two swift strides, and he was upon her. “Hell, yes.”
His hard grasp made her stiffen up; it was too much, too soon, and she was still angry and contused. The world dipped and spun. She was on her back, on the carpet with Seth arched over her. He unraveled her braid and fanned her hair out around her head. He pushed her legs apart and settled his hard body against her.
She shoved against his chest. “Seth, hold on. Wait!”
“Relax.” He tugged her blouse out of the waistband of her skirt, sliding his hand beneath it. He growled with pleasure as his hand found warm skin. “What's the problem? You said we were lovers, right?”
She seized his wrist and yanked it out of her blouse. “Sex is not all that means, you dog!”
His eyes gleamed. “Woof” he said. “What else does it mean?”
“Lovers do things together! They rent videos, they ride Ferris wheels, they go out for pizza, they play Scrabble. They... they talk!”
“Talk?” He lifted his head and frowned, his eyes puzzled. “We talk all the time, Raine. I've never had such talkative sex.”
“That's just it!” She wiggled, flailed, but couldn't budge him. 'Two minutes alone with you, and I'm flat on my back. Every single time!”
A slow, knowing grin spread over his face. “Is this your way of telling me you want to be on top?”
It was too much. She had been pushed around all day, she was still buzzing with adrenaline, and that smug, self-satisfied look on his face was unbearable. Pressure built up and snapped, faster than she could think or reason. Her hand lashed out and slapped his face, hard.
They stared at each other, stunned. Raine looked at her stinging hand as if it were not her own. Seth seized her wrist and pinned it over her head without speaking. His eyes were hard with controlled anger.
“Oh, God,” she whispered. “I wish I hadn't done that.”
“Me too.” His voice was low and menacing. He settled more of his weight upon her, squashing her breathless. “That one was for free. Do not ever, ever hit my face again. Is that clear?”
She licked her dry lips and tugged at her trapped wrist. “Seth, I—”
“Is that absolutely clear?”
She nodded. Long, silent moments slid by. They were frozen, immobile. As if waiting for a bomb to explode.
Raine pushed at his chest, trying to make room for her lungs to expand. “You're playing power games again,” she said. “Please don't.”
“This isn't a game. You're pushing me, Raine. You're testing me, and I'm just laying down the rules.”
“Your rules,” she said
“That is right.” His face was implacable. “My rules.”
“That's not fair.”
“What's not fair? You wanted to follow the basic rules of civilized behavior, right? Civilized people don't hit each other. Simple enough. Or do the rules only apply to me, and not to you?”
“You just broke into my house, you manipulative bastard,” she hissed. “Don't you dare throw my words back in my face! And I'm not the one who's pushing. You’re the one who's pushing me. You never stop. Move, please. Right now. I can't breathe.”
He shifted his weight off, and propped his head on his elbow. “But it turns you on when I push,” he pointed out. “I feel what makes you hot, and I follow what I feel. That's how I make you come. By pushing you to the place that you need to go.”
It was hard to frame the elusive thought into words with his eyes boring into her face, scattering her wits. “But it drives me nuts!”
“I love driving you nuts.” He lowered his face to kiss her.
She shoved him away. “I mean nuts in a bad way, not in a good way! I've never hit anyone in my entire life, Seth! I'm a total creampuff pacifist, and you—you made me hit you!”
He studied her face for a long moment with a keen, assessing look. “That is such bullshit,” he said finally.
She blinked at him, bewildered.
“Don't give me that confused, innocent look. Your cream-puff act is just a mask. I can see right through it. I see right into you, Raine.”
“Do you?” She squirmed beneath him, restless. “What do you see?”
“Something shining. Beautiful and strong and wild. It pulls on me, makes me ache and burn. Makes me want to howl at the moon.”
His heated words licked at her like flames. Her body relaxed with one last shuddering sign, and she gave in and twined around him, pliant and soft. “Don't push so hard,” she pleaded.
“Stop resisting,” he coaxed, his lips nuzzling, nipping at her throat. “I could take you so incredibly far if you'd just let yourself go. Let me drive, Raine. I swear, I know where I'm going.”
She let out a choked burst of breathless laughter. “How can I trust you if you don't trust me? Look at us, Seth.” She gestured at his body, still pinning her flat “I only weigh about a hundred and twenty pounds, and you—”
“No, you weigh less. Your fridge has nothing but mustard and a couple of wrinkled apples in it. Do you ever eat, or what?”
His critical tone grated on her nerves. “The contents of my refrigerator are nobody's business,” she snapped. “My point is, you don't have to pin me down. Fm not quick enough to run away from you, even if I wanted to.”
“You don't want to?”
She opened her mouth, and closed it, unwilling to give him another opening. Simple honesty won out. She didn't have the presence of mind to tell him anything but the naked truth.
“No. I don't want to run away from you,” she said quietly. “I want you to let go of my wrist. I want you to let me breathe.”
The manacle of his strong fingers slowly relaxed. “I don't want to get hit again,” he warned.
“I promise, I won't,” she assured him.
He pulled her onto her side so they were lying on the floor facing each other, and studied her face as if she were a puzzle he were trying to solve. “I'm sorry I broke into your house “ he said, in a stiff, formal tone. “I'm sorry I scared you.”
She put her hand to his face, caressing the place where she had struck him. “I appreciate the apology.” She echoed his formal tone.
“I did it because I was worried about you,” he added, frowning.
That broke the spell. Raine laughed in his face. “Don't ruin a good apology by justifying bad behavior.”
His cautious smile faded quickly. “Does this mean that Fm your boyfriend, then? Officially?”
Another blind leap. She didn't know what those words meant to him, coming out of the alien landscape of his mind, but something hot and soft was moving in her heart. She couldn't draw back. She could see in his eyes how badly he wanted the strange, awkward declaration.
Don't cling to an illusion of control, Victor had said. For once, she agreed with him. It was time to give her heart a chance to run the show. Things couldn't possibly get any crazier than they already were.
“OK,” she said gently. “You're my boyfriend, if you want to be.”
He let out a long, slow sigh, and hooked his leg over hers,
pulling her closer so that the whole length of her body was touching him. “I want to be. God. Do I ever want to be.”
“All right, then.” She petted his tense jaw with a soothing hand and smiled at him. “You are. It's official. You can relax.”
Seth arranged her hair between their faces, right next to his nose, so he could stroke it and smell it. “I know I come on too strong,” he said, his voice hesitant. “It's a really weird time in my life.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” she invited gently.
“No.” His tone was like a gate clanging shut in her face. She flinched away, feeling thrown back on herself.
He pulled her back against him, cursing softly. “I'm sorry, Raine. I can't talk about it. I'm intense, yeah, but I'm not dangerous.”