His eyes soften and he half smiles. ‘She can’t, I told her that. None of them can. It’s all about you.’
‘I don’t want you helping Coral, either. It’s unfair for you to expect me to be okay with that.’
‘Ava, I can’t turn my back on her.’ He looks truly shocked by my demand. I’m a bit staggered. What? Has he suddenly grown a conscience?
‘Okay, I’ll keep working for Mikael.’ I have no idea why I just said that. How stupid of me. The look on his face has gone from soft and reassuring to black and hard. Will I ever learn?
‘You had better retract that statement.’ His chest is heaving beneath me and his jaw tenses to snapping point. That’s exactly how I feel about him helping Coral.
‘No.’ I blurt. I’m really pushing my luck.
‘Three,’ he begins.
‘Oh no you don’t!’ I go to climb off him, but his grip tightens on my hands, clenching down fiercely.
‘Two,’
‘No! You are not giving me the countdown on this! No way, Ward. You can take your zero and shove it up your f**king ARSE!’ I fight with his grip of me, getting angrier the harder he holds me.
‘MOUTH!’ He flips me over so I’m face down and he is blanketing me with his body. ‘One.’
‘Get lost!’ I’m not backing down on this.
‘Zero, baby.’ His fingers move straight to my hip and dig right in…hard.
I scream, being tossed into hell by his unrelenting digs. Oh, he’s really going for it and my bladder suddenly feels like a punch balloon. ‘Okay! Okay, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!’ I can’t bear it.
He stops immediately, and I’m spun over, his body pinning me to the bed. ‘Kiss me.’ he orders, leaning down a little so his lips hover over mine.
I lift my head and kiss the life out of him as he hums into my mouth, a throaty sound of pure satisfaction. I’m mad. I’m mad with him for making it sound like Coral is of no concern. I’m mad because he’s agreed to help her. I’m mad because she’s in love with him. I’m mad because there are other women who love him too and I’m mad with myself for relenting to his orders.
He bites my lip and drags it through his teeth. ‘Just you, Ava. I love you.’
‘Just me.’
‘Good girl.’ He blesses me with a smile – my smile. ‘I’ve f**ked you, and now I need to feed you.’
I want to correct him. In actual fact, he handcuffed me to the bed, masturbated all over me, come in my mouth and demanded I marry him. ‘Is Cathy coming in?’ I ask.
‘No, weekends are her own. Up you get.’ He grips my arms and pulls me up before getting off the bed and collecting up the contents of the gift bag, shoving it back in the gold satin bag.
I watch as he disappears into the wardrobe and comes out moments later wearing my favourite green checked pajama pants, no top. I lay back and admire him.
‘Are you going to lie there all day?’
I flick my eyes up to find him looking down at me. He crosses his arms over his chest and his muscles flex. My tongue takes a happy little trip across my bottom lip. ‘You promised a lie in.’ I remind him.
He saunters over and grasps my ankle, yanking me to the edge of the bed. He braces himself on his rigid arms, fists buried into the mattress on either side of my head. He breathes in my face. ‘Tell me we’re friends.’
‘We’re friends.’ I whisper. I thought we had established that?
‘Tell me you love me.’ He brushes his nose over mine.
‘I love you.’
His green eyes twinkle and a smile tickles his lips. ‘Tell me you’ll marry me.’
‘I’ll marry you.’
‘And I can’t wait. Kiss me.’ His husky tone is making my head spin. I throw my hands around his neck and land him with an adoring kiss. I feel his smile under my lips as he rises from the bed with my arms wrapped around him, my thighs finding his hips and curling around. I keep my kiss up as he walks me into the bathroom and uses a free hand to peel my legs from around him. I grumble in disgust, and he laughs. ‘You brush your teeth, I’ll start breakfast.’ He reaches behind his neck and peels my arms away.
‘Do I need to brush my teeth?’ I ask, a little injured.
‘No, I just thought that maybe you would like to.’ He turns me around in the mirror and drops a kiss on my shoulder, before slapping my arse and stalking out of the bathroom.
So, I’m getting married then? I need to speak to my parents and soon. I’m really not looking forward to that conversation. I stare at my reflection in the mirror. My dark hair is a mass of ruffled waves, my eyes bright, lips pink and cheeks flushed. I look well.
I absentmindedly grab my toothbrush and slap some paste on it while considering how well I feel too. I’ve never felt so refreshed and alive and there is only one reason why that is and it’s called Mr Challenging. Bloody hell, Kate’s going to have kittens, and I can’t even begin to think what my parents are going to make of all this. After Matt, Mum told me not to get swallowed up by the first man who showed me a bit of attention. I can’t imagine she’s going to be delighted that, in actual fact, I’m marrying the first man who’s paid me a bit of attention. This most definitely needs approaching with caution.
I lift my toothbrush up to my mouth and start brushing happily, flicking a stray tendril of hair from my face with my spare hand. Something catches my immediate attention.
What the f**king hell is that?