"Because." He faced her, staring back at her, his eyes intent, watching her closely. "You're not strong enough for a relationship with me, Kia, and we both know it. You couldn't handle the games Drew wanted from you, and you may not be able to handle the dominance I'd bring into it. He nearly broke you. I won't be responsible for that."
Incredulity filled her. "You think Drew nearly broke me?" she asked in disbelief.
"You know he did, Kia," he snapped. "I watched you, when you allowed herself to leave this fucking apartment. You hid from the damned world. You couldn't face them knowing he had tried to share you. What the hell do you think you're going to face in a relationship with me, Kia? People know. Ex-lovers, friends, they know Cam and I shared our women until his engagement to Jaci. They'll guess what's going on. Is that what you want?"
She inhaled, held on to her control by a thread and refused to scream out in fury. She didn't give a damn about the gossip or what others thought they knew. What raked talons of agony across her soul was that he would use such a flimsy excuse to hold back from her.
"Fun and games are over, Chase," she told him harshly, her voice rough, her throat thickening. "You can leave now. Please lock the door behind you."
She turned away from him. She had to get away from him. If she didn't, she might get violent. Even worse, she might cry. Damn him.
"Don't you turn away from me, Kia." His hand gripped her arm, swinging her around. "You wanted this argument. You wanted the explanation, now deal with it."
"Deal with what, Chase?" she snapped. "A man who believes I'm a coward? One who thinks I deserve less than every other woman he's ever slept with?"
"That wasn't what I said, damn you."
"You called me weak." She pushed away from him.
"This is what I mean." He gripped her arms again. "Look at you, you're already hurt. Less than a month into whatever the hell is ripping through us, and I've already hurt you. This is where we are. You're soft, baby. So soft and gentle, and I'm hard. I'd break you, and I don't want that."
He truly believed it. Kia stared up at him, shaking inside and out, so furious and so filled with disbelief that she could barely make sense of her own emotions.
"I asked you to leave," she said carefully, staring at him with steely resolve. "I deserve more than this, Chase. More than a man who believes I'm too weak for a relationship with him. Perhaps you're the one with the fault. Perhaps you're too weak for a relationship with me."
The challenge. Chase felt his cock harden to impossible degrees.
Damn her. He'd never reacted to a woman like this, no matter the defiance or the challenge. Never before had he wanted to make one scream for pleasure or beg to submit as he wanted this one to do.
Before she could stop him, he had her pressed against the wall, her arms over her head, her wrists shackled in his hand. She showed no fear. He didn't want her frightened of him, but had always worried she would be if she saw what he was inside.
The man who could kill. The man who needed the flaming lust, the challenge, the defiance she was giving him now. He had never seen this side of her, but somehow, he knew, he had always sensed it. Known it was there. And had fought giving it a chance to face him.
But it was only her anger. That stubbornness he saw in her eyes wouldn't make the long haul in a relationship with him. When he was dark and moody, she would cry. If he snapped at her, she would be hurt. If he dared to take her harder or stronger, or challenged her to stretch her sexuality, she would never know how to set her limits.
She wouldn't know her own boundaries, only his. And that would destroy both of them.
"You're right." He stepped back from her. "You deserve better."
He watched as she lifted her chin, her arms moving to her sides as she stepped away from him, walked to the door, and opened it before turning to face him.
"You're damned right I do."
"This won't change anything, Kia," he told her. "The next party, the next ball, we'll end up exactly as we ended up tonight."
"Bet me!" Her nostrils flared, her blue eyes hardened to gemstone brightness in her pale face.
With her hair mussed from their lovemaking, her neck still showing the scrape of whisker burn, and her lips swollen from his kisses, she looked like an enraged sex goddess.
And he wasn't about to bet her, because he knew the truth of it. He was hurting her, hurting them both, and he hated it. But he was learning. Staying away from her was impossible, and after tonight it would be even more so.
"Goodbye, Chase." Her lips thinned, her expression so filled with feminine purpose that he felt like an animal ready to rut.