Something was wrong, very wrong. I didn’t know what yet.
“Who exactly is Jodi, and why is she issuing me with a challenge?” Blaine demanded, voice every bit as cold as his demeanor.
Relief, panic, and hope beat at me in a confused jumble. “She’s here? In Guilder?” My face went cold then hot. Challenge?
“You didn’t answer my question,” he said.
The gap between us was no more than ten paces, but it might as well have been a bottomless chasm.
Jodi was here, safe, well… and issuing a challenge to Blaine. I swallowed. “She’s a friend. She took care of me.”
“A friend? What sort of a friend? Do you love her?”
My chest rose on an unsteady breath. The man was a seething tower of deadly intent. This could not happen. He could not be about to fight Jodi for ownership of me. I was no fool; he would destroy her.
Inside, little pieces were crumbling. Oh, Jodi, why would you do this… and with Blaine? I’d known she would do something stupid, but this exceeded all my expectations.
His eyes never left mine. His rage was palpable, and I wondered what the hell Jodi had said.
“I do.” His fists clenched at his side, and his jaw locked so tight, it was a wonder it didn’t crack. The door was open; no choice but to walk through. “But not in the way I used to. I suppose I was in awe of her for a long time, and felt such gratitude that for many years, I confused it with something more.”
My mouth was dust dry. I’d been alone for three days—plenty of time to think things through. Then yesterday when I’d realized I wasn’t pregnant, it threw me for a loop. Jodi had always been there, an undemanding protector. I owed her everything. I felt guilty as hell for even sleeping with Blaine.
Facts and feelings could not be ignored, though, no matter how painful they were. Somewhere along the line, Jodi had become a friend, a very dear friend I’d shared intimacy with, but still a friend and no more.
A tic thumped in his jaw, and he didn’t speak for the longest time.
“I don’t want you to fight her.” A tear trickled down my cheek, soon followed by another. “Please, don’t fight her,” I whispered.
“I don’t have a fucking choice,” he said. “I can’t fucking let you go.” He tossed the helmet he’d been holding onto a nearby chair. “Do you want to be with her?”
I started to speak then stopped. I’d no idea what to say or how to better articulate myself without prostrating myself at his feet. Sickness churned in my gut. I missed Jodi. Had Blaine asked me this question weeks ago when I’d first arrived, I’d have jumped at the chance to be with her, and would be begging him for precisely that.
In the short time since I’d met him, he’d been relentless and uncompromising—he wanted me, so he took me—no apology and no discussion. But he’d also been patient within those bounds. Had never once hurt me, even after I’d punched him on that desolate rooftop.
Many men would have hurt me at such a time, slapped, or even beaten me to teach me my place. But this wasn’t even gratitude that he wasn’t a monster, it was so much more complex.
I tried to unpick my feelings to test if this was some warped primal programming to upgrade Jodi as a protector.
I couldn’t say exactly what I felt for Blaine. There wasn’t enough time for it to be love, but it was still a potent emotion.
Obsession? Possibly.
Lust? Definitely. But there was more to it than that.
Blaine
She still hadn’t answered me and I couldn’t quantify precisely why a dead space seemed to be opening up somewhere inside me. I was just pissed that someone else had laid claim to her affection. The selfish bastard that I was, I wanted it all. She wasn’t entirely immune to me. She responded to me—she had fucking come all over my cock.
But she still hadn’t answered my question.
And I still didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do.
A clock was ticking. I needed to address the challenge; there was no getting out of that.
Maybe she had been playing me, trying not to piss me off while waiting for her girlfriend to come to the rescue.
My gut clenched. I couldn’t shake off a sick feeling that I’d been taken for a fool.
Her breath hitched—perhaps my face was revealing how unhinged I was, but before I could demand an answer, she rounded the couch and walked all the way up to me.
There was a brief hesitation when she reached me before she caught my face between her trembling hands and drawing my face down, pressed her lips against mine.
The shock immobilized me. Not once had she been the instigator—I hadn’t given her the chance. I’d thought of little else but her for the last three days. It felt like forever since I’d been inside her. I wanted her to want me with the same feral passion I felt toward her.
Then my brain finally kicked in against the drug of her soft lips, and fisting a handful of her hair, I pulled her away.
She was breathing heavily. We both were.
“You better not be doing this to stop me kicking your girlfriend’s ass.” My voice sounded like gravel. I was so close to losing it. My basal side didn’t give a fuck about her reasons, but I was damned if I was going to be used, however satisfying the process may be.
“You think I don’t want this? Don’t want you?” She shook her head, hands shaking against my face. If she was acting, then it was worthy of a pre-war Oscar.
“I guess I was afraid at first,” she paused. “It had been such a long time since I was with a man… You’re not exactly like the men I once knew.” Her hands slipped down. I didn’t like the distancing one fucking bit. “I still wanted you, even at first… And you never asked me about the before.”
“I’m asking now. And you still haven’t answered the fucking question.”
She flinched, lashes lowering, but I refused to let her go. The feel of her against me, the clean scent, the silken hair under my rough fingers were like a hook tearing into the last remnants of my self-control.
“We’ve known each other a few weeks,” she said, eyes flashing to meet mine with accusation. “And you’ve been away for three fucking days.”
“Do you want to be with her or me?”
“You!”
The sound I made was something like a growl. I swear that was the longest ten minutes of my life while she skirted around a response. I tightened my fist in her hair and planted my mouth over hers before she could say another word. The clock was ticking, but I felt fucking invincible in the wake of her admission, and all I could think about was getting inside her.
Hoisting her up into my arms, I stalked toward the couch. Dropping her on her back and fighting to free enough of my kit so I could get my aching cock out.
“Blaine, wait—”
I’d ripped her leggings and panties off before she finished talking, which was when I saw the blood.
I stopped dead.
“I didn’t have anything…”
She trailed off as I stared at the bloody smears knowing what it meant. “This won’t be happening again for a good long while.” Lining my cock up, I thrust deep inside.
Her little whimper said I’d been too rough. “I know, baby.” I smoothed the hair back from her face, kissing her long and deep to try and distract her. Her pussy felt like a hot vise pulsing around my cock. I hadn’t moved yet and I was close to shooting my load. “You’ve tightened up. Try and relax for me.” A few pounding thrusts later and she was clawing at my ass and lifting her hips to meet every thrust.