Page 29 of The Vigilant

I stepped to the side as she threw her arm, but it was a fake. She threw her arm only so she could drive her shoulder into my gut.

My grunt was a mingle of surprise and pain as I fell back on the mat, Sutton’s shoulder pinning me down.

“I think you underestimated me,” she purred next to my ear with the soft tenor of victory, and then she was scrambling up to escape.

“I don’t think so.” I grabbed her wrist and pulled it over my head, making her fall flat on top of me.

“Let me go.” Her free fist connected with my side. Fuck. I launched my full weight and rolled us over so I was on top of her.For being so small, she didn’t even grimace under the whole of my weight.

Our eyes connected, heat sparking like a match against the tinderbox.

“Tell me what’s going on with you.”

“It’s none of your fucking business.”

I growled. “It is now.”

And she went wild. Bucking. Thrashing. Cursing. It felt like I was trying to control an exploding grenade with nothing more than the cover of my body.

My jaw locked, feeling every lithe muscle and soft curve of her small body as it pressed and arched against me. Even the metal studs through her nipples, I felt them indenting my chest. Vaguely, I wondered if she similarly could feel the bars piercing my cock as she tried to wriggle free from my hold.

“I’m not your enemy, Sutton.”

And then her anger flamed back to life. “No, you’re nobody to me. A stranger,” she spat. “Just because you were friends with my father doesn’t mean you know me—doesn’t mean you have a right to know me.”

She bared her pearly white teeth and slid her arm between us and began to press against my neck, forcing me back. “Go waste your hero complex on someone else.”

I felt the veins in my neck start to throb, blood pumping against the blockade. She was a good fighter. Even better in close combat like this, especially for someone her size. Right now, my strength didn’t matter because she had leverage, and that didn’t leave me much of a choice.

“Maybe I enjoy wasting it on you.”

Gasping in a breath, I rolled us again so she was on top, but because of where she’d positioned her arm, when we rolled, she went from facing me to laying on me with her back to my chest.

But now I had both her hands, and I locked her ankles with mine.

“Fuck,” Sutton swore low, knowing she was beat.

She struggled to move. Scrambled to get leverage. But she was nothing more than a fish out of water with her head and tail pinned in place.

I was in full control of everything except the way my dick turned to stone against her ass that wiggled and rocked along my length.

“What were you doing last night? Why did you go after Kang?” I demanded next to her ear, trying to ignore the faint scent of citrus on her skin.

“It’s none of your business.” She lifted her head, and I caught the movement before her skull dropped back. I turned my head just in time, so she managed to only headbutt my collarbone.

I swore because it still hurt like a bitch.

“Enough, Sutton.” Growling, I easily encircled both her wrists with one hand and wrapped my other arm over her front and clasped my palm over her throat.

I held her tight enough so she knew I meant business, but not so tight that she couldn’t still easily breathe.

“You’re my fucking business now,” I rumbled, her head now tipped back onto my shoulder, our faces separated only by the small diameter of her arm that I held above her head. “Mine,” I heard myself repeat for a reason I couldn’t explain.

Only then did she finally still. Like she’d never been fought for before. The heartbreaking thought was like a wrecking ball to my chest.

“Tell me what happened. Let me help you.”

“He asks with his hand around my neck,” she mocked.

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