Page 113 of Ruled By Wizard

He couldn’t have gotten that information from Arden. She had never gone that far into her past during their talks.

“I was interested, so I found out.”

“What did you find out?”

Wizard rose, padding across the floor toward her. For every step he took, she took one back until she was backed into the corner by the door. “I found out every fucking time a man gets serious about you, you find a reason to break it off.”

“Whoever gave you that information is wrong!”

“Really?” Lifting his hands, he braced them against the wall, pinning her between his arms.

“You didn’t break up with Cory because he was late picking you up from cheerleading practice?”

Her lips closed tightly when Wizard continued.

“Then there was his replacement, the high school quarterback, Nevon. You broke up with him when he asked you to do his research paper for him. Next was a chef you dated at the first restaurant you worked at. You broke up with him because you started an argument over which of you was the better cook. You broke his heart, by the way. He quit the restaurant and went back to college.

“Following him was Rick, which was a disaster from beginning to end. You met him at a bar—a gamer who spent most of his time playing video games. You let him move in with you, which lasted a total of six months. You broke up with him when you found out he was buying shit online without your permission.”

“How are you going to say that was my fault?”

“It was your fault because you knew from the get-go he was a loser. You knew that relationship wasn’t going to last, but you pretended it would.

“Your next four relationships fell into the same category. Losers you knew wouldn’t last for the long haul, yet you kept picking them. Lately, you seem to have raised your standards, but those relationships haven’t been able to get off the ground floor. Except with me. I’ve been waiting to see what excuse you would find to ditch me. You didn’t disappoint.”

“Did I say I was ditching you? Don’t put words in my mouth!”

“No, you didn’t say the words,” he agreed. “You’d rather start an argument and let me do it for you.”

Wizard’s hand moved to her chin, raising it until her eyes met his. “What are you so fucking scared of?”

Jerking her head to the side, she focused on a picture hanging on the wall rather than let his penetrating stare uncover her secrets. “I’m not scared of you,” she denied.

“Sweetheart, you’re so scared you’d rather deal with a blowup fight than let me keep getting close to you. Why? What are you afraid of?”

The tenderness in his voice had her bringing her hands up to beat on his chest.

“Let me go! I don’t want to talk anymore tonight! I want you to leave. I’m going to bed. I have a big night tomorrow. I’ll text you a picture of what you missed!” The words flew out of her mouth recklessly. Uncaring if they hurt Wizard or not, she was in too much pain herself to care about him.

Her world was flipped upside down when Wizard stepped back from her flailing hands and threw her over his shoulder.

“Damn, woman, you have a hell of a temper.” He laughed. “Luckily for you, it only makes me want to fuck you.”

“You bastard! Put me down!”

“Sure thing.” Wizard flung her down on the bed. She bounced twice on the mattress before stopping.

“I’m not going to have sex with you!”

“Cool. You don’t want to fuck, we won’t. I’m still staying. I’m too tired to drive back to the club tonight.”

After removing his clothes, he lay down on the bed naked.

“You can be a real jerk when you want to be.” Huffily sliding under the covers, she gave him her back before turning off her bedside light. “Turn the light off.”

“I will in a few minutes.”

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw he had palmed his balls with one hand and was stroking his cock with the other.