“And what is that, my dear Angie?”
I stare him point-blank in the eyes. “I hate to be controlled.”
“I beg to differ,” he sighs, getting up to pace. “I think you are rightfully scared. But I know deep down inside you are intrigued over what I can offer you. Physically and emotionally. Financially.”
I shake off the past thirty minutes of eye-opening erotica and use my quivering knees to lift my body off the sofa and stand on my own two feet. I cannot allow a little fun and fantasy to mess with my goals.
“I don’t need to be white-horsed.”
I turn to catch a small, crooked smile pulling at his lips at my wording. “It’s more than that. I think we would be good for each other. Compatible even.”
“I’m sure your bedroom skills are top-notch.”
“Are you deliberately trying to piss me off?”
“Only if it’s working.”
“You, my little pyro, are going to get burned. You are in no position to play.”
“Maybe I’m a masochist and will revel in it. Wouldn’t that be a turning point?”
He runs his hands through his hair, pulling at the roots. His frown mars his perfectly chiseled features. He stops his movement suddenly and faces me again, towering over me but looking vulnerable and lost—a perfect contrast to his usual composure. “I do not want to hurt you. Quite the contrary.” His matter-of-fact attitude unnerves me. He is back to the cool confidence, and it pulls at my gut instincts, dissipating my run-the-hell-away warning chant.
“You do things to me, Angie. You force my hand in matters and bring out possessive emotions and urges that I can’t ignore anymore. I have seen it in your eyes. I didn’t see it the first time we met. You had a wall up then. But in the elevator at Entice, it was there. I wanted to do things to you then. Very perverse and wicked things to you. And I still do. My desire has not dimmed. It has only gotten stronger.”
“Why me?”
“Why not? You respond to me, just as I do to you. We have so much to discover about each other. It is exhilarating. You are pure. Endangered. Rare.”
“No.” I shake my head for added emphasis.
“You sparkle.”
“So you have a virgin fetish, is that it? Conquer, destroy, get bored, then move on.”
“If I wasn’t so interested in getting to know you by talking, I would gag that sweet, sassy, defiant mouth of yours. I have an Angie fetish.”
My eyes fly open at his threat/promise/fantasy. Could they possibly be mine too?
I straighten my back and bolt my feet to the floor. “Graham, we need to address the reason why I came today in the first place. You keep sidetracking me every time I try to get to the root of the problem.”
He appears bored. “So, why did you come here, Angela?” He is simply humoring me.
“You tampered with my Entice account.”
“Technical glitch.” He shrugs.
“I need you to cancel your dates, since I am unable to do so on my end. All of your money can be refunded.”
“I don’t care about the fucking money, Angie,” he shouts. “I want you. And you want me. It’s easy to see. I have no idea why you are putting up such a fight to deny yourself something that you obviously want.”
“Bullshit.”
His innocent half grin makes my anger boil. “I see that I’m going to be graced with the presence of your sassy mouth again.”
“Stop laughing at me, dammit!”
“I’m sorry, please forgive me,” he says, chuckling, his hands raised in self-defense, “but I find it very amusing. I can’t figure out when it will come into play or not. So, the waiting game is very exciting.”