Page 218 of The Night Shift

“Theo,” I warn.

“Didn’t seem like it, when I had your wrists tied behind your back merely a day ago.” His gaze falls to my lips. “So desperate and whimpering … begging me to go harder…”

“I was not begging,” I snap.

“I believe your exact words were, ‘I’ll do whatever you want. Just please don’t stop.’ That sounds like begging to me.”

My face heats. “Theo, I swear to God — “

“No, you swear to me.” His grip over my waist tightens, his fingers digging into the plastic coveralls. “Just like I swear to you. And you do belong to me. Just as much as I belong to you.” He leans in and licks a hot, lazy stripe up my cheek like a goddamn cat.

I smack him with my bat, successfully putting at least a few feet between us.

He groans like I’ve beheaded him.

“Stop being a baby.”

He peeks open one eye. “But I like being your baby.”

That earns him another swift smack to the back of his head.

“Ow!”

“How do I do this?” I lift the bat and point it at his face. “Where do I start? What are the rules? I’ve never been to one of these before.”

“Seriously?”

“I mean, I could just smack your head again. Over and over until I see brain. That sounds like fun, no?”

“There aren’t any rules, Hollister. Just start smashing stuff. Whatever you see, you’re allowed to break.” A pause. “Everything but me.”

I make a disgruntled noise and set the bat down beside my foot. Lowering my face shield, I grab one of the glass bottles, lift it high, and let it fall.

It smashes against the concrete with a sharp crack.

Huh.

That was…anticlimactic.

“That was fucking terrible,” Theo says, prompting me to look up. His arm is crossed over his chest and there’s a tiny frown between his brows. He seems disappointed. Genuinely.

Why does that bother me so much?

“What, I broke it. Wasn’t that the goal?”

“The goal was to get you to feel better.”

“I’m with you. So, obviously that’s not happening.”

He narrows his eyes. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think.”

The frown vanishes. His lips curve, faint and knowing, like he’s sharing some inside joke I’m not in on. “There’s not a soul on this planet that knows you better than I do.”

“Your ego truly knows no bounds.”

“Neither does my love for your jeans. God, they really make your ass look great.”