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I giggled. “You probably deserved it.”

“Probably,” he muttered, sliding his fingers up the curve of my thigh, squeezing lightly. “Would you have kicked me if I told you you were pretty?”

“Nah,” I said, grinning. “I would’ve tripped you.”

He laughed, deep and full.

But then his hand tightened on my hip, and when I looked up, his smile was gone.

His eyes were so serious.

His expression made my heart speed up.

“What’s wrong?”

“Listen to me,” he said, voice dropping into something rougher and harder. “When you go back over there… until everything is settled… no kissing him. No hugging him. No laying in bed with him.”

I blinked, stunned at how fast he switched.

At how much I liked the way his voice turned into a low growl just for me.

“Sam—”

“I’m serious,” he cut in. His thumb dragged slow against my side like he was branding me with every word. “No hand-holding. No letting him touch you. No letting him pretend he still got a right to you after what he did and how he treated you.”

I smiled against his chest, trying not to show how much it thrilled me that he cared enough to lay down rules.

I should have been a little scared by his tone, but I wasn’t. I somehow knew he only had good intentions for me.You know how you can just feel it? I never felt that with Mark. I understood why now.

“You sound like you ready to fight somebody over me,” I teased, pressing a kiss just under his jaw.

“I’ll fight him,” he said, dead serious. “I’ll fight whoever I need to.”

I couldn’t help it.

I laughed. Soft and low.

“And if I don’t follow your rules, are you going to fight me?”

He gave me a serious look. “No, I’ll whoop his ass twice.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Fine,” I said, dragging my nails lightly across his stomach and feeling his heartbeat skip. I did it again. “But then you gotta listen to my rules too.”

He cocked an eyebrow, amused. “I’m a man. I don’t have rules.”

I frowned. “I will bite you on your dick.” I warned him.

He laughed.

“I’m for real,” I said, sitting up a little, straddling his waist. “No flirting with your wife. No smiling at her. No talking sweet to her, even if it’s fake. Don’t even look at her for too long. Your eyes mine now.” I said, being a little possessive myself.

He made a sound low in his throat—something like a grunt and a growl mixed.

“I’m not going within fifty feet of her ever again,” he said, grabbing my hips and squeezing. “Soon as the papers are filed, I’m gone. I ain’t got shit to say to her.”

I bit my lip, trying to hold back my smile.