Dungeon Games by Lexi Blake

staring down at her, but obviously not seeing what was right in front of him.
    “Hush. You have to be quiet. You have to fucking shut up. You know they’re right outside.”
    “I’ll be quiet.” She needed to calm him down. She wasn’t really afraid of him. Her knee was in the proper position to wake him up very quickly if she had to, but she preferred to help him. He might hold it against her if she shoved his balls into his body cavity.
    His head came low. He spoke right into her ear as though he was terrified someone would hear him. “They’re right outside that door. You can’t make a sound. I know it hurts, but you can’t imagine what they’ll do to you if they catch us. I’m going to get you out of here, Jones. I’m going to get you back to your family but you have to be quiet.”
    His hand slowly came up, about to cover her mouth. She couldn’t be sure what would happen next, but she knew she had a shot at changing the script playing out in his head. She was betting Jones wasn’t female.
    She brought her mouth to his, catching him in a kiss.
    His head immediately came up, his eyes flaring. “What the hell?” He stared down at her, obviously back to his normal, taciturn self. “Karina? What are you doing?”
    She bit back a giggle because she wasn’t sure how he thought she’d managed to get underneath him to “do” something. “Welcome back to the real world, Brighton. That was a hell of a dream you were having.”
    He shook his head and finally managed to roll off her. “I was dreaming about something that happened a while back.” He shoved a hand across his hair. “Did I hurt you?”
    Karina moved toward him. It was instinctive, she told herself. She comforted people and Derek was obviously in need. It had nothing to do with how much she wanted to put her hands on him again, how much she longed to be close to him. “You didn’t hurt me, Derek. I’m fine.”
    She placed a hand on his shoulder, but he was on his feet in an instant, looking down on her, his eyes narrowed. “You’re just lucky. You can’t be anywhere near me when I get into that state. I could have hurt you. You have no fucking idea what goes through my head.”
    Oh, she’d heard enough, knew enough about his history to guess. “You were going to put your hand across my mouth to keep me quiet, Brighton. It wasn’t exactly a vicious attack.”
    His jaw hardened, every word coming out of his mouth in a harsh grind. “So you thought it would be a good idea to try to get some? What the fuck was that, Karina? If you want a little cock, all you have to do is ask. I already told you I’m more than willing to fuck you while we’re on the case. But I don’t like being manipulated.”
    Oh, she was done with him. “You know what, Brighton? Screw you. The next time I hear you crying out in the middle of the night, I’ll ignore it and let you stay wherever the hell it is you go. I was trying to help you.”
    “By having sex with me? You really know how to help a guy.”
    He was an ass. She got off the floor and got into his space. He needed to understand that he couldn’t intimidate her. “Well, I had two choices in how to deal with you. I could kiss you and hope that brought you out of it because I’m betting Jones wasn’t someone you would exchange saliva with, or I could have brought my knee up and made sure you could taste your own semen. I know which one I’ll pick next time.”
    She turned to go, but he gripped her wrist. “I’m not done.”
    With two sharp twists, she was out of his hold. “I am. Good night, Brighton. Sweet dreams.”
    She slammed the door between them and immediately the tears started. She turned and put her back to the door, sliding down. There was zero point in getting back in bed. She wouldn’t sleep.
    He was such a bastard. Screw him. She didn’t need him. She was perfectly fine on her own. She would keep the door closed between them and in the morning they would go right back to being