With a quickly recovered smile, his weight pressed firmly against me, refusing to give up an inch of the gained territory.

A low growl came from the back of Danny’s throat, and his lips hovered barely an inch from mine. The thick smell of the scotch on his breath mingled with other richer scents, all of them masculine and spicy. It conjured images of dark nights and twisted sheets.

“Princess, you wouldn’t be able to withstand my best, much less my worst. You think threatening me will make me want to play with you less? If you’re not careful, you might become my new favorite toy.” He nudged at my bruised cheek with his nose until his mouth was resting against the tender surface. “I don’t scare you. I see it in the stubborn line of those pretty lips, in your smoldering eyes, and the even beat of your pulse. But precious, when it comes to me, chains and whips should be the least of your concerns.”

With a smooth movement, he snatched my arm, pinning it to the headrest with his supporting hand and exposing my entire left side. His breath fanned hot over my neck, forcing goosebumps to run everywhere it touched.

Danny’s hand swept up the length of my side, dragging the hem of my shirt up with it. Most of my torso was still padded by the bandage, making the patches of exposed skin that much more vulnerable. His hand lingered a fraction longer on the outer swell of my breast, his thumb teasing the edge of my nipple.

Despite the instinct to jolt at the swipe of his hand, I held my breath and refused to give him the satisfaction of my reactions. Even if the soft brush of his fingertips was enough to send my heart fluttering. He slowly rotated my arm so that my palm was facing up. His fingers, once pressing hard at my wrist, began to smooth back and forth over my pulse.

One long stroke of his hand. That was all it had taken to transform my aggression. Now, I was vibrating with desire. As much as I wanted to curse myself for falling so easily into his grasp, Danny’s hands on my skin held a kind of danger that a girl could get addicted to. I pulled at my restrained wrists. When they didn’t move, a corresponding heat thrummed through me.

Danny knocked my legs open and pressed forward until I was riding the soft linen covering his thigh. On impact, my entire body arched into him. Wounded back be damned.

“How about now?” Danny’s voice lowered an octave, the gravelly timber rumbling against my chest. “Do you still want my worst?” The hard, even pressure between my thighs increased.

“I don’t know what I want,” I said honestly, my brain short-circuiting under the feel of his leg slowly rocking against me.

“Pity.” He swallowed hard, lips ghosting over my own. I ached to make contact with them, to lose myself in the viciousness of his kiss. “I can tell you whatIwant.”

“Tell me.”

Danny’s hand smoothed from my wrist towards the crook of my elbow, inch by sensitive inch. I closed my eyes, trying not to whimper as he ground harder against my core.

Hot painsliced along my arm, my heightened arousal making the pain more acute and morphing my moan into a shriek.

Danny sprang up, pushing off the back of the chair. In his hand hung the IV line, the bloody needle swinging back and forth. He dropped it and the shriveled bag into the trash can, tossing me a gauze pad that Nick had left behind.

I quickly put it to the line of blood trickling down my arm.

“What I want is to pretend your bratty ass isn’t here. I don’t care what you do, so long it doesn’t involve me.” His eyes traced down my body, lingering on the visibly soaked fabric of the boxers. He smirked. “That was even easier than I thought it would be. Good to know.”

My fury reared its head. God damn my libido for overriding my apparently lacking common sense. “You’re a real prick.”

“I’ve been told. There’s tape for the gauze, if it doesn’t stop bleeding on its own. I’ll order us pizza in a little bit. Try not to get in trouble.”

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