Page 56 of Property of Prime
She hesitated.That was my first clue.
“You can tell me anything,” I said.“No matter what.”
Her breath caught, and then it all spilled out of her in one sharp exhale.“Why is this so easy?”
I blinked.“What?”
She threw her hands up a little.“This.You and me.It makes no sense.You literally showed up to my work, told me a crazy guy was trying to kill me, and now I’m sitting on your couch watching a movie with you.This is not normal.This is not how any relationship I’ve ever been in has gone before.”
My eyebrows went up.“Relationship?”
She rolled her eyes.“Even that, you questioning me saying ‘relationship,’ wasn’t weird or awkward.That’s my point.”
She pressed a hand to her forehead.“All the guys I’ve been this close to before have hurt me one way or another.Whether it was with their words, by cheating on me, or…” Her voice trailed off.
My jaw locked.“Or what?”I growled, already knowing and already pissed.
She’d told me pieces before.Small glimpses of the asshole who’d thrown the word ‘relationship’ in the dirt.
“Hit me,” she whispered.
A fire lit in my chest so fast it stole my breath.I closed my eyes and tried to smother the rage clawing its way up my spine.
I felt her fingers, gentle and warm on my cheek, as she pressed her thumb to the bridge of my nose.
“I don’t like when you look so mean,” she whispered.
I opened my eyes and looked at her.“Yeah, well.That might have something to do with the asshole who thought he could lay his hands on you.”
She gave me a small, heartbreaking smile.“That asshole is gone.You don’t have to be mad at him anymore.”
“Oh, you may have left him,” I said darkly, “but I can still kill him.”
“Prime,” she laughed softly.“You’re not killing… him.”
“Tell me his name.”
She shook her head.“Nope.If I do that, you’re going to figure out who he is and get yourself into a whole lot of trouble.”
“I never get caught, babe.”
A shiver ran straight through her body.I felt it.All of it.
She swallowed.“I think we should talk about something else.”
Her fingers trailed along my cheek again, slower this time, like she knew exactly what she was doing.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.“You keep touching me,” I warned, my voice dropping, “and we’re gonna do a whole hell of a lot more than just talk.”
She should’ve pulled away.She should’ve tucked herself further into the couch.She should’ve been scared after everything she told me.
She wasn’t.
She did the opposite.
Shay slid closer and pressed herself fully against me, her chest brushing mine and her thigh sliding over my leg.
And that was it.My control snapped clean in half.
