“You’re hurting me.”
“We both know you love the pain, Cosmo.”
He tried to kiss me again, but I turned my head. He licked the side of my face. “Why do you hurt me by rejecting my touch?”
“Because you’re not being a nice Daddy right now. I want you to stop.”
“If you truly want me to stop, Cosmo, you know what to do.”
I raised my knee, but he shifted before it could connect between his legs. “Funny you weren’t fighting off Agent Ellis. Let me in, Cosmo.”
“No, Daddy. No.”
My shirt ripped, and he tore it from my body.
“It shouldn’t turn me on so much when you fight me.” He breathed hard and fast. “But fuck, it does. Do you think the nice FBI agent can give you this?”
“You’re a nice officer too.”
“I was. But I’m not nice enough to hand you over to him. Now behave, or I’ll carry you through the front door, down the steps, across the street, and fuck you on his car so he’ll see how thoroughly I’ve staked a claim on you.”
My breath hitched. Oh my god, Hunter was so fucking hot like this. The kind, nice Hunter had won my heart. This dark, possessive man called to the deviant inside me.
He pulled my head back and kissed my neck, scraping his teeth over my skin and sucking hard on my flesh. So hard tears popped into my eyes. With a sob, I stretched a hand out onto the counter, grabbing for something…anything to use. My fingers touched a handle.
Did I dare?
I plunged the knife into Hunter’s arm. I didn’t have enough strength to push it deep, but he howled and jerked back. Blood oozed out of the wound, soaking his shirt.
“Cosmo.”
My heart beat so hard I could barely hear anything around me. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Daddy.”
He grunted, gritted his teeth, and reached for the knife.
“No, don’t. It might—”
He pulled the knife out of his arm, and I stared at the spot on his shirt that grew bigger and darker.
“Oh, shit.” I grabbed the dish towel and pressed it against the wound. What had I done? What had possessed me to stab him? If I’d really wanted him to stop, I should have used my safeword, and now he was bleeding because of me.
“You stabbed me, and now you want to patch me back up?” he asked softly.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“Why didn’t you just aim for my heart? Then you would be free from me.”
“No. Please. I swear Agent Ellis means nothing to me.” Enough was enough. He couldn’t really think that man could fulfill me the way Hunter did. Then why the hell had I provoked him so?
“He’d better not, Cosmo. Him so close to you, his arms around you. If I ever see that again, I don’t know what I’d do to both of you.” He stilled my hand. “Look at me, Cosmo.”
“You’re still bleeding. I’m trying to stop it.”
“Cosmo, look at me.”
I stared up at him, reeling back from the intensity in his gaze. “If anything ever happens between you and him, you’d better stab me right in the heart next time. I might not like the way I feel about you. I might not like the things I do to you, the things I want to do to you, but I won’t pretend it’s not there. I won’t pretend that right now I don’t want to hurt you for letting him get that close to you.”
He grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand away from his wound. The wound was barely bleeding now. He took the bloody dish towel from me.