Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“That’s a lie.” I close my mouth over hers, swallowing her protest. “I don’t think you hate me. Not even a little bit.”
“I do.”
“I remember how you looked when you came. I think about it often.”
“Stop.”
“How you called my name.”
She drops her head down, and I cup her face with both hands, set my mouth against her forehead.
“I remember how you clung to me like you needed me to breathe.”
“Stop.”
I tilt her face up, thumbs wiping at tears. “Kiss me and I’ll stop.”
“Why? So you can call me a whore again and feel better about yourself? I’m engaged to Ethan, Silas. It’s too late.”
“It’s not too late.” She tries to break free but I hold on. “I lied to you, too, Ophelia. Just now.” That makes her stop. “Because that night, it didn’t just mean something. It meant everything to me.”
She looks confused like this is not what she was expecting and this time, when I kiss her, she doesn’t just take the kiss. She kisses me back, and I think we can fix this. Maybe we can fix this. At least, I think that momentarily before she closes her teeth over my lower lip, hard.
I break free, touch my thumb to my bloody lip.
“I’ll only ever kiss Ethan that way. Not you. Never again you,” she says, and I’m not sure what she intends but the mention of Ethan Fox, the thought of him with his hands on her uncoils something dark inside me.
“Careful,” I warn.
“What? Don’t you like the idea of Ethan kissing me? Touching me? His hands on me?”
I slam my fist against the wall by her head and she jumps, the look in her eyes shifting as she realizes she didn’t just wound me.
She woke the beast.
I grip a handful of hair and tug her head backward. It hurts, I can tell from her whimper as she tries to pry my hand off.
“I don’t like it,” I say, walking her toward the dining room table, swiping the papers lying there to the floor and bending her over it. I grip her wrists with one hand at her lower back and kick her legs apart, settling myself between them. I press my erection against her jean-clad ass. “Tell me something. Tell me what you feel when he touches you.”
“Let me go.”
“Tell me.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Fine. I’ll tell you. Nothing. You feel nothing with him. You can’t.”
“You’re wrong, Silas.”
I bend to kiss the beating pulse at her neck. “Because it’s me that makes your pulse race. It’s my touch that does it.”
“It’s not.”
“I should strip you naked. Take you here and now. Make you mine and finish this.”
“Silas—”
“Tell me something. How wet is your pussy now?”
“It’s not. Let me go.”
“No? Because your eyes tell a different story.” I draw her up to stand, wrap my arm around her, and hold her back to my front. I set the flat of my hand over her chest, feeling the wild beating of her heart. “As does your heart.”
“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“You’re wrong on both counts.” I draw my nose up along her neck, close my teeth over the shell of her ear. I hold her, listen to her uneven breathing. “I made a mistake that night. I should have fucked you.”
She swallows. Is she aware her body is leaning into mine?
“Do you know when I stripped you naked when you were passed out, do you know what I wanted to do? I wanted to spread your legs and bury my face in your sweet pussy and eat you until you fucking screamed.”
“Silas—”
“I wanted to spread your ass cheeks and get a good look at you, all of you, before sinking my cock deep inside you. And when you came into the shower and knelt before me, when I took your mouth, fuck me, O, it took all I had to be careful with you.”
“Stop. Please.”
“Tell me the fucking truth. Tell me you want me.”
“I can’t.”
“Tell me. Say it.”’
“I hate you!” A tear slides down one cheek and I lick it, tasting the salt of it.
“Say my name. Tell me you want me.”
She shakes her head.
“Say. My. Fucking. Name.”
“There was a time I wanted nothing but you, all right? Is that what you want to hear?”
I let her turn to face me, keeping her trapped between the table and myself, and watch tears dampen her cheeks.
“But that time is gone! What that was, it’s gone. It’s hate now, Silas. I fucking hate you.” Her voice breaks on the word hate.
“I don’t accept that,” I say through clenched teeth.
“I don’t care what you accept.”
“It’s a lie. Let’s not lie to each other, O. Not you and me.”
“For the last time, there is no you and me!”
“Promise me that, at least. Promise not to lie to me.”
“It’s too late, Silas. Don’t you get it?”