“I’m telling you that you don’t get to make assumptions about the woman you think I am because I was drawn to you to start what we started the way we started it,” she shot back, her delicate voice tight with anger, and he couldn’t deny it and she wasn’t hiding it—hurt. Hurt he did not like to hear. Hurt she felt enough to force her to make a mistake. “I’m telling you I haven’t taken any man unprotected. Not even Tommy.”

Nick felt his body still.

But doing it, he felt hers lock.

Not even Tommy.

Tom Leary? A Shade soldier?

A fucking Shade soldier it was known wide felt the wrath of his king and got the drip of acid on his face to learn his lesson. A lesson people knew he’d learned just looking at his face but no one knew why he’d learned it.

This thought shifted from his head when suddenly, her body flew into motion.

Fuck yeah. She’d made a mistake.

He moved instantly to clamp her tight to him.

She emitted a noise of desperation when she found herself immobilized, her arms wrapped round her front, her wrists seized, the only thing she could move was her legs and they were positioned to his side so any movement was ineffectual.

He needed to dig into her comment about Tom Leary.

But he felt at that juncture it would be an error to focus on the mystery of Olivia and not the forward movement of his plan.

“No one but me?” he asked.

“Sebring,” she bit off.

“Why me?”

“Let me go.”

He shook her slightly. “Why me, Olivia?”

She looked to him, mouth tight, eyes holding unhidden anger and frustration, both, he suspected, for herself but aimed at him for her mental health.

“You’re of my world. You get it.”

“I know of Tom Leary, Olivia,” he probed gently. “He’s of your world too.”

She gave a slight toss of her head that if their situation was not as intense as it was would have been fucking adorable. Enough to make him laugh or at least smile.

Instead, it just registered as fucking adorable, which was bad enough.

“He’s in my world. There’s a difference.”

“I get that,” he muttered.

She glared at him, too dignified to fight when she knew she was beaten.

He held her glare and it was fucking adorable too.

His eyes dropped to her mouth.

“Fuck, I want you to ride me hard right now.”

He watched her lips part.

His gaze cut up.

Anger and frustration gone, hunger all there was in her expression.

She felt him hard against her thigh.

And she wanted that too.

His hold loosened. “Climb on, Olivia.”