J.R. Ward the Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels 1-4 - J. R. Ward [203]
“And no, Mary, I don’t have the disease.”
“Then why wouldn’t it—”
“I just wanted to make it better. See? No more bleeding.”
She looked down at her thumb. The cut was sealed up. Partially healed. How the hell—
“Now are you going to answer me?” Hal said, as if deliberately cutting off the questions she was about to ask.
As she glanced up, she noticed his eyes were doing that glow thing, the teal blue taking on an otherworldly, hypnotic sheen.
“What was the question?” she murmured.
“Does my body please you?”
She tightened her lips. Man, if he got off on hearing women say he was beautiful, he was going home disappointed.
“And what would you do if it didn’t?” she shot back.
“I would cover myself.”
“Yeah, right.”
He cocked his head to the side, as if thinking he’d read her wrong. Then he headed out to the living room where his coat was.
Good lord, he was serious.
“Hal, come back. You don’t have to…I, ah, I like your body just fine.”
He smiled as he returned to her. “I’m glad. I want to please you.”
Fine, dandy, she thought. Then lose the shirt, peel off those leather pants, and lie down on my tile. We’ll take turns being on the bottom.
Cursing herself, she went back to making the coffee. As she spooned grounds into the machine, she could feel Hal looking at her. And hear him take deep breaths, as if he were smelling her. And sensed he was…inching nearer all the time.
The forerunners of panic threaded through her body. He was too close. Too big. Too…beautiful. And the heat and lust he called out of her were too powerful.
When the pot was on, she backed away from him.
“Why don’t you want me to please you?” he said.
“Stop using that word.” Because when he said please, all she could think about was sex.
“Mary.” His voice was deep, resonant. Penetrating. “I want to—”
She covered her ears. Suddenly there was way too much of him in her house. In her head.
“This was a bad idea. I think you should go.”
She felt a big hand land lightly on her shoulder.
Mary stepped out of his reach, choking up. He was health and vitality and raw sex and a hundred other things she couldn’t have. He was so totally alive, and she was…most likely sick again.
Mary went over to the slider and opened it. “Leave, okay? Please just leave.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Get out. Please.” But he merely stared at her. “Christ, you’re like a stray dog I can’t get rid of. Why don’t you go pester someone else?”
Hal’s powerful body stiffened. For a moment it seemed like he was going to say something harsh, but then he picked up his coat. As he swung the leather around his shoulders and went for the door, he didn’t look at her.
Oh, great. Now she felt awful.
“Hal. Hal, wait.” She grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry. Hal—”
“Don’t call me that,” he snapped.
When he shrugged off her grip, she stepped in his way. And really wished she hadn’t. His eyes were utterly cold. Chips of aqua-colored glass.
The words he spoke were sharp-edged. “I’m sorry I offended you. I can imagine it’s a big goddamned burden to have someone want to get to know you.”
“Hal—”
He pushed her aside easily. “You say that one more time and I’m going to put a fist through the wall.”
He strode outside, walking into the woods that ran down the left edge of her property.
On impulse, Mary shoved her feet into a pair of running shoes, grabbed a jacket, and shot through the slider. She ran across the lawn, calling out for him. When she got to the forest’s edge, she paused.
There were no branches snapping, no twigs cracking, no sounds of a big man walking. But he’d gone in this direction. Hadn’t he?
“Hal?” she called out.
It was a long while before she turned and went back inside.
Chapter Fifteen
“You did well tonight, Mr. O.”
O stepped out of the shed behind the cabin, thinking Mr. X’s approval was such bullshit. He kept the irritation to himself, though. He was barely a day out of the Omega’s clutches and not really in the mood to get all worked up.
“But the male didn’t tell us anything,” he muttered.
“That’s because he didn’t know anything.”
O paused.