Page 27 of Drawn Together

It was then that I decided to put an end to this interaction. I placed my hand on his chest and pushed him away. His body was hard from how built he was, and instead of doing as I said, he simply smiled.

“I’m not moving an inch until you let me taste your lips again.”

“I’d rather become a nun before I ever kiss you again, Regan.” I pushed him harder, but his legs pressed into me, trapping me in place.

“Nuns are chaste, baby, and you and I both know you’re anything but.”

What an idiot.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Sebastian had appeared, making his presence known by calmly leaning against the kitchen wall. His expression said it all: He was asking me if he should get this guy off me or keep his distance.

I wanted to prove to Sebastian I was capable of handling things on my own. So I tried lifting my knee in order to hit Regan in the balls, but the idiot saw it coming and blocked the hit, using incredible force to hold my leg.

“Let go of me. Now,” I said through clenched teeth. The joke had stopped being funny, and the fact that Sebastian was witnessing something so pathetic made me embarrassed and angry in equal measures. I didn’t want to need him; I didn’t want to have to ask him for help.

“Or what?” Regan whispered in my ear, blocking my view of Sebastian.

Before I could even think of a comeback, a shadow fell over us, giving Regan no time to react. In a matter of seconds, he was on his back, looking up at the gigantic man who had just pushed him off me.

“Get lost,” Sebastian said, surprisingly calm.

Regan clenched his teeth in response. “Who the hell are you?” he asked, jumping to his feet and stepping in front of Sebastian.

He looked down at Regan without blinking and calmly answered his question. “Your worst fucking nightmare.”

Before anything else happened, or rather before Regan attempted to punch my bodyguard, Sebastian had pinned Regan’s arm behind his back and pressed his head into the wall.

“Come at me like that again and you’ll be crippled for life. Do you understand?”

Regan let out an unintelligible grunt, and Sebastian, aftertwisting his arm a bit farther into that unnatural position, let him go. I won’t deny that I enjoyed seeing someone put that asshole in his place. Luckily for Regan, there was no one else in the kitchen; if it had happened in the main room in front of all his teammates, it would’ve damaged the bad-boy reputation he had so carefully cultivated. It was pathetic how quickly Sebastian had been able to pin him against the wall, and I was reminded that my bodyguard was much more skilled than a spoiled college athlete who lifted weights in the gym to bulk up and tighten his pecs. Sebastian was trained to kill, and thinking this, a strange sensation crept up my skin.

Regan looked at us with a look of loathing on his face, first at Sebastian, then at me. “One more for your list, huh, Mar?” he said, walking backward and smiling, despite being short of breath from the shakedown Sebastian had just given him. “Hot tip?” he said now to my bodyguard, who appeared annoyed. “Stay away from her—she’s so frigid, she’ll freeze your cock.”

I didn’t see Sebastian’s reaction to Regan’s last words, because I turned around and walked out the other door.

I had once believed I was in love with Regan. Opening my heart had been a mistake I would not make again.

Frigid. That word haunted me.

Feeling like shit, I crossed the crowded living room to the drinks table. I took three tequila shots in a row. The last one almost made me gag, but instantly, a curtain lowered on the thoughts crashing around in my head and allowed me to focus on the party happening all around me. I hadn’t come here to be insulted. I’d come here to have fun.

I don’t know how it happened, but I ended up on top of a table surrounded by guys who kept shouting how hot I was. I couldn’t make out what they looked like—they were all blurry to me—but I liked being high above them, where they could look at me but not touch me.

I chanced a glimpse at Sebastian in a corner of the room, then continued to dance for what felt like hours. When I finally grew tired of dancing, someone helped me down from the table, as I struggled to do so on my own, and guided me to the bathroom.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked me before I shut the door in his face.

I looked at myself in the mirror and tightened my ponytail, which had come almost completely undone. I ran my hand under the faucet and wiped cool water across the back of my neck. When I went back out to the party, the heat felt dizzying, and I decided it was time to leave. I went directly to the elevator, but as I reached for the button, a huge hand appeared and pushed it for me. I turned to Sebastian.

“Are you all right?” he asked, more out of duty than real concern for me, I’m sure.

“What do you think?” I answered, blinking to clear my vision.

“Get in the elevator, Marfil,” he ordered me, as if bored.

I hated his condescending tone.

“You know something?” I said, jabbing a finger into his chest. “What you did back there made you look like a total jerk, like a little macho man from the last century… I don’t need you to rescue me. I can do it all by myself.”