‘I’m glad you find it funny,’ she snapped, staring him down when his grim smile turned into a snarl.
‘Now, funny is probably the last thing I think about this situation—and here’s why. You just signed documents that place you under my protective custody until you’re either released—’ his tone implied that was about as likely as buying property on another planet ‘—or charged with possession of narcotics.’
Lily felt dizzy and leaned heavily on the bar stool at her back. ‘I don’t understand…’ She shook her head.
‘What? You thought the evidence might up and magically disappear? I’m good, Honey, but I’m not that good.’
‘No.’ She waved her hand in front of her and briefly closed her eyes. ‘The custody bit.’
‘It’s a form of house arrest.’
‘I didn’t know.’
‘Now you do. And now I’m ready to leave.’
‘No!’ Her hand hovered between them and her voice quavered. ‘Wait. Please. I…What does that mean, exactly?’
He looked at her as if she was a simpleton. ‘It means that we’re stuck with each other 24/7 for the foreseeable future, that’s what it means.’
Lily blinked. 24/7 with this gorgeous, angry man…? No way. She pressed her fingertips to her aching forehead and ordered herself to think. Surely there was another solution.
‘I can’t stay with you!’ She blurted out before her thoughts were properly in order.
His eyes sparkled into hers, as hard as polished gemstones. ‘Believe me, the thought couldn’t be more abhorrent to you than it is to me.’
‘But you should have told me!’
‘You should have read the paperwork,’ he dismissed.
He was right, and she hated that. Only it was because of him that she hadn’t read it in the first place.
‘You crowded me and told me to hurry.’
‘So now it’s my fault?’ he snapped.
‘I wasn’t blaming you.’ She swiped a hand across her brow. This was terrible. ‘But if you had warned me about what I was signing I wouldn’t have done so!’
He went still, his over-long tawny mane and square jaw giving the impression of a fully grown male lion that had just scented danger.
‘Warned you?’
Too late Lily realised he’d taken her comment as an insult.
‘And what exactly would you have done, hmm? Do tell.’
Lily pressed her lips together at his snide tone and tried not to notice how imposing he was, with his hands on his hips drawing his shoulders even wider. If she’d thought he hated her six years ago it was nothing compared to the contempt he clearly felt for her now.
And she wasn’t so much looking to put the past behind her any more as she was in burying it in a six-foot-deep hole! ‘I—I would have looked for an alternative,’ she stuttered. ‘Brainstormed other options.’
‘Brainstormed other options?’ He snorted and shook his head, as if the very notion was ludicrous. ‘We’re not in a movie rehearsal now, Honey!’
Lily’s heart thudded heavily in her chest. If he called her Honey one more time she might actually hit him. She took a deep, steadying breath and tried to remember that he felt he had a right to be angry, and that maybe, if their situations were reversed, she would feel the same way.
No, she wouldn’t. She’d be too worried for the other person to treat them so—so…indignantly.
‘Listen—’ she began, only to have her words cut off when he pushed off his bar stool and crowded her back against her own.
‘No. You listen,’ he bit out softly. ‘You don’t have a choice here. You’re no longer in charge. I am. And if you don’t like it I’ll give you another option. It’s called a prison cell. You want it—it’s back that way.’ He jerked his chin towards the entrance of the bar, his eyes never leaving hers.