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“Well, Pet, I’m protecting what’s mine.” He stepped forward, crowding me as he grabbed my elbows and held me still. I was still shocked I had slapped him, so I let the Pet comment slide. “You do understand you’re mine?”
Our eyes locked together, and so many thoughts and emotions flashed around in his gaze, but the coldness emanating from his grip and stature had me wondering what he’d possibly do. He held me tight and close, but it didn’t hurt. His touch was gentle until it took me too long to answer, and his grip tightened.
“You understand?”
A hard swallow lodged in my throat, and I nodded because as much as I hated the idea of belonging to anybody, there was no escaping that I belonged to Abel Hartford through and through.
“Good girl.” He kissed my forehead, lowered one hand to my ass, and patted it. “Very good girl.”
The rollercoaster of emotion and near-death experience had all the fight evaporating. I wanted to cling to my anger. I wanted an all-out shouting match, but it wasn’t in my nature. It wasn’t who I was. Even now, I had a sense of safety with him. After I smacked him, he did nothing but call me Pet. It was the least I could give him after physically harming him after he saved me from drowning.
A shiver shook me in Abel’s hold, and he ran his hands along my arms as if warming me up. He rested his head on my head as we breathed each other in and let everything settle. A few moments later, Abel tangled his fingers with mine and escorted me to my room like a gentleman. He had a strong dislike of leaving me alone for any amount of time. Secretly, I loved that I was precious enough for him to worry him, but there was still the controlling aspect that I chose to ignore.
Abel unlocked my door with a key he acquired. I’d never seen him use it before, and he shrugged his shoulders at me. No explanation. It was what it was. Shaking my head, I entered my dorm as he followed and locked the door behind us. He went straight into the kitchen and grabbed a first aid kit.
“Come on, sit down.” Abel patted the couch, and I sat as he opened the case and looked at the back of my head. “This is going to sting.”
I hissed as he cleaned the wound. He also looked at my pupils, and I watched him and wondered where he learned all of this. This was all a different side of him I never knew existed.
Once he seemed pleased, he smiled and gave me a long kiss, which had me whimpering, and I wondered how, even with everything, I still got aroused for him.
“The cut is superficial. No need for stitches, and your pupils are good. You’ll be fine.” He kissed me again and cupped my cheek. It reminded me of the slap, and I winced. Abel stopped and pulled back. He smirked, winked, and shrugged. “It’s okay, baby. Just don’t let it happen again.”
Ashamed, I bowed my head, and he kissed the crown before he collected the wrappers and closed the first aid kit. The idea of him not punishing me or laying into me was surprising. As I’d snapped my hand back from his cheek earlier, I figured there’d be a major blow-up, but he took it as it came.
“I need a shower. Care to join me?”
Before I could answer him, his cell went off, and he groaned. Reading the text, he sighed. “Raincheck? I have to go and take care of something.”
“What?”
Abel stood with the trash and first aid kit. “Nothing for you to worry about.” Once he put everything away, he kissed me like I was the center of his universe. My fingers clenched his shirt tightly as he slightly bent me over his arm and dominated the kiss. The heat in the room rose several degrees, and I hated that we wouldn’t get to shower together because I needed a release, and it was better if I had my pleasure in less destructive ways.
The kiss ended far too abruptly for my taste, but Abel nuzzled his nose against mine and gave me several soft pecks. “I’ll see you later. Also, don’t forget we are having dinner with my father next weekend.” His mouth turned down, and it was a common expression whenever his father was brought into the discussion. “I’ll pick something modest out for you, so don’t worry, but we have other plans afterward, so it won’t be an early evening.”
“What?”
“You’ll have to wait and see. Now be a good girl and let me leave, or I’ll have to put that pretty little mouth to better use.”
I stepped back and didn’t realize how tightly I had clutched Abel’s clothes. What could I say? His kisses were intoxicating and made me need anything to remain grounded. What better than the man inducing the high?
Abel blew me a kiss as he walked out and locked the door. I stood in the middle of my suite and looked around at the lack of furnishings and warmth that had once resided when Kailey roomed there. I missed her and hated having the space to myself. I was used to being alone, and now I had something to compare it to, and I didn’t like it as much.
The sadder part, I missed Blake, or at least how we used to be when he was my friend. I had a solid suspicion we’d never get back to what we had before. Abel was too much of a conflict.
With nothing to do, I decided to work on some homework. I was tired and wanted to sleep, but I needed to get things done.
Comfortable on my small sofa, I had a glass of water, light music, and my textbooks piled around me. Before I could open the cover of a book, a light knock sounded on my door. Unaware of who it could be, I moved out of my little pile of snuggled blankets and opened the door to Blake, standing in the hallway with a pizza. My stomach rumbled at the smell.
What a coincidence! I thought about him, and here he appeared.
“How about some late dinner?” Blake gave me puppy dog eyes and a weak, pleading smile.
It wasn’t unusual for him to appear out of nowhere, but with the tension between us, he hadn’t dropped by in a while. It made me happy because I hoped this was his olive branch.
Opening the door wider so he could step through, I said, “Pizza sounds good.”
The ice seemed to have thawed as he smiled wide and came in. He went straight to the couch and cocked his brow at all my books thrown around the coffee table. I hated clutter and never left things out. “Hitting the books, huh?”
