Danil’s Mate(21)

Danil whipped away from her, a growl of rage seeming to roll right out of him. He turned and slammed out of the room, nearly taking the door off the hinges in the process.

Dora stared at the closed door. That’s the way he ended a conversation? Hell, no. He had a lot to learn about arguing with a Katsaros. Dora had taken one step across the bed before the door slammed back open and he was striding back into the room, his hands in fists.

“You think I’m the kind of man who would kick you out of town?” he demanded from her. His eyes narrowing in anger but, Dora also saw, hurt as well. “You think I’d swallow you whole in the back of my car and run you out of town a few days later?”

“I-” Dora clapped her mouth shut. She had thought that. Because she knew men. And it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility. But she was also beginning to know Danil. She cocked her head to the side. And it had seemed out of character. Maybe that’s part of the reason it had shocked her so much.

He stared at her. Breathing like an animal. Barely in control. “Do you know where we are? This is my house.” He gestured around. “No. I’m not kicking you out, Pandora,” he growled out the words through clenched teeth. “I’m keeping you.”

And the door slammed shut again as he stormed out.

Well.

Dora pushed her hand through her hair. She was as perceptive as the next gal. Probably more so. And she knew when a man needed some space. But yeah. That one required some follow-up.

She bounded off the bed and out the bedroom. She saw another door slam down the hall so she followed it. Pushed it open as dramatically as he had.

“What do you mean ‘keeping me’?” she demanded. “Keeping me hostage?”

“Don’t push me right now, Pandora,” he growled, sitting on the edge of what had to be his bed. A king-sized wooden monstrosity that could have comfortably slept eight.

“I’m gonna push you whenever I want, Danil,” she yelled at him, one finger in his face. “It’s what I do. It’s what I’m good at. So you’re gonna tell me right now what you mean by ‘keeping me’.”

“Fine,” he said, staring up into her eyes. “Fuck it. But I’m better at showing than telling.”

And with that he leaned forward and stripped her tank top right off of her. Dora’s mouth fell right open as he slipped a finger in the front waistband of her lacy boy shorts and dragged her forward.

He was so tall that even sitting on the bed in front of her, they were still at eye level.

One of his massive hands came around to the back of her neck. Possessively knotting itself in her hair. The other hand stayed tucked in the front of her underwear.

“If you still have questions after this, we’ll talk then,” he said, all but against her lips.

And then his lips were on hers. Not like their first kiss, when he’d smashed them together in an unstoppable explosion. No, this was an inexorable press, a melding. His mouth clamped to hers. His tongue sweeping through her mouth, exploring places she hadn’t even known she’d had.

Similar to the first time, Dora felt herself caught between pulling away and pushing forward. Her brain was in a tailspin and it was all she could do to stay on her feet as his hand trailed around the waistband of her underwear, touching her hip to hip and then finally all the way around back. That same hand sailed up her spine, like he was zipping her up. And she felt the electricity that he left in his wake.

She shifted on her feet, a little gasp escaping her as both of his hands suddenly dropped to the back of her knees. Yanking her forward, she was suddenly straddling his lap, completely off the ground.

She barely had the chance to think smooth before he was gripping the back of her head and growling into her mouth.

“No more seedy hotel,” he said, pulling her bottom lip between his teeth. “You live here now.”

His lips fell to her neck and Dora’s head tipped to one side, giving him access.

“At your house?” she asked weakly, trying desperately to regain her hold on whatever the hell was happening right now.

“No. Yes,” he said. “Yes, at my house. But I mean here.” His hands gripped her ass and yanked her even further forward so that her core pressed against his incredibly hard cock. “I mean you live in my lap now.”

Dora let out a silent gasp; his words were like a zipping buzz through her blood. Every muscle in her body contracted. She could not believe he’d just said that.

She pressed herself against him, desperate for relief from the racing tension he had shooting through her.

“I am where you live,” he growled, tipping her backwards, crushing her to him as he nipped along her collarbone. Her shoulders. “I am home.”