Page 84 of Bad Cowboy, Tennessee

All mine?

I felt like it was some gold star or badge of honor. And then I hated myself for feeling that way at all.

“Is that why you’ve been so concerned with my e-stalkers since the moment you met me?” I asked. “You want me to be your little pet? Your plaything?”

He hummed. “Well, when you say it likethat, Max, you make it sound hot.”

I rolled my eyes. “You know what I meant.”

“I’m concerned with your stalkers because I know how desperate people can get when they’re lonely,” he said. “I knowhow depraved some people’s minds actually are. I know what they’ll do, when they’re seeking attention. And I don’t want you to get hurt just because you’re too empathetic to realize when a person is dangerous?—”

“You think I’mtoo empathetic?Just call me a naive, small-town dummy already, because I know that’s what you’re really thinking.”

He came forward again a little, straddling me just below my groin. When he moved forward, my cock landed up against the front of his sweatpants, and now it was lying there, gently resting at the top of his thigh.

“I think a lot of things about you, but I promise, I’ve never thought you were dumb.”

I pressed the matter. “Why do you give a shit, then? Am I a project, to you? A way to make up for shitty things you did in your past? Am I just repentance?”

His gaze went cold. “Stop.”

“Go find your ex-girlfriend’s brother and make sure he’s safe, so that you stop feeling like a criminal? A villain?”

“You sure you want to be saying these things?”

“Pretty damn sure,” I said.

The look he was giving me could have cut through stone. “I was stuck in a small town. I was single again. You were there, and you were hot. So hot it kind of pissed me off. Pretty simple math, Max.”

“Trying to butter me up?”

He clicked his tongue. “Nope. It just would have been a lot easier for me to bealonerather than doing this.”

“Great. Now you’re just insulting me.”

“I said it would beeasier, notbetter.”

I sighed, letting myself relax back onto the bed again, staring up at the ceiling. When I looked at Draven, it was like rationalthought left my brain, and all that remained was either fury or lust.

Right now, looking at the ceiling was easier.

“You don’t even know me,” I murmured.

“I know a lot about you. I know you liked it when I opened the doors toward the backyard a few minutes ago, because you like being turned on when there’sanyhint of exposure to the outside world.”

His hand landed on my bare cock, and he gripped around my base, sending a wave of heat through me.

“Know me so well,” I said, attempting sarcasm but knowing that he had been 100% correct, too.

“I know you have a good heart. That you care about every last person in this town. That you’re an incredible mixologist. That you like that you’re becoming a little bit online-famous, even though you won’t admit it. And that you really want to come.”

He squeezed tight around my shaft, slowly stroking it.

Regaining control.

Like he always did.

I kept my eyes trained on the ceiling, looking at the exposed wooden beams.

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