Page 86 of Captive Souls

I smiled, though his tone was meant to be scary and threatening.

“Worth it,” I snickered. “And I think I’ll like your form of punishment.” My body was already melting into him, singing for him.

Knox stilled for just a moment, his grip tightening. “I’ll tie you to the fucking bed in the cabin and won’t let you come for hours,” he whispered in my ear.

My entire body tingled. “Like I said, not exactly punishment.”

Knox let out a low sound at the back of his throat. “You will ruin me.”

“I’m counting on you ruining me.”

Before he could say anything, he looked into my cart and froze. “What is this?”

“Well, you ruined the surprise, which isn’t surprising.” Fluorescent lighting was no one’s friend, but he managed to look like a dark god in the aisle of Walmart, eliciting stares from the people who passed by.

I ignored them without much effort, since he was my solar system, a whole universe in his gaze. “I want you to paint.”

I’d managed to find a canvas and an easel. I’d been surprised and delighted they had them in stock along with a scant paint selection that I was sure would do for a start.

“I’m not doing that,” Knox’s voice was glacial. He was wearing his mask, all affection gone from his eyes, his features turning sharp.

I’d expected that. Him to close down.

“Yes, you are,” I returned, pulling myself from his hold so I could face him with my hands on his hips. It felt daring and gratifying to be able to touch him like this in public. To show the world he was mine. Maybe I was a little possessive too.

“It can be my birthday present,” I whispered.

Knox blinked once. “It’s your birthday?” There it was again, the male panic he’d had the first night we had sex, with the wine.

I nodded curtly, feeling a teensy bit bad for the lie, but it was for his own good. I was using his one weakness … me. Knox was a lot of things, and he considered himself inhuman, but he cared about me. A lot. He tortured himself over it.

“I’ll buy you a fucking diamond,” he snapped. “Fancy bag.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want a diamond or a fancy bag.” Though I couldn’t help the image of a diamond on my left hand, given to me by Knox.

Such a fantasy could never come to fruition, and thinking of any kind of future, let alone one so normal, was fatal at that moment.

I focused on Knox, the present, showing him I meant business with what I hoped was a dedicated stare.

He didn’t look like he was going to budge. I had to pull out the big guns.

I jutted out my bottom lip and made my eyes go wide. “Please?” I asked in a small feminine voice.

Again, more than a little manipulative, but it was for the greater good.

Knox glared at me, gaze unyielding and frigid.

I worried that even the plea hadn’t melted him.

Then he lunged forward. “For fuck’s sake.” He snatched a handful of the paints I’d been deciding between and a fistful of brushes before hurling them in the cart.

“We’re going,” he ordered, taking hold of me and dragging me along with the cart.

I smiled all the way to the checkout, letting Knox shove all the items on the belt with his surly energy.

I hadn’t even noticed he’d stopped or that his attention wasn’t on me until he spoke.

“You look at her for a second longer, I’ll rip out your eyes and feed them to you,” Knox quietly told the man behind me.