Obsessed (The Protectors #13) - Sloane Kennedy Page 0,73

of them do. Well excuse me if I'm not okay with waiting two years for that to happen."

His jab stung. But before I could respond, he was continuing on his own.

"So here's how this is going to go," Sam said. "You"—he looked directly at Ronan—"are going to take Ryan someplace safe and you’re going to make sure that no one touches even a hair on his head. Elliot is going to go with you so Ryan thinks it’s just a brotherly adventure. I will be asking Cruz to go along as well because I know that he’ll do anything to keep Elliot and Ryan safe." Sam's gaze shifted to me. "I'm going to be the bait. You're so certain this man will try to take someone you care about from you, well, we’re going to see if that's true or not."

It was safe to say that every single word he said had me seeing red. More and more red. Endless swaths of it.

"Mr. Wittier, I understand your frustration—" Ronan began.

"Do you, Mr. Grisham?” Sam asked, keeping his eyes on me as he spoke. “And I think under the circumstances you can call me Sam. We can hash out the details of my plan a bit later but for now I think Matias and I should have a little talk."

As much as I hated to admit it, Sam's tone was having an untimely effect on my dick. From the moment I'd met the man, I’d loved his submissiveness. But I could completely get on board with this version of Sam too. I couldn't help but imagine him leaning over my back as he held me down and told me everything that he was going to do to me in that no-nonsense tone of his.

I was more than a little surprised when Ronan left, but also glad. The second the kitchen door closed, I was on Sam. I walked him backwards until he hit the refrigerator behind him. He put out his hands to grab my arms but made no effort to escape me. "You're not doing this," I said simply.

"Unless you plan on locking me in a room and throwing away the key, this is exactly what I'm going to be doing. I don't care how many fake social media accounts I have to create so I can tout our love in front of the world. If that's what it takes to keep my kids safe, then that’s what's going to happen."

“No—”

“That’s a word you don’t get to say to me anymore, Matias,” Sam cut in, his voice steady and even. “You gave up the chance to have any say in the decisions I make when you walked out on me like I was nothing. If you don’t get on board with this, then Ryan and I will run but you won’t be part of that either. You’ll never know what happened to us. Is that really something you want to have to live with for the rest of your life?”

“I’ll—” I began before I realized I had nothing. I shook my head because it was the best I could do.

Sam’s eyes softened a bit and then his hand was coming up to cradle my cheek. “Keep me safe, Matias. End this thing with Bishop and we can both go back to the lives we had.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him the truth… that I had absolutely no desire to go back to the life I’d had because he hadn’t been a part of it, but I had the sense to keep the words to myself. Instead, I kissed him hard. I was glad when he kissed me back. When I pulled back, Sam looked startled and confused.

Good.

I didn’t want to be the only one who had no clue what was happening. But instead of just telling him that, the insecure, has-to-protect-himself-at-all-costs Matias reared his ugly head and the next words out of my mouth were the last ones I should have been saying because there was absolutely no truth behind them.

“Fake it till you make it, right?”

Chapter 22

Sam

"What's that one called?"

"Spinosaurus," I heard Ryan's computer say. "It is the biggest carnivore."

"Carnivore, that's the one that eats meat, right?" Matias asked.

"Yes. But it is not the biggest dinosaur.”

"Wait, let me guess," Matias interrupted. "I remember this from the movie. The kid said it when his sister got sneezed on. It's a… Boogersaurus."

Ryan’s sweet laughter had me leaning against the wall just outside of his door. After