like he was surprised, but rather, curious about what else I had to say.
“I’m not a prop for you,” I continued. “I’ve got things to learn, too, like everyone else does, but I’m not going to be your little toy to demonstrate moves on so that you look good.”
Something in Dante’s eyes sparked when I said that. “Are you done?” His gaze flickered down my body, head to toe, and then back up.
Now that I’d started talking, and he was listening, my anger bubbled in me like a boiling water threatening to spill over. I just didn’t want to stop. And asking me if I was done—how patronizing could he be?
I folded my arms over my chest. “Maybe I was. But if you’re going to stand there and condescend to me, maybe I’m not.”
“Lay it on me,” Dante said. “You’re cute when you’re mad.”
Cute? Cute?
The anger that’d been simmering like an ember suddenly burst into a flame, surprising even me with its vitriol. I wasn’t cute. I was a patched-in member of Hell’s Ankhor. I was his fucking chaperone! So first he humiliated me in front of everyone else, and then came to my room and condescended to me instead of apologizing?
He thought I couldn’t defend myself? Couldn’t stand up for myself? That I was an easy target?
I didn’t even consciously make the decision. It just happened. I closed the distance between us, grabbed his forearm, and then kicked my leg out and behind his. With my foot, I jerked his feet toward me roughly. And it worked—he yelped in surprise as he lost his balance, and I caught his other arm in hand. He fell backward, through the doorway, halfway in my bedroom and halfway in the hall. I toppled over with him, my body halfway on top of his, caught up in the momentum.
I’d done this move with Jazz plenty of times. But it had never gone quite like this.
Dante’s blue eyes were even wider now, staring at me. His forearms were so strong under my hands, and my foot felt tiny against the curve of his calf. I released his forearms suddenly, like the contact burned, but then I had to stabilize myself with my hands on his chest.
That was even worse. The firm muscle of his pecs under my hands was so steady, and warm, and moving up and down the barest amount with each breath. He watched me carefully, unmoving on the floor, his shocked expression melting back into something curious. Like he was waiting to see what I’d do next.
Desire surged through me as overwhelmingly as the anger had. Without quite understanding why, I wanted him to grab me, flip me over, press my back into the floor instead. Maybe pin me there with one broad hand—it’d spread over most of my chest. Maybe calm me down with that stern, steady voice of his.
What the fuck? The force of that fantasy almost scared me. I’d never had a hookup, let alone a boyfriend, or—or whatever I was imagining here.
I scrambled to my feet, untangling our legs and putting some distance between us. My cheeks flushed hot, and I stared at the floor. If Dante was angry at me—if he wanted to retaliate—I didn’t think I’d be able to defend myself like that again. Not without the element of surprise.
Dante raised himself up onto his forearms and crossed his legs at the ankle, looking perfectly comfortable from the floor. “Shit, Heath. Why didn’t you do that in the gym?”
“What?” That wasn’t the question I was expecting.
Dante grinned and stood up slowly. “That’s a good move. That’s what I was expecting downstairs. You made that look easy.”
I swallowed hard.
Dante took a step over the threshold, into my bedroom. Behind him, the door was still open. For a moment I was nervous he’d be judgmental about the state of my room: the rumpled covers on the bed, the club leather tossed carelessly over my desk chair, the half-drank coffees on the nightstand. But he didn’t even seem to notice. His eyes were focused only on me.
It was a little anxiety-inducing. But also…I kind of liked being the center of his attention.
And yet I couldn’t quite find any words to say. It was like having his gaze on me shut down part of my brain function… but not in an entirely bad way. While his gaze was on me like this, the rest of the world seemed to melt away. Like I could finally stop ruminating on my