Vow to Protect (Vow To Protect 1)

Right now, as I ride the elevator to my penthouse, I only want to see her. A moment to reassure myself she is still here and safe. If she left, I don’t know if I could handle it.

When the doors open, I immediately scan the foyer for her, but it’s late, so of course she won’t be here waiting for me. Biting back my disappointment, I check her library first. She likes to work late in there. I finally find her in the bedroom, where I should have checked first.

The lights are still on, and I stop in the doorway, looking her over. Her clothes are still on, and she’s curled up on the covers facing away from the door.

I walk around the end of the bed to the other side. Her eyes are open, and I kneel to stare into them at her level. Her face is red like she’s been crying, and my heart takes a tumble at the thought. Was she upset I left?

I rub my thumb across her cheek, but she jerks away. “What’s wrong, Angel? I wasn’t gone very long, and Kai was here. No one could have gotten to you.”

She sniffles and scoots farther across the bed so I can’t reach her. I narrow my eyes and stand. “Angel?”

“I’m fine. Really. It’s nothing.”

I hate her moving away from me, but I give her a moment to come to her senses. “What’s the matter? Tell me.”

Another sniffle and she shakes her head. “Nothing.”

I slide into the bed and grasp her hips so she can’t move farther. “Bullshit. You’re cowering away from me right now.”

A new light enters her eyes, and she sits up, jerking from my grasp. “I’m not cowering.”

“Then what are you doing? Because it feels a hell of a lot like you’re not letting me touch you right now.”

She jumps off the other side of the bed and paces next to it. “How did your meeting go? Did you have fun?”

I’m baffled by the change of subject. “Fun? It was a business meeting? I would never call them fun. I thought you knew where I was going.”

She spins toward me, charging forward, and I have to admit this fierce, fiery side of her is turning me on.

“I knew where you were going, but I didn’t know who else would be there.”

It’s my turn to show my teeth. I stand and button my suit jacket, then saunter around the bed to stare her down. “I didn’t think I needed to clear my business associates with you before I meet with them.”

She can talk to me any way she wants if she’s prepared to pay the consequences for it. And right now, I’m ready to deliver those consequences personally.

She continues to pace, then faces me again. “I saw you together. Things didn’t look very businesslike to me.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Val? You better start clarifying before I decide I’m done listening to you talk and just bend you over the bed for your punishment for speaking to me this way.”

The mere mention of punishment before sent her running. Now, she turns to the bedside table and picks up a glass. Brandishing it at me, she yells. “You were with that skank, and I am angry, okay?”

The glass shatters against the wall before I realize she threw it. An impressive throw and would be worth the little show if she didn’t look completely shocked right now.

“First off, Valentina, you need to calm the fuck down. Asking a question might be a better way to get answers from me rather than you being pissy and throwing things.”

Her hands are shaking at her sides, and she’s staring at the indent in the wall where the glass had hit.

“Angel?” I prompt.

She blinks and stares up at me again. This time, the spark of her anger is doused in a fresh round of tears. Then she stares down at her trembling hands. “Who am I becoming? I don’t do this. I don’t throw things or scream at people.”

I take a step toward her, and when she doesn't skitter away, I gather her into my arms. “Or maybe you’ve never felt safe enough to voice your true feelings. When something upset you, which I assume happened often in that house of yours, you tucked it away and let it fester. Some part of you knows you are safe with me, and it’s making you bolder. I’m proud of you.”

She snorts against my chest. “You say that now, a moment after you talk about punishing me for it.”

I delve my fingers into her messy curls. “Oh but Angel, I’m going to have so much fun punishing you, and I promise, by the end, you’ll be begging me for my cock.”

Her laughter soothes some of the edges inside me. Things that turned sharp at her anger. I don’t know if I’d prepared myself to bite back at her or her enemies. Either way, it’s something to consider later.