He shook his head, almost sorrowfully. "I'm sorry to hear that, Sommer. I want you to be happy. But more than happy, I want you to learn to be good."<br/><br/>One step to close the distance she seemed to want to put between them. His smile never disappeared as he raised his fist and backhanded her with easy force, knuckles cracking loudly across her cheek. Her skin was pleasantly warm, he thought with a distant sort of enjoyment. Then his hand tangled in her soft hair and he used it to jerk her sideways and throw her to the ground. He stared at her for a moment, his smile painted across his face, his eyes sparkling gently, just enjoying seeing her sprawled across his floor. The urges were rising, he had to fight to be slow, civilized, it wouldn't do to just start...she had to understand why. She had to understand that he loved them all. He only hurt them to make them understand....<br/><br/>These thoughts came and went in an instant. He stepped back and kicked over the pail, sending water splashing across his fine office floor, across Sommer. Some of it soaked the leg of his pants, too and he frowned, a quick twitch of muscles before his smile slid back into its rightful place, looking at the woman on the floor. He felt something tremble through him, a frisson of pleasure and anticipation, a hard edge of understanding what needed to come next.<br/><br/>"Ah, how terrible. You're soaked," he said quietly, crouching down to watch her. Now more than ever, despite that ever-present smile, there was something there of a cat watching a mouse. "You'd better take those wet things off."