Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
But she didn’t know Alec, couldn’t trust him. And what would that say to Tanner? That she trusted his brother, a stranger, more than him?
Nope. She wouldn’t do that. Not to her Tanner. Not after everything he’d done for her. Not after what he meant to her.
“I’m sure. If I wanted anyone, it would be you.”
The smile that took over his face could only be described as boyish and charming. As though he couldn’t quite believe she’d chosen him.
God, who wouldn’t choose him?
“There’re other benefits of being punished if you break a rule,” he said.
She eyed him sceptically.
Like what?
“A punishment wipes the slate clean. No more guilt for breaking a rule. No bringing it up over and over and hashing it out. Both parties move on.”
Oh. Now, that was something she did like the idea of. Lilac tended to overthink everything. To punish herself over and over.
“You really think that would work?” she asked.
“From what I’ve heard, yes.”
“All right. Do it now.” She pushed the blankets back. But he grabbed them and laid them back over her.
“What? What are you doing?” he asked.
“I want the spanking. I want to get rid of all this guilt.” She shoved the blankets back off herself.
“Baby, no.” He drew the blankets back over her. “Stay put.”
“Tanner, I want to get rid of this guilt.”
“I hate that you’re feeling guilty, pretty girl. But I won’t do anything to risk your health. And I think you still need some time to think. No rash decisions.”
“I’m not being rash.”
“You are. No more arguing. Your guardian has spoken.”
Dear Lord help her. He was out of control.
Although he did have a point about not making a rash decision.
“Maybe you should take some time to think about being my guardian.”
“Nope.”
“But there’s still so much we haven’t talked about . . . you might change your mind once you hear it all.”
“I won’t be changing my mind. I’ve wanted you since the first night that I met you, pretty girl. Even though you were crap at darts.”
“I wasn’t crap,” she muttered.
“Lilac.” He waited until she was looking at him to continue speaking. “Did your brother hit you? That bitch of a nanny? Your dad?”
“My dad? No, he would never. My dad loved me. He was just . . . busy most of the time.”
Doing things she didn’t want to think about.
“My nanny spanked me a few times, but I tattled on her to my dad, and he put a stop to that.”
“But he didn’t fire her?” He sounded outraged.
“My brother loved her. And he always got what he wanted.” Even she could her the bitterness in her voice.
“Asshole. What about your brother? Was he abusive, wasn’t he?” Anger filled his face, and she sucked in a deep breath to keep herself calm.
How did she describe the hold her brother had over her? About all the things that he’d done? It was hard to explain that he was a psychopath who could be charming and loving, then turn around and smack you in the face for disagreeing with him.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Did he hit you? Hurt you?”
“Sometimes,” she admitted. “But that wasn’t really the worst of it. I could handle the bruises. The pain. Those were things I was used to. But Stefan was a pure genius when it came to emotional abuse and torture. He could be so loving, you know. Once, I fell out of a tree and skinned my knee. Mrs. Jansen told me to stop crying and shut up. But Stefan carried me inside and cleaned it up, bandaged it. Hell, he even kissed it better.”
She shook her head, holding back tears. “But then a few weeks later, I annoyed him. I can’t even remember what I did. And he took my favorite stuffed toy and burned it.”
“Fuck. Did you tell your dad?”
“Oh no, I never told my dad on Stefan.” She shuddered at the thought. “Stefan was his heir. My dad loved me, but Stefan was the future. I was just a girl.”
“Fuck your father,” he said.
She gave him a startled look. None of this was her father’s fault.
“Just because you are a girl, he let your brother and nanny abuse you? No. That’s not the way things work. He’s supposed to protect and take care of all of his children, understand me? If we’d had a sister, she’d have been the most protected out of all of us. The most cherished.”
“Really?”
“Hell, yeah. You think she would have been allowed to date? Nope. She’d have had to wait until we were all dead and buried. She’d have been lucky to have been let out of the house.”
Swallowing heavily, she drunk in all of his words.
“Poor girl would have been completely smothered. If any boy interested in my sister had come on our property, I’d have shot the tires out on his car.”