Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger

“Answer the damn question.”
“—but I think you can get those reversed—”
He growls, “If you don’t say yes or no right now, I’ll take
you over my knee.”
I glance over at Stavros on the other side of the vast living
room, talking in low tones with two other men and shooting us
the occasional worried look.
“There are people here.”
“Do you think that would stop me?”
“No. So here’s something that will: red.”
He grinds his jaw, his dark eyes blazing. He looks like the
top of his head is about to explode like a volcano. He says my
name, enunciating every syllable.
I blow out a breath and blurt, “I’m saying I want to know
if you’d be open to it.”
His reply is instant. “If I say yes, will you marry me?”
My eyes widen. I stare up at him with my heart pounding
against my breastbone and my hands shaking.
Then, my stomach in knots, I drop my gaze to his chest
and shake my head.
“It can’t be a negotiation. It has to be something you really
want to do. That both of us want to do. You don’t make kids a
bargaining chip.”
After a silent, tense moment, he drops his hand from my
face and releases me.
“Go into my office. Look in the top drawer.”
His expression is unreadable, and now I’m confused.
“Now? We’re in the middle of kind of an important
conversation here.”
“Do it now before I lose my patience and do something I’ll
regret.”
Anger forming into a bitter little ball inside my stomach, I
stare at him, standing there glaring at me in all his Alpha male