All Good Things(37)

I wanted to shake her. I wanted to throttle her. How could she not see she was the most important thing to me? I had never allowed a woman to even enter these walls that was not either working for me or family. She was the fucking definition of different.

"Damn it, Olivia." I rubbed my forehead as I slid off the stool. Maybe I'd been wrong about not having a desire to punish her. The devil knows she deserved it right now. I could take her over my knee right here and now, and slap her ass until it was pink with my handprint.

"Jace, I'm sorry." She said without humor. Obviously, she could sense my bubbling anger. "I just don't see a threat here."

I grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses. Maybe if I could get her drunk, I could dig up some semblance of rationality within her thick skull that might make her realize self-preservation was not as absurd of an idea as she thought. I poured the glasses and handed her one. She nodded in thanks, as she brought the glass to her lips, taking a sip.

"Please try to understand this from my point of view." I would beg if she wanted. I would do anything so she would let me assign her a bodyguard. "I only want you safe until this blows over. Let me assign Gabe to you for your protection."

She took another sip of the wine as she pondered the idea. Hope sparked in my chest. "Do you have a bodyguard, Jace?"

I frowned. What relevance did this have? "No."

"Well, do you not think your supposed enemies would just go straight for the target then?" She asked. "I mean, it would be easier to just eliminate you rather than to get their hands all messy with me? Am I right?"

Yes, I most definitely was interested in spanking her. I would have to reconsider on the contract if she continued testing me this way. "No, Olivia. You are very wrong."

"Oh?"

"My enemies do not want to kill me. They want to hurt me. They want to break me down so I am a hollow, shell of a man, and if they think you are the key to my undoing, they will use you without hesitation."





Chapter 8

I stared at Jace for a long moment, hoping to God he was joking. When I realized he was not, I picked up my glass of wine, pressed the rim to my lips and threw my head back. When I set my empty glass down on the counter and stood, stumbling a little from nerves, Jace's eyes widened. If I was not so rightfully pissed off, I might have laughed.

"What the hell are you doing, Olivia?"

I turned my back to him. "I'm getting dressed and going home."

"The hell you are." Jace growled and then I was in his arm. He threw me over his shoulder, and stomped, angrily, to the stairs.

"Put me down right now, Jace." I yelled as my fists pounded against his back. I couldn't remember the last time I was this angry. I was fuming. The moment he set me down on my feet, I was going to show him just how angry I was. How dare he think this is appropriate?

Jace's hand came down hard on my almost bare ass, stinging my skin. "Enough." He barked. The sound of his voice rumbled through my stomach and I fisted my hands, my nails digging into my palms, as I thrashed, relentlessly. I was not about to make this easier on him. Hell, no! He just spanked me! Was he insane? Was I insane for feeling almost warmed by the sting over my rear?

Jace didn't bother to acknowledge the fact that my fists were pounding, insistently, against the small of his back as he climbed the stairs. I couldn't help but think if he fell, I would most certainly be dead. I would fall head-first into the sharp looking steps. The thought caused me to halt my incessant beating on his back and I whimpered.

I allowed my body to hang limply over his shoulder, as he walked quickly down the length of the hall toward his bedroom. My body's limpness was deceiving to the rush of anger I felt building within as Jace pulled me from his shoulder. My body slid against his before the pads of my feet touched the floor. Warmth pooled between my legs at the friction and that only served to provoke my anger.

"You have no right to force me to remain here." I snapped. My fists were clenched tight and my nails dug deep into my skin, moments away from cutting. "You were nothing more than a fuck to me, so don't start acting like you hold any rights over me. You wanted it this way, Jace." There! How did he like it? He had said I could be nothing more then sex to him when I had asked him...begged him to make love to me, and now he thought he had the right to boss me around as though he was some permanent part of my life? No way, I didn't see a ring on my finger, and I sure as hell, didn't feel love in the air. Jace was obviously controlling and I simply was not interested in submitting to his whims.

His eyes flamed, as he stared down at me. He didn't speak for a long moment, and when he finally did, his voice was eerily calm. "No woman has ever made me as pissed off as you."