“We talked about the things that upset you, baby. I listened to every word. It’s very important that you pay close attention to me now.”
Her head went up alertly, sensing she was on dangerous ground.
“I told you not to leave the bar and the safety of the club members, Seychelle. Do you recall me saying that to you?” He kept his voice very low. A whisper of command. He saw the shiver go through her.
She bit her lower lip and nodded, avoiding his eyes.
“I require an answer, and look at me when you do.” He poured steel into that. When he did, his cock responded. His body knew what was coming. He was already getting aroused just by being in the room with his woman and his personal toys.
“Yes.”
“You had to have realized I would have come to you immediately if I wasn’t still working. By going outside, where two obsessed Diamondbacks followed you—as well as Brandon Campbell and Joseph Arnold, who was in the bushes taking pictures of you—you divided my attention. Instead of doing the job I was supposed to do, I found myself worrying about my woman. If for some reason Alena was targeted and I had to protect her, I might have been too slow, and she could have gotten killed.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “I’m sorry, Savage. I just stepped outside for the fresh air. I’ve never gone that long without a break.”
“You could have stepped into one of the back rooms. Fatei wasn’t happy, and he must have expressed that to you.” He could tell by her face that the man had. “You don’t get to ignore or override whoever I put on you to look after you like that, Seychelle. They’re there to protect you while I’m working.” He kept his voice controlled.
Seychelle didn’t pull away from him or slow down at all when he took her to the side of the bed. She had to know what was coming. They’d been there before. He’d warned her that the next time, he wasn’t going to be quite so nice about it. His cock throbbed and ached with the strain of anticipation. Outside, the roar of the pounding sea added to the fierce, hot blood rushing through his veins.
“It wasn’t fair to ignore Fatei when he was just following my orders. You put him in a bad situation. If the Diamondbacks had insisted on coming after you, he would have had to defend you, and what do you think would have happened then?”
“I’m sorry, Savage. I didn’t think about any of that. I’ll apologize to him.”
“Then there’s Shari. You continually put yourself in a position of having to deal with her. I told you we would get rid of her, but you said it wasn’t a problem. You could have gone back into the bar, but you didn’t. You deliberately decided to confront her. Again, Fatei tried, very gently, to get you to go into the bar . . .”
Her chin went up and her eyes flashed fire at him. “I refuse to retreat in front of that woman. She would gloat and think I was afraid of her.”
He caught her chin, deliberately clamping down hard between his finger and thumb. “Perhaps you do need to be a little more afraid of me than I thought. Better that than put every member of our club in danger. Shari is nothing at all, and you know it. That isn’t the real reason you decided to confront her. This was about Brandon Campbell. Once again, you were putting yourself in harm’s way. You stay away from Campbell. You ignore Shari. Do you understand me? She won’t be welcome in our bar, but if she comes around you again, you walk away without even looking at her.”
His eyes refused to allow hers to look away. He held her gaze until her defiance melted and she nodded.
“Good.” He leaned down and took her mouth. Gently. Tenderly. Loving her. Bog, love swamped him, wrapped him up until he felt as if he were drowning in it. She rained fire on him. In him. The flames rushed through his veins. His palms shaped her face when he lifted his head.
“I really did find this house some time ago but passed on it. What was the point, when I didn’t have anyone that I could share it with? I was so damn sure I would never have anyone. I thought the house would just mock me if I kept it empty. When you came back from your trip that scared the shit out of me, I ended up calling the agent, took one look, imagined you here with me and had to have it.”
One hand slid from her cheek to her throat, just lying across it to feel her heartbeat to see if it was going as crazy as his. “You’re going to strip and put your clothes on the end table and then stand right there and wait for me. I’m going to give you another lesson in sinful, dirty sex. Tomorrow, when you’re not so tired, maybe I’ll teach you to crave the fire, baby.”