DISOBEYING HIM
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He craves control. She craves chaos. The only thing they might crave more is each other…
Nate Allie Parser is driving me crazy on purpose and waiting for the moment I snap. To say we are fire and ice would be misleading. We are mint toothpaste followed by a big gulp of orange juice. Pulp included. I want to strangle her, and she wants to straddle me. She says I need to stop living life by rules. She doesn’t want to know what I’ll do to her if I break mine. Allie Nate Reddington, heir to his daddy’s fortune and my RA, is cold, closed off, and a little obsessed with control (hello, pair of handcuffs under his bed. How are you?). But I can fix him. He is used to women on their knees for him, but I’m more likely to kneecap him than obey. As a psychology student, it is basically my job to “My Fair Lady” him and turn this icy man into a warm human being. Maybe “warm” is the wrong word. Because Nate Reddington, red-faced and about to crack? Scorching hot. |
Prologue Available Below
Prologue
Nate:
My favorite second-grade teacher once said on a zoo field trip, “Most animals are more afraid of you than you are of them.”
I never forgot because, the next day, I stumbled upon a hornets’ nest and told the hornets, “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.”
The hornet stingers and venom landed me in the hospital for a full day.
It was the day I realized it was correct to be afraid of things that could hurt me. Because even if they didn’t mean to, even if they didn’t dress in a devil’s tail and sport a long mustache meant for twirling while tying someone down to a railroad track, even if they did not wear name tags reading, “Hello, my name is The Villain of Your Story,” those people—who might appear utterly normal—could still sting you and infect you with enough venom to stick you in bed for days.
Unlike honeybees, humans had the unique ability to wish to harm someone and come back for more. People should have taken a lesson from the flower-loving, mild, and yellow form of hornets, and thought to themselves, “Hmm, I am about to hurt this person either through my actions or words. Would I give up my life to harm them like this? Would I use this as my last stinger for the rest of my days if I had but one?”
Humans hurt humans. Humans hurt bees. And hornets fucking hurt in general. Like, damn, the stings still ached over twelve years later.
And when she walked into my life—when this girl wrapped in a bright-red dress sparked some immediate, primal need in my body—deep down, I knew she would have the largest stinger of all. This was someone who could hurt me and come back for more.
This was the girl who could destroy me and everything I had worked so hard to become.
Nate:
My favorite second-grade teacher once said on a zoo field trip, “Most animals are more afraid of you than you are of them.”
I never forgot because, the next day, I stumbled upon a hornets’ nest and told the hornets, “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.”
The hornet stingers and venom landed me in the hospital for a full day.
It was the day I realized it was correct to be afraid of things that could hurt me. Because even if they didn’t mean to, even if they didn’t dress in a devil’s tail and sport a long mustache meant for twirling while tying someone down to a railroad track, even if they did not wear name tags reading, “Hello, my name is The Villain of Your Story,” those people—who might appear utterly normal—could still sting you and infect you with enough venom to stick you in bed for days.
Unlike honeybees, humans had the unique ability to wish to harm someone and come back for more. People should have taken a lesson from the flower-loving, mild, and yellow form of hornets, and thought to themselves, “Hmm, I am about to hurt this person either through my actions or words. Would I give up my life to harm them like this? Would I use this as my last stinger for the rest of my days if I had but one?”
Humans hurt humans. Humans hurt bees. And hornets fucking hurt in general. Like, damn, the stings still ached over twelve years later.
And when she walked into my life—when this girl wrapped in a bright-red dress sparked some immediate, primal need in my body—deep down, I knew she would have the largest stinger of all. This was someone who could hurt me and come back for more.
This was the girl who could destroy me and everything I had worked so hard to become.
