“Don’t push me.” He gritted his teeth, trying hard to suppress his anger. “And watch what you say to me. I was in your bed last night. I don’t know what kind of man you think I am, but if you’re accusing me of cheating—”
With her hands on her hips, she lifted her head so she could look him in the eye. “I am.”
He nudged past her and headed for the door. “You’re talking crazy.”
“What’s so crazy?” she taunted from behind him. “You cheat at everything else.”
He spun around and stormed back to her. “This isn’t a game to me, Danny!”
Thunder boomed and lightening flashed in the sky, yet even the noise didn’t drown out the yelling between them. He was losing it. He could feel himself losing it. She was shredding his self-control piece by fucking piece.
Sofia. All of this was because of Sofia.
His mind flashed back to the morning of her accident. She had been the same that morning, refusing to listen to reasons or explanations. Sleeping with Richard had been her plan for that day and then Sofia showed up in the doorway and changed her plans, changed her path, changed all events leading to this moment.
And he was again reminded that she would not be with him if it hadn’t been for Sofia and the accident that followed their encounter. She would have still been with Richard and they would have still been friends. He had tried to prove to her that he was the better man for her and here she was putting him in same category as that fucking asshole, Richard. An unfaithful cheat! After all that, she still couldn’t see. Every fucking day from April to October. How could she not see it?
“Why would I be here?” he asked. “If I wanted Sofia all this time, why would I be here with you? Day after day. Night after night. Why am I here?”
“You tell me,” she said, shoving his chest again.
“Stop pushing me!”
He hated being pushed. It reinforced every weakness, reminded him of all the jerks who had put their hands on him because of her. Every punch to the face. Every kick to the stomach. He had taken all of it because of her and yet she didn’t see it.
“Why did I wait twelve days in the hospital, Danny?”
He could have left, abandoned her just like Richard. He was there and she didn’t see it.
“Obligation,” she hissed. “I was just some charity case with no family and you felt obligated to take care of me. If it wasn’t for the accident, you wouldn’t be with me.”
She couldn’t have gotten it more wrong. His breathing elevated. They were entering dangerous territory now. She was crying yet he felt no sympathy. Only rage. Building. Escalating with everything she refused to see.
“Is that the only reason you can think of?”
“Yes.” And again her hands hit his chest, his wet T-shirt stinging his skin.
“Stop pushing me.” He waited a few pointless seconds to stop his temper from spiraling out of control, to regain some composure, to take the edge out of his voice. Pointless indeed, because it didn’t work at all. “Is that the only reason you can think of?!”
Tears were streaming down her cheeks, anger and hurt blazing in her hazel eyes. “Yes. Damn you! That’s the only reason I can think of. You want her yet you stay with me out of obligation.”
Her fists came at his chest, hard and relentless. Pushing. And Pushing. And Pushing.
“Stop! Pushing ME!” He grabbed her shoulders, spun her around and slammed her against the bathroom wall; his hot, erratic breaths fanning her skin. One hand entwined in her short hair, pulling her head back and holding it in place, while the other slipped around her throat, squeezing slightly until those perfect lips parted. “You must be blind if you can’t see.”
His mouth came down on hers, feral and ferocious. He took hold of both sides of her soaked white blouse and ripped it apart, buttons scattering all over the bathroom floor. He felt her hands on his chest. Pushing again. But he pushed harder. Grabbing her wrists, he manacled them together above her head with one hand, the other moving down to her chest to give its usual tribute to the scar.
“You still can’t see it?”
She shook her head defiantly. “No.”
He yanked off his wet T-shirt and tossed it on the floor before his mouth closed over hers again. She kissed him back, unyielding and just as angry, biting his lower lip hard enough for it to hurt.
Leo and Aries. Maybe this, too, was the product of two fire signs colliding. Heat. Furious heat. Burning rage. Scorching anger.
His temper ignited her lust, fueling the fire inside her, inside both of them.
His hands caught the edges of her skirt, sliding it up her cool, damp skin. “Do you see it now, Danny?”
“No.”
Her hands moved back to his chest and she attempted to push him away again. She was so stubborn, so fucking infuriating. How could she not see it?
The day he carried her to her dorm room because Anthony left her stranded on the beach. He was there and she didn’t see it.
He lifted her legs around his waist then arrested her hands again, pinning them against the cold tiles. He had no intention of forcing her. He wanted her wild, willing and desperate. And he would have her that way. He would make her see so she would know—even if it was only for a few minutes—what it felt like to be him. He wanted her to feel it in his unforgiving kiss, in the way his body was rapaciously crushing against hers.
“Do you see it now?”
“No.”
Her stubbornness, her blatant refusal to acknowledge it was driving him crazy.
When Richard stood her up for her birthday last year and he sat outside her door for hours, listening to her muffled cries. He was there and she didn’t see it.
He released her wrists, his hands slipping under her skirt to snap off her flimsy G-string. A second later, her hands were pushing against his chest again.
“Max, please don’t.”
“Please don’t what?”
With her legs still around his waist, he turned around and took her down on the bathroom floor. His mouth moved to the base of her neck and she gasped, moaning against his ear. One hand moved over her breast while the other ran up her thigh, squeezing her bottom until her pelvis was pressing hard against his erection.
He lifted himself up onto his knees, unzipping his pants and tugging them down.
“Max…please don’t.”
“Please don’t what?” he asked, his breath hitching in his throat. He leaned over her again, bracing himself above her on his arms. Her hazel eyes were filled with every kind of emotion; hurt and lust, anger and desire, hunger and pain. A mirror image of everything he felt. “Please don’t what?”
“Stop.” It was a breathless, aching whimper.
He took possession of her lips as he slid into her, claiming her mouth and her body at the same time. Even if this came to an end in the future, her body would know him, remember only him.
She groaned against his lips, her nails raking over his back. Her kiss was vicious and devouring, taking in whatever he had to give, so consuming that she would leave him desolate if he didn’t stop. But he didn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop giving until he had nothing, because he wanted her to have every part of him.
He broke the kiss once he was fully inside her and looked down at her, his body trembling as much as his voice. “Do you see it now, Danny?”
“No.”
He felt the burn under his skin, rage spreading through him like wildfire, catching alight from every vexatious memory.
The day he cooked dinner for her and she went out with Richard instead. The Valentine’s Day gifts. He was there and she didn’t see it.
He pushed into her, wanting to be so deep inside her that her body would acknowledge what her eyes refused to see.
“Now?”
“No.”
The morning of the accident when he admitted he had feelings for her.
“Your feelings are irrelevant to me.”
That was what she told him. Right in front of her and she didn’t fucking see it.
He withdrew and hit against her even harder. “Now?”
“No.”
So stubborn. She was so fucking stubborn! He gripped her thigh, his fingers almost bruising her soft caramel skin.
Twelve days in the hospital. He was there and she didn’t see it.
He gritted his teeth and plunged into her again. The hard lump lodged in his throat caused his breathing to become quick and unsteady. “Danny…do you see it now?”
“No…”
He felt her walls tighten around him, heard her moans becoming louder. He could tell that she was reaching her peak. He slowed his pace, thrusting deeper to meet every need their bodies begged for. He wanted to savor it, ensure she knew that he was the one who took her there, the one who made her reach her cliMax.
Eventually he couldn’t hold on any longer. She shut her eyes, he squeezed her fingers and when it was over, he collapsed against her, completely drained of every emotion except the desperation he had felt for years.
He lifted his head slightly. “Danielle…”
She opened her eyes and fresh tears trickled down the side of her beautiful face.
“Do you see it now?”
She nodded, her lips quivering as she tried to fight back the tears. “Yeah…I see it, Max.”
That was all he wanted. For her to see. Everything he said, everything he did; he wanted her to see it. He didn’t care about saving his pride anymore. He didn’t care about what would happen if their relationship ended. He didn’t care about being defenseless, completely exposed. He just wanted her to see, see everything, all of him. Every weakness, every insecurity, he wanted her to see every vulnerable part of him.