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“Flippancy is your answer?” His eyes are narrowed, incisive.

The scent of sandalwood, muscle and man engulfs me. Wholly inappropriately, my knees start to weaken. “Mason?—”

“Feral fuck parasites. I guess that explains your distance earlier,” he broods.

I open my mouth, but no words emerge. He captures my chin in his hand, and I try not to let my panic show.

“You have something to say?”

I shrug. “To determine distance don’t we have to know closeness?” I ask.

“And you don’t think we’re close, given that we’refuckingparasites?”

My heart lurches at the dirty word again. He’s beyond livid, and all I’ve done is hold a mirror up to our torrid little arrangement.

“I don’t recall agreeing to a closeness that involves me spending every spare minute with you, or you getting bent out of shape over who does or doesn’t make a pass at me,” I reply, then exhale on a groan when my mistake stares me in the face.

“You don’trecall?” he growls with veiled softness.

Danger tingles along my spine. The little happy freak inside me races to embrace it. “Mason…”

“You’re deliberately goading me. Is that what’s happening here? You want areactionfrom me?”

I shake my head. “No.” I want to say more to alleviate the situation, but a part of me realizes Idowant a reaction.

When his hand goes to his belt, I exhale in a rush.

“You need a reminder, kitten?”

“Maybe,” I respond shakily.

“The three reasons I gave you this morning and afternoon weren’t enough?”

I shudder in recollection of the rough fucking I received at his hands a mere three hours ago. The two, which preceded it, were relatively tame, in consideration of the raw pounding from the middle of the night.

“I’m a little confused. Sir.”

A muscle ticks in his jaw at the last word, but his expression doesn’t alter. “You’re confused. Well, allow me to provide some clarity.” He steps back and reaches for his buckle. My heart jumps into my throat. I watch with sick fascination as his belt whistles from its loop as he yanks hard at it.

One hand spreads across my lower back, and he pushes me to the vanity.

Our gazes clash in the mirror and the charge that explodes between us steals my breath away. “Bend over and hold the edge. You let go, I start again. Understood?”

Dirty anticipation dissolves in liquid heat between my thighs. My happy freak squeals in delight, even as a part of me recoils at what I’m doing. What I’m letting happen.

“What’s the matter, Keely? I thought silence doesn’t work for you?” he sneers.

I clear my throat and force my voice to work. “I… Mason, please.”

“Please, what?”

I shake my head as thoughts of denial and acquiescence clash in a battle to end all battles.

“We never got round to picking a safe word, did we, kitten?” he asks as he pushes me forward and snaps up the hem of my dress. “Now’s your chance, baby. Go for it.”

The cool air hitting my ass makes my brain freeze for a moment. The heat from his proximity helps me along, and I blurt the word that jumps into my head. “Fortis.”

His brow slowly lifts, and one hand trails between my ass cheeks and up my spine to tangle in my hair. “You are that, mybravelittle kitten,” he breathes in my ear.