I expected Everett to say no to me helping plan our next move. Of course I did, because heâs infuriating, overprotective, and just about the most pig-headed person Iâve ever met, only beaten by Storm. The thing is, he doesnât have a say in the matter, and thatâs all I can think about the whole way through my shower as he hovers by the door.
Every few seconds his shadow moves past the open door, which would have been closed if he hadnât have barked orders at me that he wanted me in his sights at all times. If he wasnât being such a dick, I would almost think itâs cute. But he is, so I donât.
I take a long time washing my hair, shaving my legs, washing away the day from hell. The longer Everett has to stew about what I said, the closer his resolve will be to snapping. He may know me like the back of his hand, but he forgets that I know him just as well. I may not know what heâs been doing for the last eight years, or what he does to make him think heâs such a dangerous predator, but I know his soul.
When I finally shut the water off and wrap myself in a towel, I think about putting my robe on, but then I decide against it. If he wants to play a game, he better be ready to lose. I soak up some of the water from my hair before discarding the second towel and making my way back into my bedroom without sparing him so much as a look.
The towel Iâve wrapped around myself barely covers my ass, and so much as leaning forward will expose it to him, so naturally thatâs the first thing I do as I approach my drawers. Iâm not looking for anything in particular, in fact, I have no intention of getting dressed any time soon, but just knowing heâs staring at me, and that itâs torturing him is enough to have me opening every drawer and coming out empty-handed each time.
âWhat the fuck are you doing?â Everett finally asks when I move to my bedside table and open the drawer there. The contents are limited to my Kindle, a vibrator, and some lip balm, so I close it before answering.
âIâm sorry?â
âWhat. Are. You. Doing?â He takes heavy steps toward me, prowling across the room like a man on a mission.
âOh, Iâm looking for something.â I shrug, moving both hands to the knot in the front of my towel.
I turn away from him and back to the drawer, because Iâve never had a very good poker face and the moment he figures out Iâm taunting him is the moment heâs going to snap⦠why did I turn away again? Donât I want him to snap? To take me even though he shouldnât.
âWhat are you looking for?â he asks.
I stop what Iâm doing and think for a minute. Fuck. I should have actually had something I was looking for in the eventuality that he would ask. âMy vibrator,â I tell him noncommittally. Iâm quite literally poking the bear and hoping like hell heâs going to bite.
Thereâs nothing but silence for so long I almost look over my shoulder to make sure heâs still there, but then I feel him. His heat only a breath away from my bare back, the anger vibrating from his body only making the fire between my thighs rage hotter. I bend forward again and open the drawer and pull out the small pink bullet vibe I take whenever I spend a night away from home in case the mood strikes me. Luckily when I stayed here the weekend before my parents died, I left in a hurry and completely forgot to pack it. Itâs been the last thing on my mind since Iâve been here, but right now I canât think of anything else.
âWhat do you think youâre doing with that, little dove?â he growls, the question so low and deep it almost makes me drop it. His breath whispers across my back and an involuntary shiver makes its way across my skin.
âThought I might do a little self-care.â I smirk to myself, barely able to keep a straight face. I want to get a reaction out of him, I want him to snap and take me the way he wants to, the way heâs denying himself.
A steel bar of a forearm wraps around my waist and tugs me back to him until I collide with solid muscle. His body is hot and hard against my back, and the towel Iâm wearing does nothing to protect me from the burn.
âYouâre playing with fire, little dove.â
I close my eyes for a moment to steady myself, his touch sends me to the edge of my consciousness until Iâm teetering on the precipice like a tightrope. Every rational thought disappears, and all thatâs left is Everett.
âI donât know what you mean.â
Before I can take another breath, heâs turned me to face the bed and pushed me face first into the plush mattress. His weight follows closely, and all I can feel is his heat and hardness against my back.
âYou know exactly what I mean, Wynter,â he drawls right before his teeth clamp down on my shoulder.
I hiss out a breath, the pleasure and pain mingling together and making it hard to conjure a response. With anyone else I would be able to think clearly even as they play my body, but not him. Everett has always been able to render me speechless, even when we were still kids and had no idea of the attraction growing between us.
âThe other night I told you your orgasms belong to me. You donât get any pleasure, unless I say so, and I know for a fact I made myself very fucking clear.â Another bite right next to the last once, except this one stings more and for a moment I wonder if heâs broken the skin. His tongue laps at the sore spot, his lips brushing over the battered flesh sensitive from his assault. âSo Iâm certain you werenât intending to get yourself off right in front of me, were you, little dove?â
Goose bumps make their way across every bare piece of skin and I barely withhold the moan teetering at the edge of my throat. Fuck. When he talks like this I want him to take me, I want him to do every dirty, fucked-up thing he wants to my body, and Iâll lie here and take every bit of it. But that doesnât detract from the fact he thinks Iâm too fragile to include in things that certainly involve me. Thatâs the problem with men in families like mine, they always see women as weak. Weâre the lesser species, and thatâs just the way itâs always been. There are positives to their reasoning. They think weâre so precious that putting us in danger is for the detriment of the family itself. Weâre the ones that hold everything together, weâre the ones they come home to at night and forget about whatever horrors the day held.
But thatâs not how it is anymore. Or at least it shouldnât be. Iâm just as capable of running both sides of this family as Storm is. Iâve trained for it, and while I havenât been as involved in the darker sides of our familyâs legacy, I have studied it. I know every detail about every man that works for us, right down to the runners on the corners. I know the ins and outs of every single facet of Frost Industries, and thatâs what they seem to forget.
âThatâs exactly what I was intending to do,â I say as steadily as I can manage.
The confession is a lie, but Iâm hoping he wonât know without being able to see my face. Itâs always been easier to lie to him without having to look him in the eye when I do it. Thatâs how I avoided telling him about Steve Dobbins who tried to touch me junior year. Everett was in college at the time, but we spoke every day, just the way best friends do. If my brothers didnât find out and tell him I would have been free and clear on that one. I wiggle beneath him, testing just how much room I have to move, and Iâm not disappointed when I find he has me pinned completely.
âI mean, you did basically just tell me that youâre not going to punish me because I canât handle it, so really, what possible consequences could there be for a little self-care?â I smile to myself. Itâs been too long since I could push him like this. Before it was innocent, I just liked to see the possessive, protective streak flash through his eyes, but now itâs more. I want him to unleash the monster he holds at bay.