Chapter 39
“I don’t know,” he replied lazily. “Perhaps because you just ignored my order to come to me, so I decided I’ll come to you instead p>
“Don’t come any closer,” Viola warned as her back hit the cold glass wall behind her, the chill of it sending a sharp shiver down her spine and making her realize there was nowhere left to retreat.
She glanced to the side where the elevator doors were and attempted to dash in that direction, but of course the predator moved faster. He blocked her path by slamming his palm against the glass wall beside her ear, half-caging her between his body and the unyielding surface.
Viola gulped down her silva and tried to move in the opposite direction to escape, but his other hand came down just as fast, slamming against the wall on her other side and completely trapping her now between him and the glass.
She turned to glare at him, though a tight coil of nerves wound through her stomach the moment his cologne hit her senses, filling her lungs. She liked it, and hated that she did. But the warmth and proximity of his hand grazing her scalp set her pulse racing uncontrollably.
“Run, niñita,” he rasped. “I can still catch you with those short legs of yours p>
Viola clenched her fingers against her dress. “I am not short, and I refuse to be called names whose meaning I don’t even know,” she snapped, glaring at him.
Everything that ever left his mouth about her was an insult. If he wasn’t so tall, like a towering structure, she wouldn’t appear so dwarfed by him in the first place.
Sebastian arched a brow. “You are little and look innocent, but you have fire on your tongue that will get you in deep trouble, niñita. I don’t take it good when I get spoken back to like that. And I will call you whatever I see fit you, little, short, and even four eyes.” He said this bringing his hand to push her sliding glass back up her nose bridge. “Hmm, too big for the small face p>
He said the small just because she didn’t like to hear it and he watched the rage simmer on her face. He had heard so many people saying short people have so much anger, and it seemed to be true because this one has it in abundance and she couldn’t let it flare freely because she still has the Hollow system restraining her.
“Take your big, giant hand off my glasses,” she said calmly, realizing her anger was only stroking his provocation. If he called her small, she would call him giant and big. Two could play the game of giving names.
Sebastian laughed coldly. “I like that, being big. At least I am not something anyone can step on and walk over, dwarf p>
“Tower,” she glared at him.
“Rat,” he shot back.
“Colossus,” she said, realizing how he wanted to play this insult game with her.
“Shrimp,” he retorted, eyes narrowing as if daring her to find another name and call him.
“Skyscraper,” she bit out.
“Rabbit,” he mused, lips curling slightly.
“Titan.” Wasn’t he going to stop yet? She couldn’t believe this cold man was petty enough to resort to name-calling.
“Ant,” he said simply, knowing this was stupid and that he was lowering himself to her childish exchange. Yet he couldn’t stop as long as she continued. He never let anyone have the last say, not even when that person was this little, unfearful woman, especially when that person was her.
Finally, Viola gave up and slid her mouth shut, realizing if she continued, so would he, because he was shameless and a bully! Was this big bully the supreme Alpha everyone fear?
“Tired? Hmm, I thought as much, ant,” he said as he slowly moved one hand away from the wall behind her head.
Viola didn’t even realize he had lowered it until she felt it grasp her injured hand in his large one. She jolted instantly and tried to yank it away, but he held on firmly, his eyes never leaving hers for a second.
“Let go of me!” she gritted out, trying to push at his chest with her free hand to force him out of her breathing space.
But because his designer signature shirt was open at the front, leaving his ominous, snake-tattooed chest bare, her palm came into direct contact with his warm skin.
She heard him inhale sharply, as if she had hurt him, and it caused her to freeze. She looked up into his eyes only to find that his expression had shifted into something she couldn’t interpret, and his grip around her hand tightened reflexively.
Viola gulped. Did such a push hurt him? Though she showed bravery, it took everything inside her not to cower. But the man was insanely annoying, and she couldn’t help herself.
Sebastian clenched his jaw, forcing himself to control the intense wash of desire that surged through him from nothing more than the contact of her hand against his skin. The electric spark sent heat waves racing through his nervous system, goosebumps rising along the back of his neck.
He looked down to see her small hand flattened against his chest while she stared up at him, wide-eyed and confused, so clearly obvious she had no damn idea how this troublesome bond worked. She could torment him with just a whiff of her scent and set him ablaze.
Sebastian hated it, but he breathed in her daisy scent deeply. The effect it had on him was powerful, though not stronger than the reason he was here. He would inhale her until she was nothing new to him, until he got so used to her scent that she would never hold such an effect over him again.
She wouldn’t be someone he cared about. She wouldn’t be someone his mind sought out even in his subconscious.
She wouldn’t be the reason he suffered again. Nobody would be. And so he let himself take her in, her scent, her presence, forcing it into familiarity.
Sebastian moved closer, compelled by the need to feel her warmth more clearly, more fully, so he wouldn’t be caught off guard by that electric spark again.
“What do you want from me?” Viola asked warily as she shifted and pressed her back harder against the glass, trying to escape his closeness.
There was no escaping him. He still held her painful injured hand and was now studying it with an unreadable expression on his face.
“More like what you want from me, Viola,” he drawled, his voice deep and husky.
The way he said her name for the first time sent a strange quiver through her stomach. It sounded different in his mouth. Was it because he had that annoying accent? The sensation was foreign and unsettling, so much so that she didn’t realize he had removed the handkerchief Nicholas had wrapped around her palm until he snorted softly.
“Nicholas’s possession,” he said. “It doesn’t belong with you, niñita p>
She watched him fling the piece of fabric away as if it were nothing but dirt, and she gasped.
“You can’t do that!” she exclaimed, trying to reach for the discarded handkerchief.
But he pulled her back before she could take a step. This time, his strong arm slid around her waist, drawing her firmly against him.
“I can do it, and I already did. I can also ease the pain better than a handkerchief,” he said calmly. “Now stop fighting and stay still p>
He gave her a dark warning look, and without giving her time to prepare, he lifted her injured hand toward his mouth.