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I had no idea. I never got even a hint of what you were feeling.
Good. He nodded with a grim smile. Because it would ve scared the shit out of you if you
had. A princess like you deserves better than a horny ex-con like me slobbering all over her.
I m not a princess, and don t call yourself that.
Angel, he said gently, while inside his whole world turned a little darker, an ex-con is
what I am. And you do deserve better than that.
Your decision, not mine.
It s not a decision, it s a fact.
She sighed shortly and looked away, muttering something that sounded like control freak
under her breath before returning her attention to him. So& you re saying you called me little girl
and have been an obnoxious, belittling asshole all this time because you had the hots for me, but
thought I deserved better?
Belittling? The others he d straight-up cop to, but not that. How have I been belittling?
Remember all the times you ve called me an idiot?
He narrowed his eyes as he mulled it over. Yeah, you re right. I never should have called
you an idiot when I thought you were going to go into peoples houses and tattoo them in private. I
overreacted and lost my shit again.
She nodded. You really did.
And I m sorry about that.
Good. Apology accepted.
But when I see you starving yourself rather than eating healthy food left in place of
convenience store crap, I m going to call it like I see it.
And that s another thing
Yeah, I threw that garbage you called food away because I like looking out for you. So
what?
For only a moment she seemed stunned before she gave her head a shake. So what? It s none
of your business what I eat.
I m not going to stand around playing pocket pool while you eat fucking garbage, Angel.
I don t need anyone to look out for me.
True, but that doesn t matter. I do what I do because it s what I need to do. And now that I no
longer have to worry about rocking the boat when it comes to my position at the House and you re
no longer an untouchable teen who s so young it scares the crap outta me I m going to keep on doing
what I need to do.
Which is?
Watching out for you, he said softly, at last cupping her cheek to savor its warm softness. I
need to do that until you wake up like Alice did. And when you wake up, I m hoping you re going to
open those beautiful eyes of yours and see what the hell s in front of you.
Her lips parted on a breath. That faint sound nearly broke him. What is it you want me to
see?
The truth resonated inside him so loudly he couldn t begin to fight it, not even to protect her
from his sorry ass. Me. The man who lived behind the label of ex-con. The man who tried to
smooth her way, even though she hated his fucking guts for it. If she could see who he really was, then
he told himself that would be all he d ever want from her.
This time her breath stopped entirely. Then her gaze darkened with understanding and an
awareness that made his skin heat so damn fast he was surprised he didn t hear it sizzle. Then she
pushed at the arm he had braced over her.
Sun s going down, so I can t really see you in this light. If you really want me to look at you,
we need to go inside.
Chapter Ten
Angel tried to get the runaway pounding of her pulse under control by slow-breathing, but that just
wasn t cutting it. She couldn t find calm anywhere. Discovering the bane of her existence had been
hot for her to the point of madness from day one was like finding out there were elves residing in the
North Pole. It was too crazy to believe.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
She pressed a hand to her chest and felt the pounding against her palm. Geez. If she didn t
know better, she d swear she was having a freaking heart attack. Because she didn t know what was
going to happen next, she thought, trying to ignore the tremors in her legs as she led the way into her
condo. That was why her heart was doing its best impression of a drum roll. Everything about Twist
had always made her anxious. Agitated. That was all she was feeling now.
Thud. Thud.
Behind her, she heard the glass door slide shut. Then the click of the lock.
THUD.
She turned so quickly her hair spun over her shoulders, and found his attention riveted on her
so completely it was as if she was the only thing he could see. His eyes were unblinking, and darker
than she d ever seen them. He searched her face, hungry for something she couldn t name, but it was
powerful enough to make her shiver. No man had ever looked at her like that before. Like he was
waiting for her to give him permission to breathe.
Did she really that that much power over him?
No. It couldn t be.
She shivered again while desire pulsed with sudden insistence between her legs. She racked
her brain trying to find something to say to diffuse the explosive silence that wrapped around them.
But her stubborn brain refused to cooperate, instead echoing with everything he d laid out for her by
the pool. She wasn t stupid enough to believe all of it, of course. She d known him too long to be
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