Obsession by Jennifer Armentrout

look was there.
    “Yes.” I slid my hands under her arms and , as I stood, I hauled her onto her feet. She swayed a little, so I didn’t let go. Keeping a hand on her arm, I led her away from the gazebo and back toward the cabin.
    “Look, I apologized. You don’t have to be so pissy about it.”
    I snorted.
    Serena didn’t respond , and there must be some sort of higher being because she was quiet as we walked past the pavilion and hit the main road. During that blissful period of silence, as she stumbled along beside me, I realized that as furious as I was at her, I wasn’t angry with her now. I didn’t know how I felt. Annoyed? Yes. The rest I couldn’t decipher, which was new to me…and I didn’t like it.
    I should’ve just let the others have her because that would’ve been one less thing for me to worry about.
    “You don’t have to drag me all the way back to the cabin.”
    I shot her a dry look. “Really, I don’t?”
    She returned the look, but her version was a lot more hateful, and I tightened my grip on her upper arm. For a moment, the sleepy look in her eyes gave way to anger, and I readied myself for a fight. At least there was really nothing she could throw at me, but she was within kicking range.
    Serena yawned…right in my face.
    My brows shot up.
    Then a disgruntled look crossed her features, reminding me of a small, pissed - off creature that really had no way of defending itself other than raising its hair and baring tiny teeth. Something about the imagery poked at me. Serena was a feisty little thing, but she could’ve easily been a dead,little thing if I hadn’t gone looking for her.
    “You’re hurting me,” she said finally, nodding at where my entire hand wrapped around her arm.
    “No. I’m not.”
    Her face scrunched up. “Okay. You’re annoying me.”
    “Want to know a secret?”
    Serena looked wary. “What?”
    I leaned in and whispered, “I don’t care.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Real funny.”
    I chuckled. I thought it was pretty damn funny, but what wasn’t funny was the fact we’d only passed the first bend in the road and Serena had slowed to the point that a one - legged baby would’ve outpaced her.
    I was out of patience.
    It took some time to recover from the kind of feeding I had done on her, and she shouldn’t have been up, running around.
    Fuck it.
    Letting go of her arm, I picked her up and tossed her over my shoulder.
    Serena squealed hoarsely. “What are you doing?”
    “Snails with broken shells move faster than you.”
    Her small fists bounced off my back. “What is it with you?”
    Smiling to myself, I put a little bounce in my step and was rewarded with an oomph, and then a much harder stab to the back. Ah, it truly was the little things in life… .
    “Put me down,” she said. “Or so help me, I’ll kick your ass!”
    With one arm secure around her waist, I gave her ass a friendly pat with my free hand. “You should really watch your language. It’s not very ladylike.”
    “Don’t you dare smack my—” A yawn cut her off, totally ruining the level of threat. “You high-handed, arrogant son of a—”
    Whamp! This smack was a little harder. “Language, Serena.”
    What came out of her mouth next almost made me drop her. She got her ass smacked again for that and after the third time, she quieted down. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, if I didn’t count what was going on between my legs. Maybe it was the whole carrying her thing. Maybe it was the spanking her ass. Or perhaps it was the fact I was in a permanent state of hardness since she threw a cast - iron pioneer at me. If that was the case, then my attraction was pretty dark.
    It was probably the ass - spanking part.
    Serena tried to wiggle free when I reached the deck, but I didn’t let go of her until I deposited her troublemaking ass on the couch.
    Glaring up at me, Serena grabbed for a pillow.
    I intercepted, yanking it away from her. “I really hope you weren’t