But she doesn’t murmur another word. What could she say? I’m right, and she knows it. She flops back in her seat, staring out of the window. She’s sulking. She’ll be sulking harder when I rip that dress off her, and not because I want at her body. She’s gone too far. Every second from the boutique to now has been a mission on her part to create problems. I’m done with it. It’s time to demonstrate some power.

31

A few times on our way back to Lusso, I see her head bob slightly from where she’s defiantly trying to keep her eyes open. Part of me hopes she’ll doze off. Maybe confess her love for me again. Instead, she snaps awake and throws me a curled lip when she catches me fleetingly watching her. She’s so fucking exasperating. She wouldn’t be in this car if she didn’t want to be. That much I do know. I never knew it was possible to love someone and want to throttle them in equal measure.

I don’t offer her my hand when she slowly gets out of my Aston, concentrating hard. Offering help will only give her cause to refuse, which she will. Her steps are tentative and measured as I follow her through the foyer, and Clive, wisely, senses the spikey atmosphere and keeps his mouth closed.

She waits for me to join her in the lift, her eyes angry slits. “You need to get this code changed.” She punches in the sequence of numbers with a heavy fingertip and focuses on the doors closing before us. The small space feels like a pressure pot. I glance down her body, getting a last good look at her in that dress. That fucking dress. Either the lame scrap of material takes the brunt of my rage, or Ava will.

She peeks up at me. Shifts on her heels. And for the first time since this morning when I dropped her at work, I’m amused. Even hopping mad, she’s desperate for me. I can see desire crawling all over her exposed skin, and there’s a lot of exposed skin. I could push her up against the wall. Take out this frustration on her body, and she would welcome it because she has some unwarranted frustration to be rid of herself. I’m smiling on the inside. Does she think she has the power?

She does.

But my displeasure is in control right now, and that will pave the way to what is going to be an epic showdown. I will take a lot, but I refuse to take her childish need to rub me up the wrong way. It’s uncalled for. Especially when I already feel like I’m fighting against the current.