Safe Word: Rosé

Chapter 27

Narrator-

Cara dropped the photos back on the table in anguish then stood and walked up to Jason. He took a step forward and met her halfway. Cara drew in a deep breath and fisted her fingers. Jason looked down at her scowl and kept his face neutral, but his eyes hardened by the second. Their chests pumped simultaneously with heavy and excited pants.

Jason watched closely as Cara's eyes filled with angry tears, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand before they spilled. Then she looked at Jason again and her heart ached in her chest. He had admitted to wanting her, but still, her heart hurt.

"Why did it take you so damn long?" Cara demanded.

Jason stuffed his hands in his pockets and lowered his face as close as possible to Cara's.

"I wanted to give you a chance to really think on whether or not you'd walk away from me again." Jason said lowly.

His tone had bumps piling over Cara's skin, and she wondered why Jason couldn't just be the regular man who simply hugged her and swept her off her feet, instead of being this hard, controlling, unforgiving man. Of course he chose to punish her for walking out on him, by scaring her into thinking that he didn't care for her. There was a time when Cara didn't think she was worth Jason's effort, and yet his actions now proved otherwise.

"And you chose blackmail?" She bit out through a stiff jaw.

"Would anything less have sufficed?" Jason quizzed.

Cara closed her eyes and breathed out slowly.

"A ring." She pointed and opened her eyes.

Jason smiled, but it didn't meet his eyes. He knew he'd catch Cara here, and this made his spine tingle with glee. He was going to bring the proud Princess down a peg or two.

"Oh that can be arranged," Jason said casually, then he lowered his lips to Cara's ear, "if you admit that you've fallen for me just as hard as I've fallen for you."

Cara closed her eyes again, she shivered while enjoying Jason's scent and warmth before he pulled away. Jason smiled at Cara's expression when she opened her eyes.

He knew exactly what she was going to say.

"In your dreams." Cara replied stubbornly.

She wouldn't give Jason that win so easily.

"Then blackmail it is." Jason shrugged and walked away, while pulling out his phone.

Cara looked after the departing man and crossed her arms. Of course she wouldn't admit her feelings for him. If she did so, not only was she openly betraying her father by admitting to falling for the very man who killed him, but also because she'd be admitting to defeat at the hands of Jason. She wouldn't give Jason the power to break her completely. Admitting her feelings for him would do just that.

Cara looked down at the pictures on the table and remembered that day as vividly as a freshly encountered memory. The way Jason caged her in and became jealous of Vincent touching her, and now he was using that against her. Cara frowned and sucked her teeth. She looked around her small home and thought of the new life she built for herself, and she nodded in satisfaction. She didn't fear the life she built for herself because she was in control, she was the one calling all the shots.

Considering a life with Jason, Cara knew what it would mean. Diving headfirst into a situation which she couldn't control. And her biggest worry? Jason could break her with a simple word. She would be giving up too much control by trusting that Jason would love her in return. Cara didn't want to risk it at all. She cared about control, and Jason thrived on it. One of them would have to give... Cara hated to think that she'd have to be the one to do that.