Page 117 of Stolen Hearts

“I’ll fucking deal withyouin a second.”

Before I can say another word, he’s storming past me and yanking Stavros off the ground. The younger man cries out as Castle slams a fist into his nose, spraying blood everywhere. He hits him again, and again, and then slams him against the wall for good measure and lets him slide down to the ground.

“Iwas taught,” Castle snarls, yanking Stavros back up by the collar, “that when a lady says no, or stop,it means fucking no and fucking stop, you little fuck.”

I gasp as he leans in and head-butts Stavros in the nose, making the younger man scream in pain.

“And that’s enough for me to think you need some manners beaten into you as it is,” Castle rasps, punching Stavros in the stomach, hard, and doubling him over. “But you see, Stavros,” he hisses, leaning down so that he’s growling right into Stavros’s ear. “The thing is, the woman you just put your fucking hands on is my fuckingwife!”

The way he roars it is just….

Yikes.

Hot. It’s fuckinghot. Like this caveman, primordial, evolutionary response that instantly triggers something deep inside of me.

It’s like there’s two Callie’s trapped in my body. The first is the girl who rolls her eyes at overly macho guys and would never in a million years feelanything—except maybe contempt—if a guy were to talk about me like I was his possession.

But then, there’s the other Callie who’s been hanging around more and more these days. The Callie who comes apart at the seams whenever this man even walks into a room, andcraveshis possessive touch and his dominant control. The Callie who remembers him kissing her like shedidbelong to him, or cutting her panties off with a fucking knife. Or wrapping her hair in a fist and fucking her hard and deep, like he was making sure not a single inch of her body or psyche could ever forget his power over her.

And it’s that second Callie that rises up inside me when Castle roars that I’m his wife.

That I’mhis.

Castle ignores Stavros’s pleas for mercy, making the younger man cry out as he drives his fist into his face once, twice, three times more, before finally letting him fall to the ground in a bloodied heap.

Castle whirls on me with a savagery that sucks the air from my lungs and sends fire through my veins. And when he storms over and cups my jaw possessively, lifting my wide eyes to his fierce ones, it’s all I can do not to moan.

“Let’s get one fucking thing straight,” Castle snaps, yanking me hard to his body. “You. Are. MINE.”

My core quivers.

“Nothis,” he rasps. “Not any other man’s. And the next one who touches you as if that is not an iron-clad, irrefutablefactwill not be getting back up again. Ever. Is that clear?”

All I can do is nod as heat pools between my thighs and my nipples harden to two pink pebbles under my dress.

“Answer me, baby girl,” he growls thickly.

“Yes,” I blurt breathlessly, shivering as I nod. “It’s clear.”

His eyes flash blue fire as he nods.

“Get in the fucking car.”

28

CALLIE

The streetlights flickerover his sharp features, glinting off his blue, flinty eyes and casting dark shadows in the hollow of his cheekbones.

My heart is still racing as he drives through the city at a speed just this side of reckless. I turn and watch him, my eyes tracing over his clenched jaw and the way his hands grip the steering wheel like iron, his forearms tense and bulging.

My pulse might still be hammering, and my breath still coming fast and shallow, but I’m not spiraling anymore. I’m not begging him to drive me home as fast as he can so I can pop an Ativan to stop the screaming in my head.

And that’s all Castle, who I’m realizing more and more just has this effect on me. It’s not necessarily that hecalmsme, because the last thing I feel around him is “calm”. But he takes away the crushing anxiety. He makes the white noise shut up.

With Castle, I feel safe enough to let go and breathe.

“You’re fucking trouble, baby girl,” he growls tersely.

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