Ruthless Creatures (Queens & Monsters, #1)(42)

I blink an unnecessary amount of times. I clear my throat. I take deep, cleansing breaths.

Which does fuck all to help.

“You know what? This is too much for my hard drive to process right now. I don’t want to discuss this anymore.”

I fold my arms over my chest, huff out a heavy breath, and close my eyes.

We drive for a while in silence, until Kage says in a low voice, “I’ll give you anything else you ask for. Everything you ask for. Anything you wanted for the rest of your life, you’d have.”

“Please stop talking now.”

“You’d be taken care of forever. You’d be my queen.”

I open my eyes and stare at him in disbelief. “A queen in hiding? A queen who couldn’t wear her crown because all her king’s enemies would see it and want to chop off her head?”

He clenches his jaw. Through gritted teeth, he says, “You’d be protected.”

“Are you sure you don’t mean sequestered?”

“I’m not going to lock you away, if that’s what you think.”

Emotion swells in my chest, rising in my throat to form a lump I have to swallow around.

“No. You wouldn’t lock me away. From the sound of it, you’d just pop in and out of my life like you have been, coming and going whenever you please, getting your rocks off and vanishing to who knows where until the next time you decide you’re horny, all under the guise of keeping me safe from the cops.”

He’s getting angry. I can see it in the way he’s clenching his jaw. In the way his breathing has changed. In the death grip he’s got on the steering wheel.

His voice gravelly, he says, “It’s not a guise. It’s the fucking truth.”

“Even if I believed you, Kage, why should I want this for myself? Why should I want any of this?”

He snaps, “I won’t try to argue you into it. Either you want me or you don’t.”

“Of course I want you! I want you like I’ve never wanted anything! But don’t you think I’ve already been through enough? You think I should put my heart on the line again when you’ve flat out told me who and what you are and what the limits of this relationship would be?”

“No!” he roars. “I don’t! Which is exactly what I’m fucking saying!”

He careens around another corner. We narrowly miss killing a pedestrian in the crosswalk.

A few minutes later, we screech to a stop in my driveway. Before he can say another word, I’m out of the car, hustling toward the front door.

When I open it, he barges right through behind me. When he slams the door shut, Mojo lifts his head from where he’s lying in the middle of the living room floor, makes a half-hearted woof, then goes back to sleep.

I swear, if I were ever robbed, that dog would usher the robbers right in and show them where my jewelry is.

“Don’t walk away from me.”

Kage grabs my arm and spins me around to face him.

“Don’t manhandle me.”

“You know I’d never put my hands on you in anger.”

“Really? Because your hands are on me right now, and you’re angry.”

He drags me against his chest, closes his eyes, and draws a breath. When he exhales, he says through a clenched jaw, “Goddammit, woman. Stop. The. Sass.”

“Why, are you going to take me over your knee if I don’t?”

His eyes snap open. His nostrils flare. His lips thin, and holy hell, he’s hot when he’s mad.

Eyes narrowed, he growls, “Try me and find out.”

Looking into his eyes, I say deliberately, “I do not give you permission to spank me.”

I’m sure for anyone else, that animal sound rumbling through his chest would be terrifying. For me, it’s perversely satisfying.

Because no matter how scary he looks or sounds, I know I’m not in danger. He’d die before he’d ever hurt me.

Realizing that, my temper softens.

I lower my lashes and whisper, “Yet.”

He’s frozen for all of two seconds, then he fists a hand into my hair and takes my mouth.

We stand in the middle of the room, kissing passionately, until he breaks away, breathing hard.

“Tell me to go now, or I’ll assume you want me to stay. And if I stay, you’ll never get rid of me.”

Clutching the front of his shirt, I laugh. “The whole world is black or white for you, isn’t it? You’re all in or nothing.”

“I don’t believe in halfway. Halfway is for cowards.”

He’s definitely not a coward, I’ll give him that.

He kisses me again, this time holding my head firmly in his hands, one at the scruff of my neck and one wrapped around my jaw. His tongue delves deeply into my mouth, demanding more, making me shiver with excitement.

Damn, I wish he wasn’t such a good kisser. He’s crossing all the wires in my brain.

This time, I break away first. “How often would I see you?”

He stills.

He knows what I’m asking.

Knows that no matter how impossible and ridiculous this whole situation is, I’m closer to a yes than a no.

Moistening his lips, gripping my head in his hands, he says gruffly, “A few times a month. For a few days at a time, if I can manage it.”