Rule's Addiction (The House of Rule 3)

“The goddamn stairwell, Maria?” he questioned in a yell, biting the words out.

“What . . . what?” she asked, confusion setting in.

Lines of ice-cold fury bracketed his mouth. “Do you not have a clue? Do you not have a single working brain cell in that head of yours?”

She jerked her head back, not caring for that question one damn bit. She felt her blood pressure rise as her eyes narrowed, a returning anger filling her bloodstream. Fuck him. Fuck his arrogance. “Watch it, Mr. Rule. You’re beginning to piss me off.”

He leaned into her another intimidating inch. “Piss. You. Off?”

“I promise, you don’t want to piss me off,” she challenged, ignoring the warning bells in her head.

A yellow spiral of heat began blending with the brown of his irises, surrounding the growing black circle of his pupils, telling of his anger. “Yeah? We’ll get back to that shit in a minute,” he stated, as if her own anger was no more irritating than a fly buzzing around. “Why the fuck would you take the stairway?”

“Why . . . why shouldn’t I?”

He rolled his eyes heavenward and then looked back down. “Do you not give a shit about your own safety?”

“You think I’m going to trip and fall?” she asked sarcastically, beginning to get a glimmer as to where he was really going with this.

“Smart-ass,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “You’re going to get assaulted, that’s what I think.”

“You think it’s dangerous in here?” she snapped, seeing no threat except for the one standing in front of her.

One brawny hand released her arm and moved unerringly, forcibly, to the hem of her dress. “I don’t know, what do you think?”

Chapter Five

Without so much as a pause, Garrett pushed the skirt of her dress up, out of his way, the palm of his hand seizing her mound, covered only by a triangle of silk fabric. She sucked in a startled breath as an arrow of heat shot through her, immobilizing her. He squeezed threateningly as he stared down at her, the lines of his face showing both scalding anger and a growing, imposing arousal.

Lights and whistles began going off in her head. Shit, shit, shit. This wasn’t good. Even now, she could feel her body begin to release a wet heat. Damn, he’d feel it through her panties any second now. Four, three, two, one—

The expression on his face transformed as fire exploded in his eyes. “Son-of-a-bitch, Maria.” Lightning fast, he pushed the crotch of her panties aside and his finger landed on her clit. He began rubbing, massaging her, and shock at the sudden situation held her momentarily in place. Although aroused, his anger was still there. “What if it had been someone else? Someone who wanted to hurt you?”

Despite her growing arousal, because of her growing arousal, Maria made a grab for his wrist to try to stop him as she struggled for words. “It’s completely safe. Only employees and guests—”

He didn’t release her. “Bullshit, it’s not safe. I get that you trust the employees here. But goddammit, you’d have no fucking clue if a psycho checked in. Anybody could follow you in here, overpower you, hurt you. You’re going to quit taking the stairs, understand me? You want to take the fucking stairs, you take the open staircase in the lobby, not this back stairwell, you got me?”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” she spat out, meeting his gaze straight on.

“I’m sorry, what?” The impatient words ripped from his throat. “What the fuck just came out of your mouth?”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do!” she plunged on defiantly.

He didn’t bother to answer. His head swooped down, he nipped at her bottom lip and then forced his tongue inside her mouth, just as he began swirling his finger around her clit again. A low growl of vibration started coming from deep in his chest as he crowded her back against the wall while spreading her legs apart, pushing his lower body between them.

Maria’s head began swimming again just as a new burst of damp heat flooded the juncture of her legs. How could he piss her off so badly and make her feel like this all at the same time? She was beyond excited, if this went on for much longer, she’d be in danger of climaxing, right here in the stairwell.

Abruptly, he lifted his head, his mouth coming off hers. She opened her eyes and found him staring down at her, his nostrils flaring. “And what about this goddamn dress?”

“What?” she asked, disoriented.

“I’ve never seen it before,” he stated with a stroke of censure before switching gears on her. “Who the fuck was the dude, Maria?”

Dress? Dude? What was he talking about? “What dude?”

At her question, he growled in warning and his finger slid down and found her wet opening. Her heart went haywire and she tried with everything she had not to push forward, her traitorous body searching for some degree of satisfaction.