Touch of Hate Read Online J.L. Beck, Cassandra Hallman

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Dark, Forbidden, Mafia, Romance Tags Authors: ,
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Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 125465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
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All I can do is ask myself, who am I really locked inside this cabin with?

14

REN

I imagined she’d pepper me with questions after getting food into her, that I’d spend hours helping her connect the dots between what her intuition must’ve told her over the years and the reality of me following her, watching, and protecting her from a distance.

Instead, she settled in and fell asleep, leaving me to watch over her yet again.

I can’t say I’m sorry, either, which strikes me as both funny and sad. I’ve been waiting for this, looking ahead to our time together. Living for it. Yet more than anything, her presence has left me craving silence for a while.

At times like this, the difference between my old life and the one I live now is the starkest. I got used to things being the way they were over time, and I became a little more comfortable with my solitude every day.

Eventually, it became normal to spend an entire day or even a stretch of days hearing no other voice but my own and, sometimes, River’s.

For the first time, a female voice is in the cabin.

Female sweetness.

Her scent surrounds me, wrapping me in a tight blanket. Vanilla, lavender, spring. The smell clings to my shirt and skin. It’s enough to make me dread the prospect of a shower. I don’t want to wash her away.

Now that I have her with me, my need to have all of her is stronger than it’s ever been. I figured taking her would ease the all-consuming, painful cravings that are enough to ruin my sleep for nights on end.

I thought the sight of her sleeping peacefully, curled up in my bed, our bed, would bring me peace. Yet all it’s done so far is remind me how empty life has been. Good thing I won’t have to live another second without her here.

My heart stirs in my chest, and I watch as she attempts to roll over but is hampered by her bound wrists. I wince at the reminder of tying her up. I didn’t want to do that—I regret it still. Though it’s not like I can’t pretend something about it was appealing.

Reminding her how thoroughly at my mercy she is. Reminding myself how simple it would be to claim her, once and for all, fully, until there’s no question of who she belongs to.

Not that way, though. It doesn’t matter that the feel of her wriggling and squirming against my body started getting me hard almost instantly. That the familiar and oh, so missed scent of lilac on her skin and hair turned me into a panting, salivating animal.

At least, that was how I felt. All rational thought vanished like smoke in the wind, replaced by the urge to rut like a mindless beast.

She’s too precious for that, and she’s still a virgin. I won’t make her first time something she regrets, no matter what. I’m sure she believes after years without contact, the depth of my feelings for her has changed—if it has, it’s only deepened.

Her brow furrows for an instant before smoothing out. When the ghost of a smile plays over those full lips, it awakens my imagination along with my dick. What is she dreaming? Whatever it is, I hope it’s beautiful. From today on, she’s finally going to get everything she so richly deserves.

Now, we have a future to look forward to together. Something we can work for as a team. The plans River and I have put together are close to fruition.

Once it’s all over, nothing but happiness will be ahead for both of us.

Soon, she’ll see that.

The buzzing in my pocket turns what could’ve been a nice, much-needed moment of contentment into something darker. Irritation threatens to leak into my voice by the time I answer the call, leaving the bedroom in favor of going to the kitchen. The cabin isn’t exactly spacious, but I don’t dare step outside while she’s in here. Even tied up and asleep, I can’t completely trust her.

And I don’t want her to wake up and find me gone. She’s already scared enough.

“Took you long enough to answer.” It seems I’m not the only one wrestling with irritation. His voice is tight, sarcasm ringing out. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re so full of shit.” The civil act is no more, replaced with flat-out contempt. “I gave you countless reasons you shouldn’t do this. I practically laid out a PowerPoint presentation of all the ways kidnapping Scarlet will fuck everything we’ve worked for all this time.”

I shouldn’t have answered the call. No, scratch that—he would’ve shown up here if I hadn’t. I wouldn’t put it past him to make up some bullshit excuse like he was worried when he couldn’t get ahold of me.


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