She should’ve kept her stupid mouth shut. Drake was clearly just trying to embarrass her, and she should’ve bit her lip and taken it. But the sight of that bitch’s hand on his arm had sent her into a fury that she couldn’t control.

Her body trembled with it and she was a hair’s breadth from leaping over the counter and choking her where she stood.

Which was probably about half as bad as Drake had felt when he’d flown up to see her wrapped in Grey’s arms.

This woman was nothing to Drake. Willa knew that, and it still hurt to see him flirting with her. To Drake’s mind, she had been in love with Grey and might still be. He must have been devastated to see them together. She’d only made it that much worse when she jumped off the cliff to save Grey.

And Drake still didn’t know the truth of the matter.

That she would throw herself off a thousand cliffs for him, and the connection she felt to Grey paled in comparison.

She swallowed hard, dislodging the lump in her throat as she stared into the clerk’s terrified eyes.

“My husband is such a kidder,” she said with a forced smile she made sure didn’t reach her eyes. “He knows if he brought another woman into our bed, I would disembowel her and feed her entrails to our dog, Kujo.”

Drake pinned her with a chilly gaze, but she didn’t care. Let him be mad. He accused her of pretending and she made a vow then and there she would never pretend with him again. She was going to flaunt her feelings for him every chance she got and hope eventually he finally saw the truth.

She was crazy in love with him.

“Now she’s the one pulling your leg,” he said to Raina. “She knows full well I’m my own man and I do as I please. Don’t you, dear?” He turned to face her again, his brows raised in an icy challenge.

The look had her stammering and she tried to think through the haze of fury at the thought of him and this Barbie wannabe tangled together in her sheets.

Was he honestly attracted to this woman or was he just trying to hurt her?

She wouldn’t blame him if he was. The girl was gorgeous. All long legs and blond hair and toned stomach. Everything Willa wasn’t. And maybe that’s what he wanted now. The exact opposite of her. Maybe she really had broken what was between them and it could never be fixed.

She shoved that thought and the despair that came along with it aside and focused on the woman in front of her.

“I guess it’s up to Raina to decide what the right thing to do is here. You want to take my husband for a spin?” She gave the woman a long, hard stare. “Do the right thing, Raina,” she urged in a low, tight voice.

The clerk stepped back from the counter and gave Willa a shaky nod in response.

“Uhm, I think you guys have some stuff to work out between you. I don’t want to get in the way of that.” She took one last lingering look at Drake, letting her gaze travel up and down the length of him before blowing out a sigh of regret. “If you ever get divorced, look me up, though.”

She ambled off into the office behind the counter and Willa barely managed to hide her smile as she faced Drake.

“Smart girl,” she murmured as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Anyway, what did you need to buy?”

He held her gaze for so long, she had to fight the urge to fidget under the weight of it.

“What was that?” he growled, gripping her elbow and leading her toward the back of the store.

She wheeled around to face him. “You started it by telling her you wanted to sleep with her. I was just being honest. Whether you want to be or not, you’re still my husband.”

His eyes narrowed and his voice got twenty degrees colder. “No. You started it by telling her we spent the entire week having sex. I told you not to engage people.”

“That’s not what you said!” Her cheeks flamed with the heat of indignation. “You told me not to tip anyone off that I was your captive. And I didn’t. In fact, I played up my role as the dutiful wife, so I don’t see what you’re so mad about.”

So maybe that part wasn’t entirely accurate. She knew why he was mad. She just wasn’t going to apologize for it. Sometimes a man needed a knock in the head to get his mind right and if she had to be the one to don the boxing gloves, she would.

She turned and pretended to rifle through a stack of t-shirts on a shelf, but she could feel his tension and the weight of his stare.

“Don’t push me, Willa,” he warned in a low, tight voice. “I’ve been pushed far enough and I won’t be held accountable for my actions.”

He’d gone from chilly to fuming, and an irrational frisson of relief snaked through her. Irritated, angry Drake she could handle. In fact, that was the Drake she knew best and he was pretty sexy. It was ice-cold Drake that she couldn’t bear. If those were her only options right now, she’d much rather he was pissed off at her. Anything but the frigid tone and glacial stares.

She turned to face him again and crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh really? What are you going to do to me?” She let her voice drop and laid a hand over his heart, her insides melting when his eyes went dark with renewed and reluctant need. “Lock me in a room?” She took a step closer and rolled up onto her tiptoes until her mouth was almost touching his. “Spank me?”

He moved so fast, the air left her lungs in a whoosh and suddenly, she found herself pinned against the wall in a little alcove between a hat rack and a shelf filled with I <3 Montana shot glasses.

“Do you want me to spank you?” he murmured, sliding a knee between her thighs until the pressure was right where she needed it to be. “Do you think you’d like it, Willa?”

He leaned in until his chest mashed against hers, making her nipples peak beneath her sweater. He wedged a hand between them to cup her breast in a rough caress that made his breath hitch and hers stall in her chest.

They were in the middle of a store, in public. Granted, the place was empty, and Slutty-Pants McHomewrecker was in the back room but still, anyone could come along.

When he slanted his mouth over hers, though, all thoughts of propriety skittered off into space and all she could think about was him.

Drake and that firm mouth, punishing and worshipping at the same time. Taking and giving as he plunged his tongue between her lips and ground his thigh against her pubic bone in a soul-shattering rhythm.

He groaned against her mouth and slid his hand under her sweater, grunting in approval when he finally got to skin.

Her hips moved faster as she rode his thigh, increasing the pressure to the point that she knew she was in trouble. She’d spent the previous night wet and wanting, plagued by sex dreams that all ended the same way, with her waking up in a cold sweat, aching and so close to coming, she wanted to scream. Could she seriously have an orgasm in the middle of a store in broad daylight, though?

He pinched her swollen nipple, sending another hot stab of lust through her that hit her right between the thighs.

Hell yes, she could.

She opened her eyes and took a quick glance around the store and then slipped her own hand between them until it closed over Drake’s thick, jeans-clad cock. His whole body shuddered as she traced his massive erection and then clamped her teeth down on his bottom lip. If she was going over the edge, she was taking him with her.

She’d just found her groove, rubbing through the thick fabric, working him up and down, when he closed his free hand over her wrist and stopped her cold.

He tugged his other hand from beneath her sweater and shook his head slowly, a puzzled frown knitting his brow. “You know, now that I think about it, I think I’m going to pass.” He stepped back with a slow grin and reached out to pat her cheek like one would their kid brother. “But I appreciate the offer.”

He walked away, leaving her staring after him in stunned silence and a pool of want.

It took her brain a full twenty seconds to unravel what had just happened. He’d been fucking with her. Teasing her. Using sex to hurt her the way she’d hurt him.

Jesus, that was harsh. Or, he’d meant it to be, at least. But she couldn’t help but feel a reluctant sense of admiration for the nefarious son of a gun. If she was what he thought—a slick little liar who would use anything at her disposal to get him to let his guard down—then he’d certainly found a way to strike back. Especially given their undeniable chemistry. Only problem was that she knew better. A man could fake a lot of things, but the want etched on his face, the swelling of that cock against her, there was no question he was hurting as much as she was.

Even now, his strong throat worked and she could still make out the iron-like thickness behind his zipper as he moved around to the hardware section of the store, steadfastly ignoring her.

She willed her pounding pulse to slow, and closed her eyes to get herself together. It wasn’t fun, feeling this way, but at least she knew where she stood, and now she knew one other thing for sure.

If they were alone right now, or if she hadn’t been stuck in chains last time, he never could’ve pulled it off.

She saw the way he looked at her, and she knew with every fiber of her being that she could convince him. Show him with her body what he refused to hear with words. Getting free from her chains and seducing him. That would do it. Letting him see that, even given the choice, she wouldn’t run from him. He’d have to see then.

She waited for her heartbeat to return to normal before following quietly, watching as he gathered supplies that she could only assume were in preparation for Grey’s return made her stomach clench. Drake was obviously expecting him and his posse to show up sooner than later, and was preparing for their arrival. That knowledge only strengthened her resolve. Before they did and lives were lost needlessly, she had to get him to believe her. To see the truth.

Because if she couldn’t? It could cost her everything. Her former pack. Her childhood friend.

And, worst of all, the only man she’d ever loved.