Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“Get away from me.” I tried to push him away. He only rolled his eyes, shoved away my flailing arms, and then slid one of his hands under my knees and the other behind my back. He lifted me like I weighed nothing and carried me back into the house.
“I said I don’t want your help.”
“And I told you I’m not letting you freeze to death out there. You are mine, angel. Mine to keep, mine to punish, mine to pleasure, mine to protect, and mine to care for.”
“What if I told you I didn’t want to be yours?”
“Then I would call you a liar,” he said as we approached the house. A painting I had done of him, the one of him shirtless, his abs on full display, with only his cross on his body, could be clearly seen through the living room window.
Fuck.
CHAPTER 26
THOMAS
“Where is your bedroom?” I asked.
My little angel was testing my last thread of patience. First, she left the city without permission, without even telling me where she was going, and then she tried to run from me in the dark, wearing ridiculous shoes.
Didn’t she understand what could have happened to her? She only fell and twisted her ankle, but it could have been so much worse. What if I wasn’t able to catch up with her, and didn’t find her in that maze? What if she had fallen and hit her head instead of just twisting her ankle?
And why the hell was she running from me in the first place, without even a coat? I knew she had had a few glasses of wine, that was clear enough, but she wasn’t inebriated to the point of using that as an excuse for her foolish behavior.
“Where is your bedroom?” I asked again, raising my voice and tightening the grip I had on her body.
“I won’t tell you. Put me down and leave.”
I should’ve done just that. I should have abandoned her there and just let her suffer with her ankle and freeze to death in that cold maze.
Sucking in a deep calming breath, I tried to let go of some of my rage and hold on to the fact that Rose was in my arms, safe. She was shivering, but she would be warm soon enough.
All I had to do was to carry her inside, check her ankle, make sure she didn’t actually break it, and then she and I would have a very long conversation about her actions.
Starting with her running off and ending with the collection of soft-core porn she had painted of me.
Though, I kind of enjoyed knowing that my little angel thought about me just as much as I had been thinking about her. It also proved that my plans were coming together. I needed her to at the very least have a crush on me, but it was clear to see that she was close to full-on obsession.
Maybe, when all this was over, I would carry through on my threat to keep her chained to my bed, just waiting for me day in and day out.
There was some appeal to that.
“Angel,” I said much more calmly, trying not to scare her too badly… yet. “Which of the rooms are you using?”
“I’m not telling you,” she bit back.
“Fine,” I said. “Make this harder on yourself. I’ll find it myself.”
I carried her down the hallway that held all the bedrooms and started kicking in closed doors.
Breaking the locks or denting more than a few of them. When I found the room that had clearly been occupied, the bed made with fresh sheets and her hairbrush sitting on the dresser, I knew I had the right one.
“Put me down,” she screeched.
“Gladly,” I said as I threw her on the bed.
She let out a yell of anger as I followed her onto the bed, reaching under her sweaterdress to grab the top of her tights and yank them down her legs.
“What are you doing?” she screamed.
“Calm down,” I demanded. “I’m just checking your ankle to make sure you didn’t break it.”
“How did you even find me? Why are you here? Why won’t you just leave me alone?”
Her questions came out one right after the other, while she crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her chin like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
“If you want me to answer those questions, I suggest you ask them nicely.” I gently touched her ankle. She winced as I picked it up and started slowly rotating it. As I moved her foot, I could tell it was tender, but nothing seemed broken. She merely twisted it. She was lucky, running in the dark on the grass on a mountainside in those heels—she could have done permanent damage.
Rose huffed as she tried to pull her foot out of my grasp before I was done. I tightened my hold on her leg and continued to run my fingers along the contours of her ankle. Partly double-checking for fractures, but mostly just loving the way her skin erupted into tiny little bumps under my touch.