You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(70)

Now he was saying the right things, but his hands were moving up on her body. Those big, callused, gorgeous hands slowly inched up toward her breasts, and she could feel him behind her. “Jesse, what are you doing?”

“I’m apologizing. I made a mistake. I should never have walked out on you.”

Alarm bells started going off in her head, but she was too focused on his hands to properly think about them. “Walked out? You didn’t walk out on me. I needed to be alone.”

“No. You needed me and I let my own insecurities drive me away. It won’t happen again. Phoebe, you should know that if you put a door between us, I’ll get it open one way or another. I’ll break it down if I have to, but I won’t ever leave you alone to cry again. If you’re going to cry, you’re going to do it with my arms around you. Do you understand?”

No. She didn’t understand a damn thing about what was happening. She’d pushed him away. Why was he back here and offering her everything she couldn’t have? “You have to let me go.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do.” His hand was dangerously close to her breast.

“That’s only when we’re playing.” And they weren’t supposed to do that anymore.

“No, that’s only when we’re intimate. Those were the old rules, and those rules got tossed out the minute you locked a door to keep me out. Here are the new rules. I’m in charge.”

He was so arrogant. Why did that do something for her? “You can’t just decide you’re in charge.”

He chuckled, the sound rumbling against her skin. “Sure I can. Now, I am going to give you choices. I’m not completely unfair. You can walk downstairs with me and we can have a nice lunch with your brother and discuss the op, but there’s a twist to that. Or you can walk down to our bed and take off your clothes, and I’ll make a meal of you.”

The minute he used that dark voice on her, her whole body softened. She didn’t even want to think about her traitorous vagina, which was all for door number two. Hell, her vagina didn’t even want to go downstairs. But her brain was in charge. Mostly. “What’s the twist?”

“You’ll spend the entire meeting sitting on my lap and I’ll feed you.”

She rolled her eyes because that was so not happening. “My brother is down there, Jesse. Don’t be ridiculous. That’s stupid.”

“And that’s ten,” he growled in her ear. “Do you want them over my lap now or do you want to wait until tonight and I’ll make the punishment public?”

“Punishment?”

“Punishment. I gave you a choice and you were rude to me. No more being rude to me. I’m not rude to you. If I am, you can spank me, but I assure you I won’t be. I’m a Western male and you’re my lady. I’ll treat you with respect.”

“I’m not your lady.” She meant that to come out with a strong, resounding command. Instead, it came out with a little whimper because his hand ran over her breast and squeezed slightly, just enough to make her soften and moan.

Fire threatened to spread through her as he took her right earlobe between his teeth and gently bit down. “That’s another ten because you’re lying.”

“Jesse, this can’t work.” She tried to focus on anything but how good it felt to be held against his body. She looked down at the street. The same van she’d seen before was slowly making its way around again. Must be lost. She was rapidly getting lost, too.

“And that’s another ten. I think I’ll spank the pessimism out of you.” He licked along the shell of her ear while he cupped her breasts. “You’re my girl. I simply haven’t shown you what that means yet. I meant what I said. I don’t care what happens, I won’t leave you alone again. You gave yourself to me last night. I won’t let you take it back because you got a little afraid.”

She gave in. She was so weak when it came to Jesse. It was wrong, but she couldn’t fight while his arms were around her, his hands on her breasts. But she had to make one thing clear. “You can’t expect me to sit in your lap in front of my brother.”

His fingers found her nipples. They were already hard and wanting, and he gave them a nasty twist that seemed to go straight to her *. “You will sit in my lap. You’ll do it because it pleases me to have you close. I’ve already had a talk with your brother about keeping his nose out of our relationship. If it helps, I have his blessing.”

She tried to turn around. “You talked to my brother about this?”

He tightened his hold. “I talked to your brother about the fact that I’m taking control of our relationship.”

“You can’t do that. You can’t walk in and tell me what to do.”

“Tell me you don’t want me.”

“I can’t. You’ll spank me for lying.”

“See. It’s already working. And you like spanking.” His hands gentled again, but one of them disappeared under her shirt and found her warm flesh.

She couldn’t help but sigh and lean back against him. Somehow when he talked to her like this, it was easier to let go, to give over to what he wanted—to what she wanted. “I know I shouldn’t. What if I cry again? I probably will. I can’t help it. I’m still in love with him. I don’t want to hurt you. If it doesn’t work, I’ll hurt you again.”