Page 65 of Ring Me

“Are you kidding?” I laughed in honest surprise. “I wasn't trying to make you jealous!”

“Oh, come on.” He faced me, arms held out, hands moving as he emphasized his words. I didn't like how close he was getting. Or how my phone was sitting on the couch out of reach. “Maybe you can fool others, but not me. I know you, you'd never marry a guy you only met a month ago.”

My eyes flew open. “No, Conner and I have been dating for way longer, I just didn't tell anyone until he proposed.”

“Bullshit,” he snorted. “I was there the night you met him at that shitty hotel.”

Tension increased around my ribs to the point I thought they'd start to crack. The only way he could know about the hotel was... “Oh my god. The night I lost my ID. You found it and brought it to my office. Were you stalking me, Ben?”

“No!” He actually looked insulted. “I saw you leaving your work. Truth be told, I meant to ask you out for dinner, but you were in such a hurry to leave. I know you're a workaholic, it was strange to see you rushing off somewhere. Made me curious, so I followed.”

“That'sstalking!”

Ben shook his head sadly. “Whatever. I was trying to find an excuse to bump into you so I could bring up the stuff your mom was going through. She'd told me about it at the grocery store, just spilled her guts out of the blue. She doesn't know why we broke up, does she?”

Angry, humiliated heat rushed like a river under my skin. “You didn't tell her, did you?”

“Give me some credit. But the more she went on about the money from her father, the more I thought I'd been hasty. Must be a lot of money in his estate to make her so panicked.”

Another wave of unease settled in my belly. “You took her suggestion to marry me seriously?”

“I thought you'd be ecstatic when I strolled into your office. You can't deny you have feelings for me, Maya. Plus, we'd all benefit from that inheritance.”

My hackles were up. I judged the distance between him and my front door. “You have the wrong idea about all of this. My mom is getting her money. No one has to do anything, that includes me. Please, just go home, Ben.”

He wasn't listening. “I saw your license fall out of your pocket when you paid for your taxi cab. For a brief moment, I actually imagined walking into that bar and handing it over like a hero. It would have been so romantic. Then we'd get a drink and have some fun makeup sex.” Ben's frown yanked low at the corners. “Thenheshowed up. That big fucking brute. I knew you were into weird shit, Maya, but hiring some Khal Drogo stand in just to get railed, that's—”

“Shut up!” I growled. “God, you have no right to tell me who I can or can't see. You broke up with me, Ben! We were done months ago, and we still are.”

“We don't have to be.” There was an oily slickness in his voice as he backed me against my kitchen counter. “That night on your birthday, I said awful things. Iwasfreaked out by what you wanted me to do. But I judged you too quick. I also judged myself just as fast.”

My eyes darted side to side. I was blocked in.

He said, “When I picked up your phone, I saw the messages on your screen. The one you'd sent about your panties... how he should keep them... and I got hard. I gotexcited.”

“Ben, stop, this isn't what I want to hear.”

“You denied me lunch that day but that was for the best, I was so turned on I had to go straight home. I couldn't focus! I remembered you and that school girl outfit, I jerked myself off while imagining that night with you... if I'd done what you wanted instead of breaking us up.” His tongue slid over his lips as my heart beat faster. “I googled BDSM. I can give you what you want. Let me show you.”

“Get away from me!”

He chuckled darkly. “Playing tough. I know all about that. You say no, but you mean yes.”

“No, Ben, I meanno!”I slammed my palms against his chest hard enough that he stumbled back. His eyes widened, then ever so slowly, he began to sneer.

All the muscles in my thighs bunched; I bolted to the left, his hands caught in my hair, making me shriek. “Bad girl, I'll have to punish you.” He pressed his body against mine, his erection rock hard through his pants on my belly. I was nauseous, gasping for air. “You want it nasty, hm? You want me to make you scream, well fine. You've got it, Maya. I'll prove I'm the man for you.”

There was only one man for me.

Conner's face gave me strength—I braced myself, then jammed my knee forward. Ben coughed; I'd missed his groin by an inch, but his grip on my hair vanished, giving me the chance to push him away. “Don't touch me, you bastard!” I yelled. “I wasn't playing hard to get! I want you gone from my life for good!”

He loomed over me. How could he not understand what I was saying? Why was there nothing in his face but feral lust?No, more than that,I realized with horror. I'd never seen such pure loathing.

“You want me to leave you alone?” he growled, advancing on me, blocking me from the door. “I'm here, exposing myself to you, and you have the balls to reject me? You don't get to do that, Maya. Not after messing me up. I can't get the dirty images out of myhead.I want to make you scream... beg... I want to see your tears on your cheeks. I love that idea. I loveyou.”

“That's not love,” I said. With no where to go, I kept backing up into my kitchen. “You have no idea what it's like to love someone.”

“You bitch,” he laughed. “You think it's okay to fuck with my mind then walk away? I'm sick like you, now.”

---