I practically ran from the conference room to keep from doing something that would make our situation worse. How the fuck could she ask me not to protect her and at the same time, assume the worse about me? It seemed as if Mitch’s murder was bringing to light everything that remained unresolved between us.

She still didn’t trust me.

I didn’t think Lake would ever lie to me, but with each secret, I felt the pressing need to protect myself from her—to distance myself from her and the ache she was causing in my chest. Her fearless chase was breaking us.

“Why are you walking away?” I heard her call out once we were in the dark parking garage.

“I’m not. I’m running away from doing something we’ll both regret. Don’t push me right now.”

“When are we going to stop running away from each other? I fucked up, but I’m not your enemy so stop treating me like I am.”

What? She thought I was treating her like the enemy?

I pivoted on my heel and ate up the distance between us. One quick glance around showed we were alone. I grabbed her and forced her against my chest. She refused to submit. I could see it in her eyes, but she wasn’t fighting me, either because her mind still cautioned her that a part of me was still dangerous.

“I used to think that no one or nothing could make me turn back because there was nothing worth losing you over. I never counted on you being the one.”

Her gaze narrowed with suspicion clouding the blue-green coloring of her eyes. “What does that mean?”

It means I’d give anything—sacrifice anyone—to save her.

“It means get in the car. I’m taking you home.”

I released her and waited for her to obey. For her sake and mine, she stepped around me and got in. I didn’t move until I heard the door close. When I got in, I turned up the volume and let the heavy guitar of Meg Meyer’s Desire fill the tension between us.

Every dark desire she confessed to I wanted with Lake, and when I got her alone, there was nothing that would stop me from seeing it through. She had forgotten my claim on her mind and body. It would be my pleasure reminding her.

For eleven hours, the anticipation built, and she became more nervous with each passing hour. I could almost tell what she was thinking in the way she’d wring her hands or tap her foot. The nervous glances she didn’t think I caught were a dead giveaway.

She was scared and trying hard not to feel it. She nearly jumped out of her skin when I slid my hand across the console and gripped her bare thigh. The tight skirt she wore was modestly sexy and left me hard all day. I couldn’t stop thinking about the feel of her thighs wrapped around me as I took what I wanted.

It was late when I pulled into the driveway and night had fallen hours ago. I was dead tired, and I could see the same in her eyes when she glanced at me nervously as I shut off the engine. Silently, I gathered our bags and we entered our rented house. The door shutting was like the closing of a bad chapter in our life, and I wondered how much worse I would have to make it before it got better.

“I’m going to pack a bag and stay with a friend.” She spoke so timidly that the finality of her words was almost missed.

“Come again?”

She lifted her chin and said, “I think we should spend a night apart.”

“You think so, do you?” She slowly nodded but suddenly, looked unsure of her answer. “What makes you think I’m letting you go anywhere?”

“How are you going to keep me here?”

I laughed at her counter but felt none of the humor. It was as if she didn’t know me at all. “How?” I repeated. Her face wrinkled in confusion, but then she must have seen it in my eyes because at the very next moment, she ran.

She fucking ran.

And just like the monster I was, I chased.

She had no idea what had reawakened in me due to her lies.

When I caught her in the kitchen and turned her around to witness the fear in her eyes, I felt the painful feeling of regret that quickly disappeared when I reminded myself this was all because of her lies.

As hard as I tried to be, I couldn’t take the look in her eyes so I forced her around and bent her over the nearest flat surface, which happened to be the table. With a forceful kick, I sent one of the chairs flying across the room to bounce off the wall and stepped behind her.

“What you think is no longer a concern, and frankly, I don’t give a shit.”

“Let me go now, or I swear you’ll be sorry when you do.”

“Is that a promise?”

“It’s a guarantee.”

I froze. The ice in her voice did that. It should have deterred me, but it only convinced me that only the old me—the monster—could stop her from being reckless. I needed her to fear me again.

“The only guarantee is when I’m through that you won’t be able to walk.” My fingers scratched her skin, causing her to cry out when I forced her skirt around her waist and tore away her panties until they were bunched around her thighs. I snatched open my jeans and released the painful erection I managed to conceal all day. One pass of my fingers over her heated pussy revealed she was wet and eager.

Without hesitation, I entered her with everything I had and stole her cry with my hand over her mouth. The force of my entrance drove her to the tips of her toes. Her body shook with the pleasure she didn’t want to feel. I gripped her neck with the hand that covered her mouth, pushed her flat, and used my own weight to keep her there as I gave it to her in a way she’d never forget and would eventually crave.

I let him take over and hoped that one day she would forgive me.

“Do you remember me?” I forced myself deeper inside her, wanting to hear that little breathless sound she made when it hurt so good. “Is he who you wanted?”

“I want you,” she moaned. “I don’t want this.”

I didn’t want this either…

“I wish I could believe you.” I tortured her clit with my fingers until she came on my cock with a scream that only made my dick harder. She writhed against the table as if seeking more, unaware that I was about to give her more than she could handle.

I brushed her lips with my fingers. “Suck.”

She obeyed and took the digits inside her hot mouth. I left her body and surveyed my dick, which was sufficiently coated with her juices, as she eagerly tasted my fingers as if it were my dick. That all came to a halt when I began to enter her. My fingers fell from her mouth when she let out a startled cry.

“Keiran,” she whimpered. “What are you—”

“I intend to fuck you again. I’m going to take your ass. Make you submit. Don’t fight it,” I cooed when she struggled. “Breathe.”

I was half way inside her when she finally began to give up the fight. I pressed a kiss on her spine as a reward and slid the rest of the way home. A violent shudder passed through me when I was fully seated, and I was pretty sure Lake had stopped breathing altogether.

“Breathe, baby. I need you to breathe.” I waited for the first breath and moved on the exhale. “Good girl.” I didn’t prepare her for what came next. I simply took.

Hard and unrelenting, I fucked her, demanding her submission while fighting not to give in myself. She owned me, and she didn’t even know it.

Her breathless cries filled with pain and pleasure was a shock to my system, driving my hips into her harder. She sucked me in. The need to come built with each stroke until I couldn’t fight it anymore.