Page 4 of Bind Me
“Tell me what’s going on in your head.”
“What’s the point when you’ve already decided where this conversation is allowed to end?” she said sharply.
“It doesn’t change us.”
“It doesn’t changeyou,” she shot back. “But if we get married?—”
“Stop sayingif.” His eyes had turned the darkest shade of green she’d ever seen them.
“You don’t own me yet, Rafael Griffin.”
The air deadlocked between them, the kind of silence where neither blinked first. His jaw clenched, his grip flared slightly on her hips.
Eventually, Bea spoke. “How would you feel if the roles were reversed?”
“They wouldn’t be. Because I’m a man.”
The words landed like a door clicking shut. “Forget it.” She twisted, trying to get down and away from him.
He caught her wrist. “We’re not done talking.”
“Let go.”
“Tell me what you’re afraid of.”
The words burst out. “How about that you’d have complete control over me?”
“Have I ever stopped you from being yourself?”
Her answer took a beat to arrive. “No.”
His grip stayed firm on her wrist, but the thumb tracing over her pulse was gentle. “Have I ever gotten in the way of your work?”
Memory surfaced. His displeasure. Resistance. “That time with Jaxon?—”
He waited.
Fine. Not obstruction. “No.”
“Then what changes?” Rafael challenged. “I’m the same man I was ten minutes ago.”
Her voice thinned despite her effort. “What happens when we disagree?”
“Then we fight.”
“And you’d win,” she said flatly. “Because you can overrule me, and I can’t leave.”
“Of course you can leave,” he said. His grip tightened. “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t come for you.”
Bea exhaled. “Every time I think this place is home, I’m reminded it’s a cage.”
“Not a cage, little Bea. A fortress.” His voice dropped to the octave that always found her spine. “Let me be that. For you.”
Her throat worked. “What if I can’t?”
Rafael leaned in until his mouth brushed her temple like a vow. “You can, if you’ll let yourself.”
Chapter Two
