Chapter 25

25

Hunter

Her eyes flash and her breathing grows rough. She moves restlessly under the covers, which dip down between her breasts. I slide my legs off the bed, take the tray and stow it on the side-table. Then I quirk my finger. "Come 'ere."

Her color heightens. For a second, she stays still, then she shakes her head.

"Zara," I lower my voice to a hush, and she shivers. But she still doesn’t move.

"If you don’t do as I say, I’ll have to interpret that as a sign of battle lines being drawn."

"Oh, good." She rises to her knees, then shuffles toward the edge of the bed, and I click my tongue.

"Remember what I said? You can’t leave the bed."

"I have to use the bathroom." She protests.

"I’ll take you."

She scowls at me over her shoulder. "I’m not an invalid."

"And you agreed to a one night stand, an agreement which is invalid the moment your feet touch the floor outside the bed."

"I’ll have to touch the floor of the bathroom," she points out.

"That’s allowed."

She scoffs. "Who makes these stupid rules anyway?"

"I do, babe, you should know that by now."

"Doesn’t mean I have to follow them." She puts out a leg to jump off the bed, and I throw myself across the length of the mattress. I grab her around her waist, and she yells as I pull her to the bed and clamber on top of her.

"Let me go." She begins to struggle under me, and each time she moves, her thigh brushes against the hardening column between my legs. She must feel it, for she freezes. Her color is high, and her entire body vibrates with a nervous energy that tells me she’s both afraid of what I’m going to do next, and excited about it.

"You’re being bratty, hmm?"

"You’re being all dominating, hmm?" She tips up her chin.

"It’s who I am, baby, and you find it appealing"

"Do not."

I lower my head and run my nose up the side of her throat; she shudders.

"You can try to deny it as much as you want, but your body responds to my every touch."

"Doesn’t mean much when my mind’s not in it, does it?"

I stiffen, then pull back. "Are you saying you don’t want me to touch you, Zara?"

She holds my gaze.

"All you have to do is use your safe word, and I’ll stop."

She swallows.

"Well, what’s it gonna be Zara?"

She firms her lips. "I’m not using my safe word, am I?"

A hot sensation stabs my chest. A flush of triumph sweeps under my skin. Huh? Was I so afraid that she’d use her safe word? And would I have allowed her to leave if she had? Would I have gone back on my word? Good thing I don’t have to answer that question. I search between her eyes, then roll off the bed. Once on my feet, I scoop her up in my arms.

"What are you doing?"

"I’m taking care of your needs." I pivot, head for the ensuite, then deposit her next to the toilet bowl. She makes a twirling motion with her finger. I simply fold my arms across my chest.

"Why aren’t you turning around?"

"You don’t get to ask the questions, Fire."

She flushes. "You can’t coerce me into doing anything I don’t want to."

"But I can seduce you into it."

She blinks, then chuckles. "You have me there. And why is it that every time I want to stay angry at you, you say or do something that makes me laugh instead?"

"Maybe it’s because we’re on the same wavelength."

"Not bloody likely. Also" —she turns around and sits on the commode— "if you think I am shy about peeing in front of you, think again."

She holds my gaze, and then the tinkle of a stream of water hitting the pot fills the air. Color sweeps up her throat and her cheeks, but she doesn’t look away. This woman has nerves of steel.

If there’s anyone who can stand by me through the upcoming campaign I’m embarking on to become the Prime Minister of this country, it’s her. Question is, how do I convince her of it? Do I want to convince her of it? Am I really thinking of binding myself to someone after years of never wanting to be tied down? I’m well aware of the optics related to a Prime Ministerial campaign. Having my woman by my side will send the message that I’m grounded and reliable. A serious person who’s ready to settle down. But that’s not why I want her. It’s because it feels right to be with her. To have her by my side feels like the completion of a journey I hadn’t even been aware I was on. I set out to tame her, but somewhere along the way, she began to tame me, and I wasn’t even aware it was happening.

The sound of the water being flushed pulls me out of my reverie. She walks over to the sink and washes her hands. I close the distance to her, wrap my arm about her waist, and tuck her head under my chin. She dries her hands, then glances up. Our gazes catch. The contrast between us couldn’t be starker. She’s not tiny, but not too tall, either. She comes up to the level of my heart, and fits into me like she was made for me.

Her skin is flushed, and I know it’s soft to the touch. Her eyes sparkle with intelligence, with that awareness of her own self that I’ve always found so appealing. There’s something about her confidence that turns me on. It makes me want to own her, possess her. To pit my wits against her, and to celebrate her when she wins an argument, too. A-n-d whoa, that’s a first. I’ve always been confident about my ability to win, but to acknowledge another person’s intellect, to recognize their strengths, to own their successes as mine? That’s definitely a first.

She turns around in my arms, then reaches up and straightens out the fold between my eyebrows.

"Whatever it is you’re thinking has you disturbed," she murmurs.

I tighten my hold on her. "Only because my thoughts have gone down paths never traversed before."

She tips up her chin. "Is that a confession?"

"It’s an observation."

"Oh." She bites down on her lower lip, and my cock twitches. I reach over and slide her lip out from between her teeth. "No one can hurt you, Fire. No one except me."

She scoffs. "Have you any idea how you sound?"

"Like a demented, possessive bastard who can’t get enough of his woman?"

"I’m not your woman." She tips up her chin.

"You are for one more night."

"Only you could define a one night stand as one that extends over two nights."

"Whatever it takes to keep you with me, baby." I smirk.

"You’re so full of yourself."

"And you like me for that."

She glances between my eyes. "It’s true. It’s not that I like you, and yet I can’t keep away from you."

"It’s not that I like you… No… My emotions are too strong to be called like," I parry.

She laughs. "Neither one of us can win a war of the words."

"Only because I’m letting you get away with it."

"Oh, yeah? You’re letting me get away with it, you—" She gasps in surprise as I lift her up and throw her over my shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

"I’m making the most of the time we have left."

"You’re using brute force to win the argument." She wriggles in my hold, and I place my arm over her waist to hold her in place.

"Let me go."

"You know better than to say that, Fire."

"And don’t call me by that nickname," she snaps.

"I’ll call you what I want, when I want, and you’ll answer to it, Fire ."

She groans in annoyance. "And if I don’t?"

"Are you sure you want to find out?"