Page 47 of Under Control

“I don’t usually drink hard liquor,” she admitted.

He raised his glass to her. “Yeah, well, I’ve been doing a lot of things I shouldn’t do.” And he took another swig of the booze, shaking his head.

She watched him, wondering who the man was behind the steel armor. She desperately wanted to know, and the whimsical part of her brain started filling in the blanks with wild stories.

Finally, Carrick cut into her thoughts. “Does Andriy even know you? The real you?”

She shook her head slowly. “No. Not at all”

“Did he threaten you…to stay untouched?” he followed up, anger in his voice.

“No, that’s not why,” she responded shyly, playing with the sand in front of her. Andriy had nothing to do with her virgin status.

“Then why?”

She shrugged, not sure how to answer. It was deeply personal.

“I think you know why,” Carrick challenged, shooting her a knowing look. “I’m guessing that you don’t trust anyone, let alonemen. And that’s why you’ve never given yourself to any man.”

She looked up to him, her lips parting, realizing that he easily saw through her—and he was completely right.

“I wish I could read you like that.” She sniffed, exasperated.

He leaned back, replying, “I’m a lot older than you. I’ve got more years under my belt, and I’ve seen a lot of things.”

“How old are you?” she asked, curious as hell.

“Too old.” He took his drink again. “Sometimes, Dani… Sometimes, I just feel like saying fuckeverything. Sometimes I hate all the rules in life.”

With those last words, he turned to her and licked his bottom lip as he looked her up and down. Butterflies fluttered uncontrollably in her stomach.

“But it’s never that easy, is it?” he said, his face darkening.

“This doesn’t need to get any messier,” she found her defensive self blurting out, continuing to push back.

“I agree,” he said, knocking his drink back and leaning forward so that his arms draped around his muscled legs. “Let’s just do what we aresupposedto do, all right?”

Deep disappointment ricocheted in her stomach. His eyes grew intense as he looked at her. The words hit her hard and the aluminum cup shook in her hands. She sipped on her drink, not knowing what else to do.

Then he stood and took a step. For some dumb reason, she stood as well. But the effect was poorly thought out. Turning around, he looked down on her where she stood. There was a lot of something in his eyes.

And Danica unfortunately was too taken by him to listen to the smart part of her brain screaming at her to stop.

“I think—” she said quickly, not even sure what to say next.

All she knew was that she desperately wanted him to kiss her.

But he wasn’t going to.

Finally, in his detached and cold tone, he said, “It’s time for the next phase of your training—learning how to fight. Show me your stance.”

And with that, he pushed them right into a long session of fight training. She learned how to punch, kick and protect herself. He taught her self-defense moves and how to break free from holds. Danica kept her head down, obeying his every command and enjoying every time he touched her, reached his thick arms around her to hold her or held her hands up to show her how to throw a punch. He remained serious and focused, unbending.

Danica did everything she could to mimic the tone, though she had grown to feel very different about her time with him.

Hours later, Danica shivered as she sat near Carrick in the sand, watching the waves crash over each other underneath the night sky. The day had gone by too fast…way too fast. And now it was dark.

“Should we start a fire?” Danica prompted, rubbing her hands over her bare legs, which were even more golden from the day. “Surely that would be some sort of survival skill.”

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