Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“Did you think you’d seen the last of me?” His stare raked her up and down. His smile turned even more arctic.
Laila swallowed. “We have nothing to say. Get out. You are not welcome.”
“You don’t want to talk to me? Fine. But I’m not leaving without you.”
He meant to take her with him?
She scanned the room for an escape, but Trees had her trapped. Other than the window along the far wall, she had no way out of the condo since he’d blocked the door.
Laila knew better than to believe she could run past him.
“No. I have chosen to stay here.”
“Alone?”
He was asking her about Victor. “That is none of your business.”
“Oh, you’re wrong. Everything about you is my business. So, we can do this the easy way. You can pack your things and come along obediently. We’ll board a plane and I’ll take you back to Louisiana. You can visit your sister and your nephew, show them that you’re okay. And then you’ll deal with me.”
Fear surged through Laila. She was even more afraid to ask him what would happen if she chose the hard way. “I cannot go back. I would put too many people at risk.”
“You will go,” he contradicted, teeth bared. “Or I’ll restrain you right now, transport you back to Louisiana, and toss you into my dungeon for some…corrective discipline. I won’t let you go until I’m convinced you’re done playing dangerous games with drug lords and cartels. What’s it going to be?”
Corrective discipline? Laila thought about all the equipment—restraints, paddles, whips, floggers, and other things she couldn’t identify—in his dungeon. She shivered.
But she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel a disconcerting thrill, too.
She studied Trees’s face. Those green eyes that used to gaze at her with warmth, that had reassured her as he’d searched her soul to see past her hurts and find the trembling girl underneath? They were glacial now. Raw and cutting. He looked terrifyingly eager to unleash his worst on her. He was so large, so powerful, so determined.
“Trees…” she pleaded.
His expression only turned chillier. “Whimpering won’t work anymore, Laila. How do you want this to go, easy or hard? You have ten seconds to decide.”
Let herself be led like a lamb to slaughter or fight him with her last breath?
Even five minutes ago, Laila would have sworn she would take any opportunity to throw herself in Trees’s protective arms and burrow her way to warmth and love in his embrace. But now? She saw nothing but terrifying wrath on his face.
She slid her nervous gaze around the room again, this time in search of a way to protect herself.
Her stare fastened on the guns she had swiped from his dungeon. She pounced for them, nearly knocking them to the ground in her trembling haste.
Trees was right behind her, one massive arm wrapping tight to crush her. With his free hand, he ripped the weapons from her grip and swept them to the floor. “You want to kill me?”
“I want to defend myself,” she panted out.
With his chest pressed to her back, his mirthless laugh shook her body. A shudder went down her spine. “By killing me. But I guess since your lover didn’t manage the job, you thought you’d do it for him? Will he fuck you extra hard and raw as a reward for that?”
“Do not do this,” she pleaded.
“You did this, honey.”
The sweet endearment that had once flowed off his tongue was now bitter. She quivered and held in a ridiculous urge to cry. Trees no longer loved her. He didn’t even care, not that she was surprised. She’d known that was the likely outcome. But maybe if she explained, it would defuse some of his fury. “I did not leave your house with Victor because I wanted to.”
His fingers bit into her arms. His lips slid against her ear. Her heart rate surged—and it had nothing to do with fear. How could she burn for a man who hated her?
“Since you walked out the front door with him, I’m calling bullshit. But I’m not here for details about your torrid fuckfest with Victor.”
“You do not understand. I—”
“Stop. You open your mouth, and lies come out. I don’t want to fucking hear them anymore. Easy or hard, Laila? You tell me how it’s going to be.” He sucked in a hissing breath as he pressed his erection against her backside. “I fucking hope you choose the hard way. My palm is itching. I want you strapped to my table, under my thumb, utterly helpless and unable to stop me until you learn to be a good girl.”
Nothing about that should turn her on, but everything did. Even fear gave her desire an edge she didn’t understand. Her heart revved harder. She swallowed to moisten her suddenly dry mouth. Her nipples felt hard enough to cut glass. Her womb clenched. She got unbearably wet.