Page 35 of The Unseelie Wish
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, fuck you.” She lay back down on the pillows and fought the urge to scream. They had plenty to talk about without dwelling on the fact that she’d just let him stuff her like a Vienna sausage. “You tore up my clothes.”
“I will buy you more.”
“Pants. With pockets. Nothing frilly or pastel.”
“Ugh. Pastel. Pleh. Do you think so little of me?” He huffed. “Saturated jewel tones, largely offset with black. Your style is not precisely hard to master.”
That was fair. And he did have an eye for fashion. “Whatever. Mind bringing me some clothes when you fetch me from your treehouse?”
“It’s not like it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Mortals,” he said through a long-suffering sigh. “You make no sense. I just had both of my cocks in your?—”
“I know! I was there!” She put her hands over her eyes.
When he spoke again, he was a lot closer than he had been before. She moved her hands to see him over her, once more in snake form, smiling at her, holding a stack of clothes in his hands. “Want to go for round two?”
“No!” Snatching the pile of clothes, she went about getting dressed. She didn’t care that he was watching her, though she very much noticed how he couldn’t seem to look away. It was flattering, and she felt her cheeks go a little warm. Focus. “So. You want to talk to me about this new twisted ploy, or what?”
“I figured you’d probably want to eat dinner first.” He shrugged. “If you started screaming at me now on an empty stomach, you’re likely to faint again.”
“I didn’t fucking faint, you choked me out, you—” With a growl, she shut her eyes and counted back from three. There wasn’t a point. It wouldn’t do any good. It was shouting at a puppy who hadn’t been fixed yet to stop humping the daybed. It couldn’t control itself; it wasn’t its fault.
Nor would it do her any good to tell him what a colossal dick he was being. When she finished zipping up her pants, she glared at him.
He simply kept smiling.
It made her want to punch him. “All right, get me down from here.”
“What’s the magic word?” He batted his eyes.
Oh, how badly she wanted to punch him in the goddamn teeth. Taking a breath, she counted back from five that time. They already lost their tempers at each other once, and she saw how that had ended. There wasn’t any point getting into a second fight she couldn’t win—not with the damn iron collar around her neck. “Please?”
“That looked like it hurt.” He scooped her up in his arms. It was always alarming how strong he was. “I hope you didn’t sprain something.”
“Careful, I know where you keep your dicks now.” She narrowed her eyes. “It’ll be much easier to stomp on them.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, darling.”
“You’re an ass.”
“I’m a snake.” He put her down, his form shifting back to one with legs, still wearing what looked like an extremely eccentric Victorian suit. “Did I give you a concussion?”
“No.” Maybe. Probably not. She didn’t feel nearly loopy enough to have a concussion. Finding no sense in fighting the inevitable—he had her on a literal leash after all—she walked over to the table he had set for them and took her spot. It stung when she moved to sit, and she winced.
He clicked his tongue. “How bad is it?”
“Not in the places you’d expect.” Cringing, she reached for the wine. Alcohol would help. “I think that was from when you threw me against the wall.”
“I…do apologize for that.” He sat down in his spot, frowning at her with a genuinely sad expression. “I lost my temper.”
“No shit. Hadn’t noticed.” She passed him the bottle of wine and took a sip of the glass she had poured for herself.
“I’ll have to try harder next time.” Winking, he flashed a cheeky grin at her and reached out to serve himself some of the food on the table. Roast beef and vegetables, all artfully arranged, like a feast laid out in A Christmas Carol.
She opted not to entertain his comment or his wink. Instead, she just went about making herself her own plate of food. She was absolutely starving. She’d felt like she had been running on a treadmill while falling down a cliff. At the same time. For an hour. She needed the protein.