Page 35 of Dead Bled Ringer

“You think you can justbargein and have sex with me? Well, you’re wrong, buddy!”

“I’m not going to sleep in the bed,” he said, closing the door to Terrell and Jasper’s massive spare room. “I’m going to sit in that chair in the corner and make sure you don’t try to run out of here and do something stupid, like confront Henry on your own.”

“Were you sitting in the dark outside my house watching me sleep?” I demanded, clenching my fists.

“Yes,” Henry said.

He did not volunteer any further information, but I felt a tingling sensation all along my arms, sizzling across my chest and down past my belly, heating up between my thighs.

“That’s messed up,” I said. “That you were just sitting there watching me like a creeper.”

Hunter wasstillwatching me, his arms crossed across his big chest, that dark pitch-black hair curling over the collar of his dirty T-shirt.

Why had he cut his own face?

“I know it’s fucked up,” he said.

My breath was coming in heated little pants.

Had Henry ever given this much of a fuck about me?

Since Jasper was being a dick, I grabbed one of his nicest, silkiest shirts to wear to bed and I changed in the bathroom.

When I came back out, Hunter was in the chair, and his eyes instantly met mine, flicking down my body to where the bottom of the shirt hit me at the top of my thighs, brushing like a whisper past my pussy.

I bent to close the curtain for the big window that looked out over downtown, and Hunter groaned.

“Angel, you need to move away from me,” he bit out. “Or I won’t be able to control myself.”

My heart was pounding at the way his big hands were digging into the side of the chair.

“Why don’t you have a girlfriend?” I asked.

My chest felt constricted, like there was someone sitting on it.

“Why do you think?” he asked in a tight, hard voice.

“Stop talking in fucking riddles!” I hissed, turning away in disgust, but in a moment he was out of the chair and behind me, putting a hand on my chin to force me to face him.

“BecauseI don’t want anyone else but you. Fine, are you fucking happy now that I’ve said it? Even though I know I look exactly like the goddamn husband you hate, and you’d never be able to look at me without thinking of him. I still don’t want anyone else. So don’t fucking pretend you don’t know how I feel.”

His eyes bore down into mine, and my skin felt on fire where he was touching me, his fingers spanning my face.

Why did my treacherous body seem to liquify under his touch?

Henry had never done this to me. My body had never had this reaction to him. Even in the beginning of our marriage. He’d always been so assured of me that he was casual, careless.

There was nothing casual in how Hunter was gripping my chin, and it made me feel wild inside.

“I want to get my revenge and I don’t want you following me every step trying to keep me safe.”

He dropped his fingers but glared down at me. “That’s not an option. I’m going to keep you safe whether you want me to or not.”

My nipples were so hard they were aching, rubbing painfully against the silky shirt.

“Whatever,” I said, flouncing off to the bed. “Goodnight.”

“Behave yourself,” he warned as he sat back down, the chair creaking under his weight.