Steely determination.
Crap.
“Tyra, get me right now. You are not gonna slip in a movie about love and redemption and cry by my side because, even though you’ve seen it before, it still moves you and then rip that shit away from me. You are not gonna ride my fingers, whisper to me to f**k you and take my c**k the way I wanna give it to you, panting for more and then rip that shit away from me too. You are not gonna clash with me, toss your attitude my way when most every other woman shies away when I’m me then rip that away. And you are not gonna expose that soft spot you got that I like and I wanna protect and take that away from me either. Babe, I told you, you didn’t get it and you need to get it.” His fingers pressed deeper into my skin. “You are Chaos now. I am Chaos. You think you got the option but you don’t. There is no goin’ back. I’ve claimed you.”
He wanted to protect my soft spot.
And he’d claimed me.
Oh boy.
“You let me go,” I whispered.
“Does it feel like I let you go?”
No, one could say it absolutely did not since he had me in his arms pinned to a wall.
Still.
“It doesn’t work that way, Tack.”
“Try me and see.”
I was right.
Determination. Steely.
“I don’t want to live in your world,” I informed him.
“You took my hand and walked with me to my bed.”
“A bed you kicked me out of.”
“And a day later, you walked right back into my world and demanded to stay there. You knew the risks, babe. And you took them. And here we are, here you are and this is where you’re stayin’.”
“You’re scaring me again,” I said softly.
His palm slid to below my ear, fingers in my hair, thumb pressed to the side of my face and his face dipped closer. “No, baby, I’m not scaring you. You’re just scared. You give me a little more, you’ll see I’ll protect it. More, I’ll protect that too. More, I got that too. When you give it all to me, if it works with us in a way that lasts, you’ll never be scared. You’ll feel safe enough to have your eyes open, your arms up and you’ll enjoy the f**k outta the ride. I’ll see to that, Red, and that’s a promise.”
God. Seriously. Totally annoying when he was right. And, I decided just then, when he was being sweet. And reassuring. And protective.
Damn.
I kept at it.
“Your whole world scares me,” I admitted. “In fact, your entire life scares me.”
“Like I said, baby, you give a little, you take my hand again like you did that night, I’ll guide you through the nightmare. We’ll make it to the other side and I promise, along the way, you’ll enjoy the ride.”
Oh hell. He was getting to me.
“I need to think about this,” I told him.
“That’s exactly what you don’t need to do. But still, I’ll give that to you.”
I felt my back straighten as the words came out of my mouth sharply. “Well, thanks. Big of you.”
Tack grinned.