“Daisy,” he places his hands on my shoulders as he says my name sternly in a tone that brooks no argument. “I’m driving you home. Do not fight me on this.”
“I’m not a little girl—“ I start to sass back, but Nick effectively silences me by grabbing both sides of my face in his huge hands and crashing his lips down onto mine.
This kiss is much more brutal than his first one was, as if he’s pouring all the frustration he has with me out into it. His tongue swoops into my mouth, branding me and giving me nowhere to hide.
Despite myself, I melt against him, pressing my chest to his. His arms go around me triumphantly, pulling me flush against him. We’re so close I can feel that hard, swollen part of him pressing against my stomach.
When he finally pulls back, he looks down at me, his golden eyes gleaming with the desire he makes no attempt to hide. “You’re infuriatingly stubborn, you know that, kitten?” he says, his breath fanning over my lips. “It drives me fucking crazy.”
“Nick,” I whisper his name. That’s all I get out before he kisses me again, gently this time. I don’t know what I was going to say anyway. He peppers little kisses all over my face before he runs his nose along the side of mine in a move that’s so tender it thaws something inside of me.
“You’re going to be mine. You know that, don’t you?” he whispers the words right into my ear.
I open my mouth on an instinctive protest, but he puts a finger to my lips, shushing me.
He already knows what’s on the tip of my tongue, and he doesn’t want to hear it.
“Let’s take you home before I lose every ounce of my control,” he finally says.
The thought that little ole’ me could cause such a put-together man like Nick to lose control makes my stomach do a little flip-flop.
I don’t know what to say, so for once I keep my mouth shut. I feel his eyes on me frequently on the short ride home, watching me like a panther ready to pounce on its prey.
Like a true Southern gentleman, he comes around and opens the car door, walking me up to the front door.
He cups my face with his hand, running his thumb over my cheek tenderly. “This isn’t over, kitten,” he promises me before he leans down and kisses me goodnight, a brief peck of his lips against mine.
I still don’t say anything. I just turn to enter the house, my legs oddly wobbly feeling. He waits until I’m safely inside with the door latched before he turns to walk back to his car and drive back to his place.
I’m thankful my parents are both already in bed. I don’t think I could handle my mother’s meddling right now or my dad’s teasing.
I go upstairs to my room and put on a big T-shirt to sleep in before I curl up in bed. The phone I’d left on my nightstand buzzes, and I pick it up, wondering who’d be texting me at this time of night.
Good night, kitten.
I hadn’t given Nick my phone number, but I’m completely unsurprised he has it. What’s finding out a phone number to a tech genius like him?
I put my phone down without texting him back.
The man has my head spinning so that I don’t know what to think.
As I drift off to sleep, though, the last thing I see are the two golden orbs of his eyes looking down at me like he wants to devour me.