Page 127 of Sweetheart: Part One

She jumped violently as I appeared, curled up on the floor of a tiny supply room.

Safe.

She was fucking safe.

I hadn’t noticed how tense I truly was until every muscle in my body uncoiled at once. And at the same time, I was met by my own rage.

Was she trying to set me off?

Thiswasn’t the place to be fucking around.

Before she could do a thing, I stepped into the closet and shut the door. I barely fit, though that was the idea. I was going to make a fucking point.

She hadn’t had the chance to get to her feet, and the closet was so cramped that she’d have a hard time attempting it now.

“What are youdoing?” she demanded, though there wasn’t the usual fire in her voice as she managed to drag herself to her knees.

Every furious word doing pinwheels in my mind came to a screeching halt. Blood rushed to my cock, wiping my mind blank at the sight of her like that. She paused as her irritated gaze met mine, and I realised my lips were parted. She shifted back, clearly trying to find another way to stand, but…Shit. I reached out on instinct, fisting her hair and holding her in place as I gazed down at her.

“One moment, Sweetheart.” The words were out before I could even stop them. “I’m keeping this mental image.”

It was the fucking truth, too, and if that wasn’t the most insane instinct I’d ever had, I didn’t know what was. I’d never met a woman who was so irresistible. There was no shortage of beautiful women around me, but any honest attraction I felt toward them was a red flag. I held them further away for that.

Yet with Vex, I just wanted to grab her and draw her close. As angry as I’d been at Dean, I had enjoyed the way she had shrunk into my arms before the cameras, needing me.

Her eyes flashed and she let out a snarl of rage. Fuck if that didn’t turn me on more.

“Are you fucking joking?” she spat. Next thing, she was unceremoniously grabbing fistfuls of my jeans to haul herself to her feet, and still only managed it at an angle. She reached for the doorknob but I caught her, shoving her back against the wall.

She tried to launch herself out of my grip, but I pinned her wrists above her head and secured them with one hand.

“We’re going to talk,” I hissed. Her eyes were wide, darting between mine. Once again, she was less afraid than she should be.

“Oh, that’s why you’ve shoved in here? To fuckingtalk?” she spat.

Well… Thathadbeen the plan.

“You can’t run off in places like this,” I snarled, forcing the thoughts to words before I forgot them entirely. “It might look glamorous, but it isn’t safe.”

“I wasn’t running off!” she hissed.

“Not what it looked like to me.”

“You set all of this up on purpose just to freak me out, and now you’re cornering me in a closet because itworked?”

I paused, leaning back slightly as I took that in. Was that possibly why she’d been in here?

But who panicked and then climbed into a fucking closet?

“I didn’t set it up,” I said slowly.

“You… didn’t?”

“No. He blindsided me.” I grimaced at that, still furious.

She tried to wriggle free of my grip, eyes still hateful. “I played your stupid game, alright, let me go.”

“You want a prize?”

---