I grumble, “Laugh it up, jerk. Get it all out of your system. Because as soon as I get my hands on a machete, you won’t be laughing anymore.”
He rolls me to my back and plants a big kiss on my mouth. Grinning from ear to ear, he says, “You’re not going to chop me up.”
“Oh, yeah? Give me one good reason!”
His eyes soften. So does his voice when he says, “You like me too much.”
The look on his face makes my heart skip a beat and my stomach clench. I glance away so he can’t see me melt. “You’re okay. I guess.”
He peppers soft kisses all along my neck and collarbone. “I guess you’re okay, too,” he whispers into my ear.
Only we both know what he’s really saying.
He rolls back onto his side, tucking me into his shoulder and twining his legs through mine. I wrap my toes around his muscular calf and sigh in contentment.
“I have something to say now.”
His chuckle stirs the hair near my ear. “Really? I can’t imagine.”
“A couple of things, actually.”
“Hold on. I need to prepare myself mentally. Okay, go ahead.”
“It’s a good thing you’re so pretty. That personality of yours is a deal breaker. As I was saying…Spider.”
All the warmth goes out of him like he’s been thrown into a vat of ice water. His body stiffens, and his voice turns hard.
“I don’t ever want to hear you speak another man’s name in my bed again.”
I know it’s all kinds of wrong that I find it hot when he’s possessive. Wrong, wrong, wrong, and yet so very fucking right.
And here I thought I was liberated.
“Fine. I’ll refer to him as The Arachnid from now on. Satisfied?”
He growls, “I’ve taken it easy on you so far, baby, because you’re not completely healed. But I’ll remember all this mouthiness when you are. Then you’ll be sorry.”
Or maybe I won’t. Judging by the heat in his voice, I’ll be getting plenty of pleasure from whatever punishment he has planned.
Bypassing his sexy threat, I say, “You told me you drugged him. Is he okay?”
“Yes.”
It’s terse. Angry. Basically a three letter fuck you.
I tilt up my head and kiss his jaw. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to make you mad.”
“You’re doing a crap job of it.”
“Are you jealous of Spi—The Arachnid? Because there’s no need to be.”
“Anyone who wants what’s mine is on my shit list.”
What’s mine.
I close my eyes for a moment, letting that sink through me. “There’s nothing between us. There never was.”
“Maybe not for you.”
I’m curious what makes him so certain, but don’t dare ask. I mean, I’m brave, but that’s definitely not the hill I want to die on.
He snaps, “Next fucking subject.”
“Okay. Um…”
He lifts his head and glowers at me. “What?”
“Oh, pipe down, Hulk. It doesn’t have to do with another man.”
He doesn’t look like he believes me. He still hasn’t blinked.
Sighing, I say, “I thought you might like to know that I’m on Depo-Provera.”
“Is that a medication?”
Before I can answer, he lifts to an elbow and stares down at me, saying loudly, “Are you on a prescription I don’t know about? Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve gotten it for you! You could’ve been taking it this whole time!”
“Mal—”
“Christ, Riley, you have to tell me what you need, or I can’t give it to you. Despite what you think, I’m not a mind reader!”
I reach up and stroke his beard, smiling. “You’re a psychopath.”
“Don’t try to flirt your way out of this.”
That makes me smile wider. “Only you would think a woman calling you a psychopath is flirting.”
He scowls at me with flattened lips and flared nostrils, waiting for an explanation.
I say softly, “It’s birth control. A shot. I’m just telling you that so you don’t have to worry about getting me pregnant.”
The anger disappears. What it’s replaced by, I couldn’t say, because I’ve never seen this particular expression before.
After a moment, he only says, “Oh.”
“Okay, the way you just said that? It makes me think maybe you have genetically engineered super sperm who laugh at birth control as they fly past it on their way to inseminate eggs.”