Page 76 of Dark Surrender

“Well. That’s not an excuse to touch me and… all you were doing.”

Looking horrified, Dark steps forward, then stops himself from getting any closer. “I… I wasn’t… Iris, no… I⁠—”

“You kept touching me… and it’s messing with my head.”

Dark’s eyes round. “I… I’m sorry. I… Fuck.” Taking a step back, he threads his fingers behind his neck and stares up at the sky.

“I don’t even know what we bought.”

“How?”

“I couldn’t focus. You kept touching me.” Getting into my head. I don’t do this. It’s too much. He’s too much.

“Iris. I’m… I don’t even know what to say. I keep fuckin’ this up. You were leaning into me. I thought you liked it.”

“I do!”

“Okay. Then what’s the problem?”

“I need control, Dark. Control. You make me not be in control. You look like you do. Then you have all these women flirting with you. I become invisible.”

“You can’t be invisible when you’re literally the only woman I see,” he argues back, pinning me with a stupidly sexy glare.

“Arg!” I stomp my foot, and the gravel pops under my heel. “Dark!”

He throws his arms out to the side. “What!?”

“You can’t say that!”

“Well, I just fuckin’ did. I can’t pretend like I don’t like you. I’ve told you, I do. I can’t get you out of my fucking head.”

“I’m not having sex with you!” I screech, which sounds awful and embarrassing, but I can’t help it. He doesn’t understand.

“Can we stop with that, Iris? I know. You already said so. Plus, I didn’t ask for sex. I just want to be around you. Okay? That man looked at your tits.” Dark drops his gaze to said tits, and I cover them with my arms so he can’t look. “You didn’t see me grab for my gun? I wanted to kill him. But you seemed happy to be here. You seemed to like the furniture. So, I’m here. I’m buyin’ the furniture for your house. I just can’t…” Running out of steam, he sighs. “Listen. I’m sorry. Alright? I’m real fuckin’ sorry.”

Too keyed up to piece all he said together, I give in for both our sakes. “Okay. But you can’t touch me.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” I double, triple-check.

Dark lifts his hands in surrender. “Yes. I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

Perfect.

“No matter what?” I test.

“Yes.” He smirks, and it’s too damn attractive for his own good.

Fine. I suppose that’ll have to do. He said no to sex. No to touching me. It’s gonna be okay.

I gesture to my truck. “Good. Now, can we go?”

“Yeah. We can go.”

“Can you fix him first?” Not wanting to be locked in a vehicle with that thing, I nod to his erection.

“If I can’t touch you and that’s your line, then you have to pretend not to notice my dick.”