Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Impossibly, at some point, I’d dozed off, almost as if she was as much the adrenaline in my blood as she was the salve to my soul. While I was out, she’d apparently chosen to enter my bedroom to use my bathroom. Adrenaline had surged through me with the realization that her actions were filled with intent. She knew she was pushing me, and at a time that I was standing on the edge of a cliff, barely hanging on, and trying to convince the world nothing was further from the truth.
I’d been hot and hard with a strong dose of furious, and my mind goes back to that night, reliving the confrontation that should have ended us before we started. I remember looking around the living room, the scent of her—all sweet and floral—everywhere around me while she was nowhere to be found.
I’d figured out pretty quickly she was in my bedroom, or rather, my bathroom, and the way she was tempting me, pushing me, and on the day of my father’s memorial, had sent me over the edge.
I’d stepped to the door and knocked, the thundering of my fist on the wood no match for the pounding in my chest or the throbbing of my cock. The door had swung open, and Bella had appeared, still fully dressed. Not that I expected her to be naked or in lingerie, but there had been no doubt that night she’d meant to tempt me. The sexual tension between us by that point—and well before that night—had been palpable, and there was no easy way for me to do the right thing in the state of mind I’d been in. The truth is, the mix of disappointment and relief I’d felt had not been pleasant nor had it done anything to eliminate my anger, but rather spiked it right over the top.
I’d come at her hard and fast. “What are you doing in my bedroom?”
Her beautiful blue eyes had gone wide, a blush rushing over her otherwise pale skin, creating a blood-red stain that traveled down her neckline and disappeared under her clothing. I’d really wanted to know just how far down that color had traveled.
She’d stumbled over her reply. “Ah—I couldn’t figure out where the guest bathroom was. I had to go badly and…I’m sorry.”
We’d both known it had been a bullshit answer. There was a guest bathroom right beside my bedroom door. She’d wanted to check out my room. Maybe she’d even wanted me to find her in there, which now, I can say, she most certainly did. “Coming here was not a smart decision,” I’d reprimanded. “You need to leave.”
“You’re being a jerk,” she’d snapped, and I swear I’d gotten harder, as if that were even humanly possible. I’d been hard as steel already.
“Yes, well, you can choose if you hate me before or after your legs are wrapped around my neck, Bella. Because that’s what’s going to happen if you don’t leave now.” I’d taken an intentional step backward, which had been an invitation for her to exit the room.
In typical Bella rebellion, her spine had straightened, and her chin had lifted. “We’re friends.”
Oh, that had set me off, but then we’d been one big time bomb ready to explode. “Friends don’t fuck, and that’s exactly where my head is right now. I told you. You have two options—”
“I heard you,” she’d interrupted, a whip to her tone. “I don’t need to hear it again. I’ll leave. You’re being a bastard.”
“Because I am a bastard, Bella,” I’d reminded her, no denial in me. After all, my prick of a father had just killed a woman I’d once dated before ending up dead himself. “You’ve been warned,” I’d added, “I won’t warn you again.”
That’s when she’d stepped out of the bathroom and stopped in front of me. Stopped. No running away. No desire to escape me. I’d been so close to pulling her to me, to fucking away all my pain and torment right then and there, only it would have destroyed us and that friendship she’d declared. The way my father destroyed everyone around him.
But she hadn’t swung the bat I’d handed her. “I said, you’re being a bastard,” she’d rebutted, “not that you are one. It’s too bad you don’t understand the difference.” With that, she’d marched out of the room, and without turning, I’d known when she’d exited the bedroom. I’d felt the shift in the air. Beyond reason then and now, I’ve always felt when Bella came or left a room. I’d saved her that night, protected her from me and the ruin that would be our hook-up, but not forever.
My selfishness won.
After that night, she was mine. There was no other way it could end.
And now, she’s paying the price.
We’re coming up the side of Cupcakes and Books when my gaze lifts to land on Gavin as he crosses the road and heads in this direction. The rush of adrenaline that overtakes me is as potent as anything I have ever felt. He’s a part of this, and I see nothing but fury. He is not making it into the bookstore, he is going to take me to Bella.