Page 99 of Wanted By a King

I sigh, sitting back on my haunches, my hands dropping to my lap.

“You don’t understand at all.” I shake my head, watching her face contort with frustration. “You’ll never be leaving for Harvard, Zoe. Like I said, this is your life now. You need to stop thinking about Harvard, because you won’t be going. Ever.”

Zoe’s face pales, her mouth parting on words that don’t come, her blue eyes looking right at me, yet through me like she is somewhere else.

“Rocco thinks you’re the one behind the videos. He thinks you’re trying to fuck with my head.” I grip her calf this time, giving it a squeeze to gain her attention again. “Are you trying to mind-fuck me Zoe? Because if you are, be prepared, I’ll mind-fuck you right back. We can either spend our years until our dying days in one big mind-fuck, or you can accept your new fate, and who knows, you might actually be happy.”

Zoe resembles a fish out of water as she opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, before she manages to speak.

“Never? I can never leave?” she whispers, and I know that she finally gets it.

“Never.” I agree.

Then, her fist slams into my nose.

Grayson

“Youreallyknowhowto sweep a girl off her feet!” Zoe yells at me, her teeth bared as she stands from the sofa to tower over me this time.

“What the hell was that for?” I growl, cupping my nose even as the ache in my shoulder flares up from using my left arm to stop my fall.

I feel a warm trail of fluid ooze from one nostril as I look up at Zoe’s wild eyes. Fuck, is my nose bleeding?

“You may think you own me for whatever fucked up reason to do with my dad, Grayson, but if you think for one minute that I’m going to sit back and accept this bullshit you’re dishing out, then you are sorely mistaken.” She looms over me like she has the upper hand, all cocky.

I could knock her off her feet so fucking easily right now. But I won’t.

No.

She needs more than the words I’m trying to tell her. The words I can’t quite figure out how to fucking say. And the words she somehow keeps not taking seriously. I don’t know how many times I’ve told her that she’s not going to Harvard. That she’s not leaving, yet she continues to not hear me.

But I will show her. She can punch me all she likes. I’ll take it. I’ll take whatever she wants to give me. Eventually she’ll see.

Right?

“Never for a minute did I think you would sit back and accept your new reality, Princess. That’s not who you are.” Shifting my hand away from my nose, I see the smudge of crimson and a grin tugs at my lips.

Fuck.

Shedidmake me bleed.

“Is that blood?” Zoe asks, her tone curious as I nod, glancing up at her. “Did I do that?” she whispers this time, and I nod again, watching her blue gaze hone in on my upper lip where I know I smudged the blood from my nose.

Surprising me, she lowers to squat over my lap, her gaze never leaving my nose.

“It’s so bright,” she whispers, reaching up to press a finger just under my nose.

I fight the urge to flinch at the slight sting left behind from her lucky punch, instead focusing on how close she is to me. The way she lowers herself to sit on my lap. How her eyes look almost fascinated at the sight of my blood. At the way I can feel her heart against my chest, racing as her tits press closer.

Slowly, Zoe drags her finger across my upper lip, toward my dimple, her head tilting as she watches the action.

She’s smearing my blood, I realize, her interest peaked as she draws her hand back and glances at the crimson on her finger. For a moment, I think she’s going to put it in her mouth. I don’t know why I think that.

Maybe it’s the way her tongue darts out, wetting her full pink lips. Or perhaps the way she draws it closer, like she’s trying to restrain herself.

Whatever it is, it has me hard as fucking stone, and I can’t hide the rumble in my chest as I try to fight the urge simply to take her.

Fuck I want to take her. I don’t want to ask permission, but that’s not fucking showing her that I can be different, so I stay still under her. Watching. Waiting. Hoping that she’ll take me instead.

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