Page 2 of All Tied Up
“You didn’t give me a chance to tell you,” I pointed out.
He’d walked in, uninvited, after all, then continued to talk.
His entire body was now tense, and the displeased look on his face made it clear he wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t feel bad about this. We’d only met this weekend, and there had been zero sparks. I hadn’t planned on seeing him again.
“Go to the bedroom.” Ransom’s words verged on sounding like a command.
I narrowed my eyes as I met his gaze. “Excuse me?”
The corner of his very talented mouth quirked, as if he wastrying not to smile at my reaction to his order. He had really good lips. No, he had excellent lips. My thoughts began to drift back to the things he’d done with them earlier.
“The bedroom, Shakespeare. Take your sweet ass back to it.”
Oh, right! He was telling me what to do. My eyes lifted back to his.
“I’m fine right here, thank you,” I clipped—or tried to. My voice wavered a little.
He walked past both of us and went to the refrigerator. I watched him silently as he took out a bottle of water, opened it, and took a long drink while his eyes locked on me again.
“Is this a one-night-stand thing? Some pickup at a bar?” Thurston asked, and I was reminded again that he was still here.
Right. I had to fix that.
Shaking my head, I sighed and tore my gaze off Ransom to look at the other man. “No. We’re, uh, old friends.”
What else did I call him? This was all awkward.
“Then what is—”
“You can go,” Ransom replied in a bored tone, cutting off whatever Thurston was about to say.
“Ransom,” I scolded him. There was no reason to be rude.
He cocked one eyebrow at me, as if waiting for me to explain myself. I blew out a frustrated breath, then turned my attention back to Thurston, who appeared to be ready for a fight. He should probably be very careful what he said to Ransom. Although I couldn’t imagine Ransom doing anything to him, there was that Mafia thing, and I really wasn’t positive what it all meant. He had an artillery in his truck alone, and I’d noticed the gun he took off last night and placed on my nightstand. He hadn’t tried to hide it.
“You’ve got five seconds to get in your bedroom before I haul you in there myself.” The threat in Ransom’s voice sent a shiver through me that meant I must be whacked in the head.
“Let me walk Thurston to the door,” I said tightly, cutting my eyes at Ransom.
“No.” His short reply sounded final.
His domineering attitude had been a turn-on when we were in the bedroom, but right now, I was getting angry.
“I don’t recall asking for permission,” I replied, straightening my shoulders and lifting my chin a little higher as I stared him down.
“It sounds as if you might be the one who needs to leave,” Thurston said.
Dread pooled in my stomach.Bad idea, dude. Really bad idea.
Ransom set his bottle of water down on the counter slowly as his eyes turned cold. His complete focus was now on Thurston. The temperature in the room felt as if it had literally dropped twenty degrees instantly. The sound of my heart racing became a thunder in my ears, and I knew I had to do something to get Thurston out of here.
The deep chuckle that came from Ransom’s chest wasn’t one that sounded amused at all. A tremor of fear ran through me, and I was frozen.
“Is that what it sounds like?” he asked Thurston in a calculating tone.
The need to wrap my arms over my chest in some form of protection was hard to ignore, but I did. I had to cool him off. The violent glint in his eyes didn’t match his smirk. I hoped Thurston read this correctly and ran like hell.
“I, uh … well, yes, it does. You’re being rude, and you’re a guest here.” Thurston’s voice gave away his uneasiness. He’d read the danger, but he apparently wasn’t smart enough to flee from it.
