Page 21 of Tamed Enemy
“Stop faking.”
“I wasn’t!”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not,” I lie, but it doesn’t matter, because he’s sitting on the edge of the bed, reaching for his boxers, covering himself with silk and disappointed patience.
I clutch a pillow, holding it like a teddy bear. My cheeks are so hot, I wonder if the down filling will burst into flame. “I just want you to be happy.” I doubt he can hear my whisper.
Of course he hears. He has ears like a wild beast. “That won’t do it.”
I don’t know how to fix this. The twisted sex we crave didn’t work in the dungeon. The vanilla sex horny teenagers manage without a problem isn’t working here in the bedroom. Something as simple and as endlessly complex as a single shared orgasm is beyond us.
Helpless, I fall back onto the mattress, still gripping my pillow. I close my eyes, determined not to think about all the ways we’re broken. I’m immediately swarmed with images from the rest of today.
My father… fighting to get out a single, solitary word.
My mother… gloating at the foot of the table.
Ilya Danilov… ready to claim my sister and deliver a killing blow to the Canton Crew.
The world is coming apart around me, and I’ve driven away the one man I trust to find a way to put it all back together.
But he hasn’t gone away. He’s pulled back the covers on his side of the bed. He’s climbed in beside me and propped himself up on his elbow.
“Kate,” he says. “Look at me.”
I shake my head.
“Kate.”
It’s just my name. One syllable. Four letters.
But it’s a command. One I don’t know how to obey. But I’m certain if I don’t, things will be changed between us forever.
8
COLE
“Kate,” I say again. I need her to obey me. I need to be in control.
She made a mistake just now. It wasn’t just that she faked coming. It’s that she thought I wouldn’t notice. I know every inch of her body. I’ve memorized her.
She’s mine.
Feeling the lie inside her tamed my cock more effectively than any cold shower ever could. I can’t desire her when she’s so far beyond my command.
But stretching beside her, watching her battle her instincts, seeing her fight my simple order, I have a revelation. This isn’t about obedience. It’s not about control. It’s something deeper, something far more important, something at the very heart of who I am and who I need to be.
I need Kate to trust me.
Trust doesn’t come easily to her. Her father betrayed her. Her mother too. Pyotr Tarasov and the Red Cap Raiders and who knows how many other people she set store by in her jagged, untamed past—every single one of them came up short.
I spent years perfecting the skills to keep any reasonable person from trustingmewith a penny, much less their heart. I ran cons for Shannon before I could ride a bike. I lied to teachers, to police, to business investors, all without taking the time to blink. I measured my worth in exactly how well I could deceive, building higher and higher walls to keep out the real world.
I don’t want walls with Kate. So instead of snapping her name a third time, I try a different approach. I try talking.
“This won’t work if you lie.”
