Right into Stone’s path.
Arilyn refocused on the scene before her.
“Put down the dog.”
He may be hot, and he may be pissed, but there was no way she was giving up Pinky. Besides being her protection, Arilyn wasn’t sure how the dog was going to handle being in her home. “She needs some time to transition.” The excuse sounded lame to her ears, and Stone didn’t buy it either.
“Trust me. Pinky will be safer on the ground right now.” His low growl reminded her of his intent to throttle her. Maybe this would be a great time to introduce some other skills to control anger management?
“Let me settle her on the dog bed.” He didn’t answer, so she took her time placing the dog down on a thick fuzzy mattress she kept in the corner. Arilyn grabbed two bowls, filling one with clean water and the other with dry dog food. She lay the bowls close to the bed.
The dog lay listlessly, staring into space. Her heart broke, but her next task was to get Stone Petty calm. She straightened up to full height, breathed from her belly, and reminded herself to radiate serenity. After all, she was his teacher.
“There. Better?” He lifted a brow. “This may be a good time to go over basics of anger management. Control your breath, control your life. Remember?”
He took a step closer. “Oh, I remember.”
“Envision yourself bathed in a pool of white light, calming each nerve ending. Envision yourself in peace.”
“Oh, I’m envisioning something right now.”
Arilyn swallowed. He didn’t look peaceful. He looked . . . hungry. She decided to try another tack before he closed the distance between them. If he caught her strange arousal, he’d use it to his advantage. She didn’t need weaknesses regarding this particular cop.
“Listen, Stone.” Her tongue tumbled over his name, knowing he preferred it to “Officer.” She refused to admit how right the sound of his first name felt spilling from her lips. “I know you’re upset and I know I broke the law. I never intended to steal Pinky, but in abuse cases, many times the organizations don’t have enough time to get the current animals out. I made an impulsive decision.”
The eyebrow lifted a bit higher. “You think?” he drawled. Primitive waves of masculine energy beat from his figure.
“Y-Yes. All I can say is thank you for not arresting me and letting me save her.”
“Don’t thank me just yet, little one. You may not like the price.”
A shiver built in her belly and flooded her bloodstream. Heat rushed to her face. She forced a shaky laugh. “What do you mean? What price?”
Stone leaned in and spoke each word slow and deliberate. “Whatever price I choose to exact.”
She couldn’t have heard right, of course. Sounded like one of those dark romances Kennedy was always trying to make her read. Unease slithered through her. “Well, if you’re thinking I’m going to be some kind of sex slave for you, you’re crazy.”
Her false smile slipped. He studied her with such depth and intensity, she knew right then he was seriously considering it. “Not a bad idea. But you’d need too much training.”
Her body sprung to life and wept for him to try. Her brain shut down in pure horror. What was happening to her? It was like some kind of voodoo sex spell came over her when he got near. “Hardy har har. Look, do you want to blackmail me? Fine. I’ll sign off on your classes if you force me to, but it’s wrong. I’m begging you not to use me in that way. You need to learn the techniques, and I’ll never forgive myself for giving in.”
“Now you’ve made me really mad,” he said softly. “What I should do is yank down those yoga pants and smack your ass for your insulting view on my character.”
Arilyn gasped. She’d never been spoken to like that. Yet she yearned in such a fierce, horrible way she didn’t know what to do. He closed the distance, grasped her upper arms, and kept her in his firm grip. He loomed over her with a dark, deadly energy that sucked the rebellion right out of her. God, she wanted his lips on hers. Dreamed of him taking what he wanted, with no endless questions if this was okay or that was okay. Fantasized of being woman enough to satisfy this male creature on every sexual level he chose to show her.
“That’s outrageous,” she finally managed to respond. “Archaic!”
“And needed for a little brat with a God complex. You think because you meditate and eat from the earth and bend your body like a pretzel, you’re the only one with morals? I’d never blackmail you or lie to my boss. I’ll finish every one of your ridiculous classes and prove your techniques don’t work.”
“I don’t think like that! And my classes aren’t ridiculous. I’ll prove they work by the time you finish the course.”
“I’m tired of hearing about how beneficial anger management is. I want to talk about a more important subject.”
“Pinky?”
“No. I wanna talk about sex.”
She shook in his grip. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and damned if she hadn’t lost her ability to tell him to move out of her space.
Because she didn’t want to. A strange heat loosened her muscles and made her sluggish. Her belly tightened. Her panties dampened. Oh, she’d been turned on before and was no stranger to arousal, but this was different. With other men, she chose. With him, it was as if her mind disengaged from her body for the very first time and she had no control.
The words shot like a bullet and made her jerk. Those cruel lips tipped downward in a sneer. “Let’s talk about this attraction we have for each other and what we’re gonna do about it.”
Arilyn was way past yoga breathing and now tried to gulp for air. “Nothing. We do nothing. There is no attraction, and you’ve proved your point. I bow to your testosterone need to control all situations. “
He leaned in. The crisscross scar hooked into his brow. Even his eyebrows were strong looking. Full and dark like his midnight hair, which was free from his usual ball cap and spilled all messy and sexy around his ears and forehead. Individually, his features weren’t remarkable. His nose hooked to the left, a sure sign of past fights. His cheekbones were high. Jaw square. Skin on the fair side. But together? He was devastating—the Black Irish look that made women weak in the knees, on the edge of civilized, yet not. Would his goatee be rough and scratchy, or silky smooth if she touched it? And why did his lips look soft, when his features were chiseled from stone?
“Damn, you’re hot. Too bad you’re also a pain in the ass and completely wrong for me.”
She bared her teeth, more comfortable with the punch of anger that flooded her system. “Good, because it’d be a cold day in hell before I’d pick you as a boyfriend.”
“How about a lover?” His breath rushed warm over her lips.
She opened her mouth to tell him this little scene was now over. Instead, the denial tumbled from her lips. “You’re my student. We need to keep the boundaries appropriate.”
His thumb brushed her lips, as gentle and light as a feather stroke. “That’s just an excuse and you know it. You’re not my official therapist. There’s no hard-and-fast rules about a six-week course.”
She stumbled over her next denial. “I don’t want a lover. I need three months to cleanse properly from my last relationship.”
“What if I can help?”
She managed to snort. “Oh, I know how you want to help.”
Stone chuckled, tracing the outline of her lips. She tried hard not to tremble and show weakness, but the melty sensation in her stomach grew worse, and when she tried to squeeze her thighs for relief, she only managed to tip him off that she was aroused. Sweat pricked her brow. She would not lose this battle. If she kept strong, he’d back off and they’d be able to finish the six-week course in harmony. She needed Officer Stone Petty as a sexual distraction as much as she needed a neighbor like Mrs. Blackfire.
“I have a proposition,” he drawled. “One kiss. Let’s prove to each other we’d be a disaster together.”