Hard Limits(44)

She shook her head, opened her mouth, but she couldn't say anything because he brought her to him and kissed her, deep and hard.

"I. Love. You," he repeated, punctuating each word. "Is this clear enough for you? You didn't seem to grasp the concept yesterday."

"Nico-"

"Nico nothing. You asked me for two days. I'm giving them to you, but you won't be allowed out of my sight during that time. Now answer my question: Who's cyberstalking you? Is that why you have so many safeguards on your social media?"

She took a step backward, putting distance between them. "Nobody's-"

"Do not fucking lie to me," he growled. "We are past lies."

"Marc. He's the one cyberstalking me," she admitted with a sigh. He was right; they were past lies. "The first couple of times I went to the cops, but there's nothing they can do, so I just block him. It's no big deal."

By the looks of it, it was a frigging big deal to him. "You lied to me," he bit out, his expression forbidding. "All while demanding full disclosure from me. All while insisting on honesty and transparency."

"Technically, I didn't lie to you."

He took a step toward her. "No, you just omitted the truth. I got a ton of shit from you for doing the same thing. Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask."

"I asked if you knew his whereabouts. You said nothing."

"Again, technically, I don't know his whereabouts."

Considering the feral way he was looming over her now, that was the wrong thing to say. "Say 'technically' once more and I swear God I'm going to lose it. You have a sick fuck who has already tried to kill you once, a fugitive from the law, cyberstalking you, and you didn't think I should know? When the hell were you going to tell me?"




 

 

"Please understand," she began, trying to placate him. "I didn't know you then. I didn't know this, us, was going anywhere. Besides, I didn't want to worry you. I still don't. You already have enough to handle without me adding to it. I told you, it's no big deal."

"So never."

He'd lost her. "What?"

"You were never going to tell me. Some double standards you got, Goth girl. You demand shit from others you don't give yourself. You act so brazen, so 'what you see is what you get', when in fact it's all a smoke screen. You don't want anyone to see the real you."

"I don't know who the real me is, damn it!"

"And you won't ever find out until you stop hiding behind appearances. You demand honesty, but you don't give it back, not even to yourself."

He was probably right, but she wasn't going to admit it anytime soon. And she was done trying to placate him. "You're a good one to talk about full disclosure, with your double and triple lives and agendas. You're in no position to lecture me. Coming here with your men to 'claim' me, as you call it, was a unilateral decision. Get off the pedestal."

He ignored her. "You should have told me, dammit. I could have done something about it."

"I don't need you to do anything about it. Marc is my problem. I will take care of it. Me."

"Relying on someone doesn't make you weak."

"Whatever."

His eyes were stormy. "You and I, we'll have to have a chat about what it means to have a relationship. You belong to me. Your problems are mine too."

"I strongly object to belonging to anybody."

"Object all you want. It doesn't change squat. You are getting private bodyguards. Self-defense classes too."

"I don't need those. I can manage on my own."

She might as well have saved her breath because he totally ignored her. "Once this wedding is over, we are going to address this cyberstalking issue. From now on I'm going to be monitoring your social media." At her snort, he added, "And that's not the proper way to make it up to me for keeping me in the dark. Not the proper way at all."

She cocked her eyebrow. "Oh, am I supposed to be making it up to you now?"

"Bare yourself for me," he ordered, crossing his arms over his chest.

Seconds ticked by and he didn't move a muscle, his gaze burning her. "What? You serious?"

"Like a heart attack. I'm here to keep an eye on you, after all."

Jesus Christ. He was serious. 

She didn't cower. Not even for an instant. If she cowered now, she'd spend the rest of her life tiptoeing around her man. Not acceptable. Eyes defiant, she moved the straps over her shoulders, and her dress slid down, pooling at her feet. Next were her undies. She stepped out of them and stood in front of him naked, wearing her choke collar and the military boots.

"Now what?" she asked, chin up, chest out, giving him as much attitude as she could muster.