Page 43 of Monsters Wear Crowns
“Am I yours or not?” I interrupted. My heart pounded as I stared up at him, refusing to back down. “Because if I am, that means you’re mine, too. And I can request things like this from you.”
There was a long beat of silence while he mulled it over. I couldn’t help but admire his tattoos again.God, he was a wild, terrifying and beautiful thing.
Then he smiled, like I’d just beaten him at a friendly game. “You really are impossible,” he murmured, brushing his thumb across my jaw.
“And you still want me,” I whispered with a flirty smile.
“I do,” he agreed.
He didn’t leave. He sighed, slipping back into the sheets and pulling me in with him.
Once he settled and I cozied up, the words left my mouth. “Where did you learn to be like this?”
His arm tightened around my waist, his lips brushing my shoulder. “Like what?”
“Cold. Volatile. Yet in control. You’re unlike any man I’ve ever dealt with. And that’s saying something, considering the men I tend to work with would terrify the average person.”
He was quiet for so long that I didn’t think he’d answer. But then–
“My father wasn’t like yours,” he said softly. “He wasn’t powerful. Not at first.”
I turned my head toward him, waiting.
“He built his empire from nothing. Brick by bloody brick. And I watched him do it.” His voice dipped lower. “I watched him take what he wanted, no matter the cost. And I learned the same lesson–that power doesn’t come from wealth. It comes from fear. From control.”
It should have scared me, hearing that. But it didn’t.
Maybe because I understood.
“My father believed in control, too,” I whispered. “But for him, it wasn’t about fear. It was about ruthlessness. Strength. Intelligence. He taught me that if I wanted to survive in this world, I had to be harder than the men around me. I know how to wield a gun and a blade, and possess a tongue sharper than and more explosive than both.”
Rafe’s fingers traced slow circles against my hip. “And have you?”
“Survived?”
“Become harder than them.”
I turned toward him, meeting those dark, terrifying eyes. At times, they resembled the ocean’s depths. Others, ice. “You tell me.”
He smiled, but there was no softness in it. Only fire. “You’re the most dangerous woman I’ve ever met.” His mouth found minein a kiss that was all teeth and heat. “Because you’remine,” he whispered against my lips.
As he kissed me, a kind of awareness came over me. The man could be rough and borderline hurt me, but he could also be gentle. And beneath the quiet, there was something else simmering. Something neither of us seemed willing to name just yet. But I felt it. And I wondered if he did, too. It was an undeniable chemistry that said we’d like each other even if it weren’t for business. I actually liked him. I found him fascinating and sexy. I was eager to get to know his other sides, too.
When I pulled away, I laid my head on his chest, feeling the slow, steady rhythm of his heart. His fingers traced lazy circles on my bare shoulder, but I could feel the tension still coiled in him. Even now, evenhere, Rafe Vaughan was still on guard.
I wanted to know why.
“What’s your biggest fear?” I asked softly.
The circles stopped. His hand went still. “You think that’s the kind of question men like me like to answer?”
“I think it’s the kind of question youshouldanswer,” I said, lifting my head to look at him. “If you want me to trust you.”
His eyes flicked to mine. “Trust is a risky thing to give.”
“And yet you’re asking me for it through business. And my body.”
A long beat of silence passed. He studied me, that sharp, assessing gaze trying to strip me down and to see what I was really asking. I didn’t look away. Most would cave underneath it. It was intense in a way that made you feel he was dissecting everything you were.
