Promised

‘You mean tidy?’

This is more than tidy. This is obsessive, but I’m getting the feeling that he’s sensitive about this subject. ‘Yes, tidy,’ I relent. ‘You’re very tidy.’

‘I make sure I take care of what’s mine.’ He reaches forward and pinches my nipple, making me jerk on top of him. ‘And you are now mine, Olivia Taylor.’

‘I am?’ I sound shocked, but I’m secretly delighted. I want to be possessed by him every moment of every day.

‘Yes,’ he says simply, taking my waist and pulling me down until our foreheads meet. ‘You are also my habit.’

‘I’m a habit?’

‘You’re an addictive habit.’ He kisses my nose. ‘A habit that I never plan on giving up.’

I don’t hesitate to let him know my thoughts on him and his new habit. ‘Okay.’

‘Who said you have a choice?’

‘You said you’d never make me do anything I don’t want to,’ I remind him.

‘I said I’d never make you do anything that I know you don’t want to do, and I know that you really want to be my habit. So this is a pointless discussion, wouldn’t you agree?’

I scowl at him, stumped for any comeback. ‘You’re cocky.’

‘You’re in trouble.’

I retreat on his lap. ‘What do you mean?’ I ask. Is he warning me?

‘Let’s talk about yesterday evening,’ he suggests, like we might be discussing where to have dinner. I’m instantly on my guard, and my chest falling onto his and my face hiding in his neck is evidence of this.

‘We’ve already talked about it.’

‘Not at length. I’m none the wiser as to why you behaved so recklessly, Livy, and it makes me uncomfortable.’ He wrestles me out of his chest and holds me in place. ‘When I’m talking to you, you look at me.’

I keep my head down. ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’

‘Hard luck.’ He’s moving, making himself more comfortable. ‘Explain yourself.’

‘I got drunk, that’s all.’ I don’t mean to, but I’m gritting my teeth and looking up at him through pissed off eyes. ‘And stop talking to me like I’m a delinquent child.’

‘Then stop behaving like one.’ He’s deadly serious. I’m stunned.

‘You know what?’ I push up and get out of the bath, and he does nothing to stop me. He just lies back, all relaxed and completely unaffected by my little tantrum. ‘You might make me feel incredible, say some beautiful things when you make love to me, but when you behave like this, all . . . all . . . all . . .

‘All what, Livy?’

‘You’re a self-righteous prick!’ I spit desperately.

He’s not at all fazed. ‘Tell me why you disappeared. Where did you go?’

His demanding questions only heighten my fury . . . and my desperation. ‘You said you’d never make me do anything I didn’t want to.’

‘That I know you don’t want to. I can see a burden weighing down my sweet girl.’ He reaches for me with his hand. ‘Let me ease it.’

I look at his hand for a few moments, my mind racing with only one worry. He’d leave me again if I ever told him. ‘You can’t.’ I turn on my bare feet and stalk away. I can’t stand this. Miller Hart is a roller-coaster ride, tossing me from untold pleasure to indescribable anger, from confident to timid and nervous, from pure joy to painful hurt. I’m being constantly pulled in two directions and while I know full well how I felt when he abandoned me before, at least the despair was consistent. At least I knew where I was. I’ll make the decision this time.

Cold and wet, I pull open the bottom drawer of the chest and take my knickers, bag and shoes, then hurry into his wardrobe and grab the first shirt that I lay my hands on, tossing it over my shoulders and dropping my shoes to the floor. Once I’ve slipped my knickers on and my feet into my heels, I make my escape, running across his bedroom, down the corridor and into the lounge, desperate to hide from his pressing questions and disapproving tones. I know that I was reckless last night. My mistakes are plentiful, but none as big as the man who I’ve just left in the bath. I don’t know what I’ve been thinking. He won’t understand.

Dashing towards the front door of his apartment, I begin to relax when my hand makes contact with the handle. But I can’t turn it. It’s not locked, I can leave if I want to, but my muscles are ignoring my brain’s faint order to open the door. And that is because there’s a more powerful command drowning it out, telling me to go back and make him understand.

I look down at my hand, mentally willing it to turn the knob. But it doesn’t. It won’t. My forehead meets the shiny black door, my eyes clamping shut as I battle the conflicting commands and stamp my heel on the floor in pure frustration. I can’t leave. My body and mind are not prepared to pass this door and leave behind the only man who I’ve ever connected with. I didn’t allow this to happen. It was unstoppable.

I roll my body around until my back is stuck to the door and I’m staring at Miller. He’s standing quietly watching me, completely na**d and dripping wet. ‘You can’t leave, can you?’

‘No,’ I sob, my knees becoming as weak as my falling heart and refusing to hold my body up any longer, leaving me sliding down the door until my bottom hits the floor. My anger turns to tears, and I cry silently to myself, the last of my defences melting away. I let my hopelessness pour into my hands and my barricades completely diminish under the scrutiny of the confounding Miller Hart. It feels like a lifetime, but I know it’s only mere seconds before he’s gathering me up and carrying me back to his bed. He doesn’t say a word. He sits me on the edge and slips my shoes and knickers off, and then pushes his shirt from my shoulders and down my arms, leaning into me and resting his lips on my cheek as he does. ‘Don’t cry, sweet girl,’ he whispers, uncharacteristically throwing his shirt to the floor before taking me gently down to the bed. ‘Please don’t cry.’