Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 119942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
“You could beg me to let you go, but I wouldn’t.” He’d told her before that he didn’t intend to give her freedom, but he needed her to understand how utterly serious he was. If she chose to leave, he’d find a way to make her want to stay.
Harper pulled back to look him dead in the eye. “Okay, first of all, I only beg in the bedroom – and that’s on rare occasions. Don’t think I’ll ever do it under any other circumstances. Second of all, I’ll never be anyone’s captive; no one can keep me anywhere that I don’t want to be.” She was an imp for all intents and purposes, she could escape from anywhere. “Lastly, if you majorly fuck up and hurt me badly – like cheating on me, for instance – I’m gone, Thorne. But if you mean you still expect me to go based purely on what breed you are, I’m pissed that you think so little of me.”
For a moment, Knox couldn’t speak. Her reactions threw him every time. “Let’s address all those responses, shall we? It’s true that you beg in the bedroom occasionally. I happen to enjoy it. However, I’d never expect you to beg me for anything; if you ever want something, you’ll have it. Except, of course, your freedom. As for your next point, it wasn’t a good idea on your part to use the word ‘captive’ – that has all kinds of sexual fantasies running through my head. So be prepared for the consequences, and remember you only have yourself to blame.”
When she would have spoken, Knox put a finger to her mouth. “Thirdly, I’d never betray you or purposely hurt you. You’re mine to care for, and you’ll never be anything but cared for. And the idea that I might ever want another woman is just plain fucking stupid anyway. Lastly, I don’t think little of you. If I did, I wouldn’t want you as a mate, would I? But the fact is that I’ll be a difficult person to be with. Controlling, possessive, selfish, highly sexual, inexperienced with emotional intimacy, and I always want what I want exactly when I want it. I’ve told you before, I don’t have a lot of good in me. You’re not getting a very good deal here, baby.”
“Oh, and I’m some kind of innocent, perfect maiden?” She’d be bored if she was, to be honest. “Let’s look at a little thing called ‘reality.’ Everybody has flaws, Knox. No one is easy to be with. I don’t think you actually realize just how crazy I’m going to make you. I’m impossible to control, I have a bad temper, I curse like nobody’s motherfucking business, and I’m – quite often deliberately – annoying. I’m also stingy with trust, and I’m uncomfortable when people buy me shit or even just be nice to me. Even I know that’s just weird. I don’t exactly have a lot of experience with emotional intimacy either. But you accept all my shit just like I accept yours. That’s how it works.”
She sat up straighter as she added, voice hard, “And if you are still paranoid that I’ll leave when you finally pull your big boy pants up and tell me what you are, I’m gonna get cranky. It won’t matter because I care about you, and whatever breed you are doesn’t change you. And now I’m blushing because I blurted out the last part. I blame you for that.”
Knox pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “I already knew you cared. You wouldn’t have taken me as your mate if you didn’t. Demons don’t take mates unless they care.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “That’s a real poor way of saying you care about me too, you know.”
It was. “You won’t hear pretty words from me often,” he felt compelled to warn her.
“I know that.” He was charismatic, but he wasn’t a flatterer when it came to feelings that had any depth. He suffered from emotional poverty almost as bad as his demon. “I don’t expect to hear them and I’m not going to crave them. Compliments and pretty words make me blush, which I don’t like to do, because it’s just embarrassing. All I’m asking is that you don’t pretend that you don’t care out of some kind of masculine pride.”
He could have taken the out she’d just given him, vowed to simply not put on a façade, but that wasn’t who he was. She deserved better. “I’ve been around for centuries. I became jaded, empty, lonely – but at least they were feelings of some sort. Over the past year, I was growing…numb. There wasn’t much that truly mattered to me anymore. You changed that. You matter. So much that you’re a vulnerability, a weakness. But I’m keeping you.”