Page 10 of A Ryan Recollection

“It’s not. I just want to be able to make you mad sometimes, is all.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “Well consider that goal accomplished, sweetheart.”

Before I can respond, the sound of Ella crying fills his office. The baby monitors are wired to every room in the house.

“I’ll go,” he says, lifting me from his lap. He presses a soft kiss against my temple before walking out of his office and making me regret initiating that entire conversation.

* * *

Closingthe door to the nursery, I turn around to creep down the hallway toward the den, only to come face to face with Shane. I’ve hardly seen him since our little chat yesterday afternoon and I was starting to worry I might have offended him. The look on his face tells me I probably did.

He stands with his hands in the pockets of his suit pants. He wears a crisp white shirt, open at the collar. The tattoo of my name at the base of his neck is partially visible and it makes me smile despite the way he’s glaring at me.

“Come with me, Hacker,” he barks and I flinch at his tone.

Hacker?He hasn’t called me that for a long time. It was his pet name for me when he used to pretend that he didn’t like me.

“Where are we going?” I whisper as I look behind him, wondering if any of his brothers are in on whatever this is.

“You’ll see,” he snaps and then he turns and heads toward the elevator.

“What about the twins?” I ask as I fall into step behind him.

“You think I’d leave our babies up here alone?” he snarls without even looking at me.

“No, I just wondered if anyone else was joining us?”

“They’re not.”

He presses the button to call the private elevator to our apartment and we wait in silence. I glance sideways at him but he remains staring straight ahead — his jaw set and the vein in his neck bulging.

Oh, fuck me! I have really ticked him off.

We take the elevator to the basement without speaking and I resist the urge to ask where we’re going again. I’m barefoot so I guess we’re not leaving the building and my suspicion is confirmed when Shane walks toward one of the small concrete, windowless rooms down here. He walks inside and I follow him. Up until now, I’d been mostly curious about his plans, but at the sight of this room, my heart stars to beat wildly in my chest.

He closes the door behind us and the steel bangs against the frame, sending a shudder down my spine.

“You remember this place?” he growls.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Of course I do. It’s the place where you called me a whore…” I wait for a response from him. I know how guilty he feels about that, but the expression on his face doesn’t change at all. His jaw is clenched tightly shut as he glares at me with such intensity that my skin burns with heat. “And then you hate fucked me against that wall.” I nod to the far side of the room as the memory of that day makes wet heat sear between my thighs. He was the king of assholes back then, but the way he took what he wanted from me was so freaking hot.

“Angry fucked,” he corrects me.

“Oh yes, of course. You didn’t hate me at all, did you? You just pretended to,” I purr as I take a step toward him.

He stands still. His hands stuffed into his trouser pockets stretching the expensive material taut over his muscular thighs. God, he makes me want to lick him from head to toe.

I lick my lips instead, waiting in breathless anticipation, but then he moves so fast I gasp for breath. He pounces on me, wrapping one of his huge hands around my neck as he pushes me back against the wall.

I swallow hard, my throat constricting in his grip as his green eyes burn into mine. He presses his body against me until I feel his hard cock against my abdomen. I groan shamelessly as heat floods my body and my legs tremble in anticipation.

“I have never hated you, Hacker,” he whispers before he runs his nose from the base of my neck, along the column of my throat, inhaling deeply before he goes on. “Even when you drove me crazy, even when you left me and my brothers after promising that you never would, even when you ripped out my fucking heart with your bare hands, I never hated you.”

“Shane, don’t,” I breathe as tears prick at my eyes. I hate being reminded of how much I hurt them.

He tightens his grip on my throat slightly and presses me closer to the wall until I’m struggling for breath. “I might play nice with you now that you’re my wife and the mother of my children, Hacker,” he snarls, his face so full of anger that it sends a shiver of fear skittering along my spine. “But make no mistake that I am the same man I always was. If you ever leave me again… if you ever betray me, I would think nothing of keeping you here in this room for the rest of your life. Do you understand me?”

I blink at him and he squeezes tighter. “Do you?” he barks.

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