“You were protecting him,” he growled.
She rolled her eyes! Right there, staring right at him, she rolled her eyes at him as though he were an idiot. It shouldn’t have pleased him, but it filled him with pride.
“No, asshole, I was protecting you from defending yourself against a murder charge,” she snapped back. “If you haven’t noticed, you’re not exactly rational where he’s concerned.”
“Because he’s consorting with Council scientists,” he yelled impatiently, glowering down at her. “For God’s sake, Natalie—”
“Well, I didn’t know he was that stupid,” she muttered. “Intense, yes; paranoid, sure; that’s Mike Claxton, but he didn’t used to be incredibly stupid.”
He shook his head, amazement filling him. “You’re serious.” He couldn’t believe it. “You expected me to be rational when he was clearly violent toward you—”
“He’s never hit me.”
“No, he would just turn you over to monsters.” His voice was rising. “Trust me, you’d have preferred that he try to hit you.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Not the point?” He was going to pull his own hair out.
“The point is,” her voice softened, “I love you, Saban. I’d have done just about anything, said anything to get him out of our lives. I thought Mike was smarter than he was. I was wrong. I was wrong, and it will never happen again.” Her voice hitched as her eyes filled with tears again. “But it won’t change the fact that you left me, that you couldn’t even look at me or find out for yourself why I felt I had to do it. Nothing will change that.”
“That, mate, is where you are wrong.”
FIFTEEN
Natalie would always remember the sight of Saban jumping into the van with that nasty little scientist, refusing to look at her, refusing to give her a chance to explain. It didn’t matter that she had realized she had made a mistake even before Mike had attempted to kidnap her. What mattered was his refusal to even ask her why. She would have asked him why. She would have demanded to know why.
Shaking her head, she struggled against him, jerking at her wrists as he held her easily, staring down at her with those brilliant eyes, spiking her heartbeat with the look in them.
Possessive, dominant, everything she thought she would abhor and was now finding herself drawn to.
She stilled beneath him, watching him from under her lashes, growing angrier by the moment. Fine, he was the big, bad, strong Breed, but she hadn’t been raised with her brother for nothing.
The minute she stopped struggling, his hold loosened on her wrists, just the slightest bit, but enough for her to jerk her upper torso up and to bring her lips to his. Where she bit him. A sharp little nip to that delicious lower lip before she was back, writhing, twisting beneath him.
“You little hellion.” His voice was filled with wonder as a small bead of blood formed on his lip. “That was no love nip.”
“How would you know?” she panted. “Maybe you’re not the only one who likes to bite.”
She managed to free one wrist, and before he could grab it again, she reached out, locked her fingers into the muscle of his chest, right around his nipple, and twisted.
He jerked back with a muttered curse, releasing her wrists, giving her the room she needed to twist away from him.
“I don’t need a man who doesn’t trust my love,” she yelled furiously as she freed herself.
“You need a man to paddle your delectable little behind for being so damned stubborn,” he snarled, rubbing at his chest as he stared back at her almost wonderingly.
“Or a man who isn’t so damned filled with pride he can’t even wait around for a reasonable explanation.” She managed to roll to the side of the bed and jump out of his reach.
She had a feeling he let her, though.
“The explanation would have to be reasonable first,” he growled. “Yours wasn’t.”
“So spank me,” she retorted, her voice mocking. “At least I didn’t run away from the problem.”
She stood on one side of the bed breathing hard as he glowered at her from the other side of the bed.
“I intend to get to that, cher, real soon,” he drawled, his expression tightening not in anger but in arousal. “And I didn’t run far, did I bébé? I came right back here to be the one to deliver the spanking.”
Natalie felt her ass clench at the tone of his voice. He sounded serious. Maybe he sounded a little bit too serious.
“You wouldn’t dare,” she gasped, her eyes widening as he stripped off his shirt.
“Watch me.” His eyes narrowed on her as her gaze flicked to where he was quickly releasing the closures on his jeans.
“You are not undressing,” she snapped.
She couldn’t believe it. Did he think this could be fixed with sex?
“Watch me,” he repeated.
He sat down on the small, fussy chair beside her bed, unlaced and removed his boots, then stood and shucked his pants.
Oh Lord, she was in so much trouble. He was furiously aroused, his erection standing out from his body, thick and heavy, the ridged veins throbbing with subtle power.
“You can take those clothes off, or I’m going to rip them off you.” He moved around the bottom of the bed, each shift of muscle, each flex of his long, corded body sending a flare of heated lust to ignite in the center of her womb.
God, the man was just gorgeous. Maybe just a little bit pissed if the heated flare of emotion in his eyes was anything to go by.
“I’m not fucking you while you’re angry,” she informed him coolly, or at least, she tried for cool; there might have been the slightest tremor of arousal in her voice. Because he was really turning her on.
“I’m not angry.” A flash of strong white teeth in a confident, anticipatory smile. “I’ve decided something about you, cher. As stubborn and independent as you are, you’re coming to believe that the reason you do things is not so important as the fact that you be allowed to do them. That the control streak you’re adopting be given free rein.”
“So?” She watched him warily, backing up as, naked, aroused, and dominating, he stalked toward her.
“Tonight, love, you learn, in matters of your safety, this will not be allowed. First lesson begins now.”
Natalie shrieked as she watched the muscles in his chest bunch, but by the time she saw it, it was too late to run. And it was too late to save the robe she had dressed in after her shower.
The material tore and slipped to the floor as the sleeves ripped and the tatters of cloth were tossed away a second later. Natalie stared down at her bare breasts in amazement then up to Saban’s narrowed gaze.
“That was just so wrong,” she muttered.
“Ah, but was it as wrong as defying me, slipping away from me, and nearly getting yourself kidnapped?” He shook a finger at her before he struck again.
Before Natalie could consider running, she found herself on her back, the light cotton pajama bottoms flying through the air as Saban tossed them over his shoulder.
She was naked now. Naked and hot and wet, and she was damned if she going to let him get away with this.
She jerked to rise from the bed, only to find herself pushed back, rolled to her stomach, and a hard male weight straddling her thighs as one broad, calloused palm pressed between her shoulder blades, holding her to the bed despite her struggles.
“I said I was sorry,” she bit out. “What more do you want? I won’t do it again.”
The opposite hand stroked over the curve of her butt as his fingertips pressed lightly against the narrow crease.
“Saban, I love you. You know I love you. I swear, I learned my lesson already.” Okay, she was caving, but she had been wrong, she was big enough to admit to it. “You shouldn’t have walked away like that. You shouldn’t have left me.”