“As you wish.” Monroe shivers. For all that she’s chaos incarnate, she isn’t faking her attraction to me. I’d bet my life on it. I don’t know if that makes this shit better or worse.

I release her and start for the door. “Let’s go.”

I half expect her to start some shit, but Monroe follows along obediently and silently… At least until we’re in the hall and have shut the door behind us. “You’re a giant fool, do you know that?”

Even knowing better than to take the bait, I still chomp down on it with all my strength. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That’s rich coming from you.” She manages to match my longer stride with seeming ease, which irritates me beyond all reason. Monroe laughs. “You all but drove Shiloh right into my arms. What did you say to piss her off so thoroughly?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“If you say so.” She shrugs. “I honestly have no motivation to convince you to stop being a pushy neanderthal. It’s working out well for me.”

I spin on her, but she’s already moving. Monroe catches my wrist and shoves it away. “Let’s get one thing straight, shall we? I might like some slap and tickle when it comes to fucking, but you will not touch me in anger outside of that. Do you understand me?”

It’s as if someone else takes control of my body. I stalk her across the hallway, and she lets me, though she narrows her green eyes in suspicion. I don’t stop until I plant my hands on the wall on either side of her body. “It’s you who needs to understand me, Bride.” I lean down until we’re face to face. “Everything we do is in conjunction to fucking. That’s all it is. Aside from the alliance this handfasting brought us, you’re just a pretty pussy to me and nothing more.”

She laughs in my face. “Gods, you’re too much. Cute, Broderick, really cute.”

Still acting on pure instinct, I spin her around and step forward, pressing my front to her back. She drags in a harsh breath, but I’m not finished yet. I dip my hand beneath her loose shirt and hook the front of her jeans with my thumb. “This fucking enough for you, Monroe?”

“This is hardly foreplay,” she snarls.