"Spend the rest of our lives making me pay for lying to you, if that's what will make you feel better. But I don't fucking regret it, and I won't fucking apologize for it. You know we've had four new deliveries from your stalker since you got out of the hospital? Not to mention what could have happened yesterday if we hadn't been there." His tone was aggressive and passionate, and I swallowed heavily with anxiety. Four new deliveries? Photos or dolls? Or something new? What about whoever had tried to kill me? Fucking hell... maybe he had a point.
I wrapped my arms around myself, ducking my gaze away from his intuitive, soul-searching stare. I'd backed myself against the pantry door, so I couldn't even make an easy escape without pushing past him.
"Kody..." I started, then licked my lips as I searched for the words. I was so, so angry at him for what he'd done. For fucking lying to me and letting me think it was all on Archer and my father. But...
"Pretend to hate me all you fucking want, Madison Kate," he continued, stepping closer and crowding my personal space once more, "but don't even try to pretend you don't feel this magnetic pull between us. Don't fucking act like you're not basically crawling out of your own skin to fuck me right now."
His hands planted on the pantry door to either side of my head, and he leaned in, hovering his lips over mine just a fraction of an inch away from kissing me again. He wasn't going to, though. I knew it as certainly as I knew he was right. God damn him straight to hell, he was right.
"So, what are you scared of, MK?" he taunted me, waving that red flag like he had a death wish. "Fuck me now to get it out of your system, then plot your revenge tomorrow."
I wavered. I should say no. I should tell him to go fuck himself with all that arrogance.
"Come on, Princess," he purred, deliberately poking my feral anger with his use of Archer’s nickname for me, "fuck me like you actually hate me, because we both know you don't."
I planted my hands against his chest, ready to shove him away from me and storm out of the kitchen with my pride and fury firmly intact. But as they said, the road to hell was paved with good intentions. My fingers kissed the hot, hard muscles of his chest, and before I could follow through on my intention, my mouth found his.
Well, shit.
Kody didn't question me. He knew I was still riding the fury and was more than happy to let me fuck him angry. Which was good because angry was the only way he was getting me at all. His lips met mine kiss for kiss, his tongue sweeping into my mouth and swiftly turning the tables of power on me. Before I knew it, I was pinned to the pantry door with his huge body pressed to every damn inch of me while he kissed me with rage of his own, claiming my mouth in a way that promised he'd do the same to my body.
I groaned into his kiss, biting his lower lip and curling my fingertips into the hard flesh of his back. Suddenly I was more than willing to give him exactly what he'd been taunting me with. Kodiak Jones wanted hate sex? I'd fucking well show him the meaning of that.
My teeth sunk into his lip harder, drawing blood, and he pulled away with a hiss of pain. The look on his face wasn't indignation or disgust, though. Nope, that was pure, undiluted lust. Something he confirmed a second later when his mouth crashed back down on mine and his hands slid to the backs of my thighs. He hitched my legs up, and I happily wrapped them around his waist, clinging on as he ground against me and made me moan in encouragement.
"Fuck," Kody hissed against my lips as my fingernails tore down his bare back. He didn't stop, though. He just kissed me harder, letting the coppery tang of blood taint our kiss. My back left the pantry door as he stepped back, causing me to cling onto his body until he spun us around and deposited my mostly bare ass down on the marble island.
"Holy shit, that's cold," I protested, shivering as the stone met my warm skin.