Page 69 of Crossover
Especially with how they’d been looking at each other, right in front of me. Making it clear they had some sort of romantic history—a history they obviously wanted to revisit in the present.
“Fuck someone else when I’m not around,” I snapped.
Her jaw would have fallen to the floor if it weren’t on hinges.
My, look at that rage flashing through her eyes.It was not beautiful, I tried to tell myself.
“You’re being a dick!” she snapped through gritted teeth.
“I’mbeing a dick? You were being heartless, flaunting that asshole in front of me.”
She balled her little hands into fists. “I didn’t flaunt him, and I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Eye-fucking your ex-fling, or whoever he was, in front of me—not a smart move, Kitten. Especially with an armed operative.”
Her angry eyes flared wide open. “Is that a threat?”
I leaned down until my face was inches from hers. “I think you know by now, I’d never do anything to hurt you. But him? It took everything in me to not end that asshole.”
I’d prided myself on control my whole career, and now, this woman, she was unraveling me. One thread at a time, until, finally, she pulled the biggest one.
She swallowed, as if only now fully appreciating the danger that could’ve unfolded in that diner.
“I’ve spent years training and perfecting countless ways to end a man’s life. I’m a walking weapon. One wrong move, one slipped thread of control, and hearts stop beating. So, don’t provoke me.”
Ivy’s chest rose and fell faster, like her breasts wanted to tempt me, too.
“You wouldn’t have hurt him,” she said, but there was uncertainty in her voice.
I arched a brow at her challenge. “Before I met you, that would have been a certainty.”
The tension between us was pulled taut, like a tripwire ready to snap.
“I know you hate me for what I’ve done,” I continued, “And if I could change the past, I would, but I’m laying down my life to protect yours. So, do me the courtesy ofnotflirting with another man in front of me. Because the thought of another man’s hands on you…might literally drive me to murder.”
38
IVY
His words should have repulsed me. Instead, I was suddenly—and acutely—aware of his body, so close to mine that I could feel its heat.
I shouldn’t want anyone like Grayson. Rationally, I knew that. I should want Kyle. Safe, simple, uncomplicated Kyle. I could picture it all—morning coffees, lazy Sundays reading in bed, grocery shopping on the same day each week like clockwork. Hosting cozy dinners for the same rotation of friends and family. It would be a good life, a content one.
And yet it wasn’t until I saw Kyle that I realized just how strong my magnetic pull to Grayson was.
Love, it seemed, was sometimes illogical and unwanted. The old me would have been satisfied with the secure routine Kyle offered. But that was before I’d experienced the thrill of fireworks igniting the night sky.
How do you go back to darkness once you’ve witnessed that burst of light and color?
You don’t. You crave those fireworks, every second of every day, and seeing Grayson’s barely contained jealousy and anger at the thought of me with another man should have sent me running. Instead, it only intensified my forbidden desire.
Still, Ishouldn’twant him. I shouldn’t fantasize about his hands over my body, his mouth between my thighs as he watched me come on his mouth.
Grayson’s face darkened, his mouth distractingly close to mine.
“If another man touches you while you’re under my protection,” he continued, “I’ll empty my gun into his eye socket.”
My hand shot up to slap him, but he caught my wrist before my palm hit his cheek, holding it firmly as his gaze raked over my face, setting my nerves aflame.