Page 29 (1/2)
“I bought them out of spite, because I saw that you wanted theh as gravel as he admitted his intentions “Didn’t matter the cost, because it went to charity It wasn’t about the a you wanted because it gaveon with your father”
There was no vindictiveness in his tone, just a regret that spoke voluer and disdain, but that wasn’t the case now or he wouldn’t have left the books on her nightstand “So why did you give them to me?”
He paused ahis reasons, but finally gave her the insight she longed for “Becau
se noant you to have the books Despite how much I hate your fatherI don’t hate you, and those books are meant to be yours because I know you’ll treasure them”
“I will,” she whispered, giving him a tremulous smile “Thank you so much”
A slight, bittersweet smile touched the corner of his lips “You’re welcome, Bella”
Godher heart couldn’t contain all the varying e for this paradoxical man And how much he’d cooodness beneath all his pain, and Arabella wanted hi else in her entire life Except for all his pros to her that her body longed for, he’d backed off when that was the last thing she wanted, and she decided to call hi that physical contact with her
“Why are you avoiding me?” she asked
“I’ve been busy,” he replied
That was a crock of polite, easy bullshit to avoid the real reason he was keeping distance between them This time, she looked him directly in the eyes and didn’t mince her words “Let me rephrase that Why won’t you fuck reement?”
Her bold, direct question definitely got his attention, though she hadn’t anticipated the annoyance that etched his features “Because you’re not ready for me to fuck you, and you still have a lot to learn,” he said, brusque and blunt
She stepped in front of his, and saw his pupils darken “Then teach ”
He groaned deep in his throat “Bella, as inity It doesn’t fucking belong to me”
He sounded angry, and she al the way her assertive beast had grown a conscience, when she was desperate for the dominant man who’d held her down in the bathtub the other day and deht of that provocative memory made her sex pulse with need
“I’ a direct and candid approach as she reached out and caressed the tips of her fingers along the soft, short growth of beard on his jaw, aching to feel that facial hair abrading the tender, sensitive skin of her inner thighs “I’hteenth century I’rooinity like so it to you, openly and deliberately, without any doubts or reservations, because it’s what I ith you”