Page 78 of Bad Wolf's Nanny

“Yes,” he snapped, leaning in so close she could feel the heat of his breath against her jaw, “youdo.Until this threat is handled. You don’t walk alone. You don’t go out at night. And if you think I won’t throw you over my shoulder and lock you in my bedroom,try me.”

Lola shoved him again, harder this time. Her voice cracked under the force of her fury, “You don’t get to own me, Dane! You can’t just switch it on like a light the second I become inconveniently precious to you!”

His jaw clenched, and his eyes went feral, “Precious?” He laughed once, low and dangerous. “You’vealwaysbeen precious. You think I stopped watching you? Thinking about you every second? You think it didn’t kill me every time I handed Sam over and you looked through me like I was nothing?”

“You made yourself nothing to me,” she spat, “you rejected me. You made me feelsmall.”

Something in him flinched. Just a flicker.

And still, he didn’t move. His body was close, too close, and her body was betraying her more by the second. Every nerve ending was alive with awareness of him, with the memory of hishands on her skin, the way his mouth had tasted when he kissed her like she was the only thing tethering him to earth.

She hated how much she wanted him.

“Let me go,” she whispered, but her voice wasn’t strong enough.

He didn’t.

Instead, he pressed in just a breath closer, one palm flattening against the wall beside her ear.

“You think this is about possession?” he said, voice low and trembling with restraint. “This is aboutprotection. About the fact that I can’t sleep if I don’t know you’re safe. That I can’t think when I’m not near you. You think I’m proud of this? That I like how you get under my skin until I don’t even know who I am?”

Her breath hitched.

“I don’t want you in a cage, Lola,” he said, “I want youalive.I want our child to be safe. And I want you to stop fighting me like I’m the enemy.”

Lola looked up at him, lips parted, heart thudding so loud it drowned everything else out.

His pupils were blown wide. His breathing was shallow. And he was looking at her mouth again, like he wanted to devour her.

And still, she couldn’t move.

Because the truth was, part of herdidwant to be possessed. Not caged…chosen.

But it wasn’t that simple.

And it never would be.

“You think growling and ordering me around is going to fix the damage you already did?” she whispered. “You can’t just storm back into my life, press me against a wall, and pretend it changes everything.”

His eyes locked with hers.

And for the first time since he’d arrived, something in him hesitated.

She could barely see him through the blur of rage.

Dane stood in her apartment like he belonged there, like his presence, his growled commands, his fists clenched at his sides, were some kind of comfort. As if justbeinghere was enough to prove something.

It wasn’t.

It was insulting.

She shoved against him with all her might, and this time, he let her go, his eyes tracking her every movement.

Lola paced a tight line across the room, her heart hammering in her throat. She couldn’t sit down. Couldn’t breathe. She was too hot, too wired. Her skin prickled with adrenaline, her stomach was a mess of nausea and fire, and her mind wouldn’t stop screaming.

“You really think you get todecidenow?” she snapped, spinning to face him, “You get to reject me, then march in here the second you get a whiff of responsibility, and what? Play house?”

Dane flinched, barely, but it was enough.