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Especially when Colum stood as well.Sadly, he was still several feet away, too far for her to reach out and drag him over to them.

Annie ran her hand over Xavier’s crotch, tightly gripping his impressive erection through his pants.

Xavier grasped her wrist, pulling her hand away.“Bad girl,” he purred in a dark voice.“I didn’t give you permission to touch my cock.”

Annie’s eyes fluttered because holy fuck.Mentally, another box—the dirty talk box—was checked.

Before she could come up with an appropriate comeback, Xavier whipped her around and roughly pushed her over the arm of the couch, using a firm hand between her shoulder blades to shove her even deeper into the cushions with a strength she hadn’t expected.

His thighs brushed against her, holding her in place, lest she try to kick out or fight for freedom.As if she would.

She jerked when he slapped her ass with a stinging smack, the material of her jeans doing nothing to soften the blow.

“If you want to touch me, you’ll have to beg,mon cheri,” he taunted, fisting a handful of her hair, using it to pull her up slightly.Her scalp burned, as did every other part of her body.So many unrealized desires were suddenly playing out, lust coursing through her veins.

“Ahhh,” she cried out, her pussy clenching as he spanked her again.

She closed her eyes, eagerly anticipating more, so she was shocked when the hand in her hair disappeared.Without it, she fell down onto the cushions once more.

Annie opened her eyes just in time to see that Colum had jerked Xavier away from her, putting himself between them.Colum had one hand fisted in Xavier’s shirt, and the other…

Oh shit.

Before Annie could yell stop, Colum punched Xavier in the jaw.“How dare you fecking hurt her!”

“Merde,” Xavier shouted, trying to step back.

Annie shoved upright, stumbling slightly due to her too-quick actions, drawing Colum’s attention.

Xavier managed to wrench himself out of Colum’s grip.He backed up, shaking his head and then gingerly touching his injured cheek.“What the fuck?”

Colum reached out to steady her, his expression making it clear he was mistaking the cause of her staggering, thinking her truly injured.Rage burning in his eyes.Colum’s reserved demeanor made it easy to overlook just how tall he was—nearly the same height as Xavier.Given the way he shoved the other guy, he was also stronger than his mannerism made him seem.

He turned back toward Xavier, pushing her firmly behind his back.

Annie’s heart thudded at the protective gesture, even as she peered around Colum to check on Xavier, who looked pissed.He took a step toward them, muttering darkly.

Colum’s fist clenched once more.Annie grabbed his forearm, shifting until she was between him and Xavier.

“Stop,” she said firmly.

Colum looked down at her, his brows furrowed.“He was hurting you.”

She placed her palm flat against his chest.His heart was racing a million miles a minute.“I asked him to.”

Colum blinked several times, studying her face intently.“You cried out.”

“It wasn’t a bad cry,” she reassured him.

He ran a hand through his hair.“Feck,” he breathed out.“I thought…”

“Gallantandviolent.”Xavier eyed Colum as he worked his jaw side to side, his eyes still bright with anger.“That hurt.”

Colum’s expression turned to one of instant regret.“Xavier—” he started.

Xavier huffed out an amused breath, the last of his anger faded.“I am the last man to berate another for letting passion and gallantry drive them to madness and violence.”Xavier’s words flowed around them, further lowering the emotional temperature in the room.In moments like this, it was easy to see he was a poet.Then the asshole smirked.“I was only doing what Annie wanted.”He leaned in, making a tsking sound before he stage-whispered to Colum, “She asked me to fuck her like I hated her.”

“I heard that part, but I thought that was more flirting,” Colum admitted.“I didn’t think you’d actually hit her.”