Chapter One Hundred–Forty–Five
FELIX
Standing next to the door waiting for Rainier to knock, I notice his step slow near the landing. I could feel him coming up the stairs when he first entered the bar. The man had heavy feet. But now, he heated. Why? Was helding his ring again? PITI! Not on my watch
buddy.
1 rip the door open and our eyes meet. From what I can tell, he was simply standing there lost in thought, but one glance at his left hand and I see the ring is still missing. A beast of irritation begins to garl at my insides, angry that he is still trying to dupe me.
“Give him a chance… Bartlett said. Hal A chance to what? Continue to pretend? To act like he’s the Honker Hero, the savior of fallen hoes?
“It’s not lunchtime,” I say with as much indifference as my traitorous heart will allow,
He climbs the last few stairs swiftly, throwing me an amused look as he steps past me into the apartment. Uninvited, might I add! I catch whiff of his vanilla bourbon scent as he playfully shoulder checks me and 1 nearly swoon. But then I remind myself that someone else has been enjoying his scent far longer than I. Someone else owns it. Owns him! All of him! His deep voice, his quiet smile, the mechanical flex of his muscles every time he moves, his… man ports! There is a woman out there and her fucken name is Mrs. Rainier Riotte, and that
woman is not me.
It’s the realization that someone else has his name that burns into my chest so painfully that I’m forced to lean on the door for a minute
when I close it. Dawn it I wanted so badly for him to be mine. But… he’s not.
He’s not
“Felix,” his concerned voice sounds at my back. Turn around sweetheart
I shake my head, fighting the outrage of emotions scattering through me. I take a few deep breaths and feel him step a bit closer, so I shave off the door and side–step him as I walk toward the couch. Glancing up as I take a seat, I catch the look on his face as his arms fall to his sides and his fists clench. He looks lost. Like an abandoned child that doesn’t understand why he’s suddenly alone. The hurt that I see etched on his features burns into my throat and my fortress begins to crumble. It’s only there for a moment, but that’s all it takes for a ball of guilt to settle into my stomach and make me feel like I just kicked a puppy.
“Bartlett’s nice,” I supply, in an attempt to break the ice.
He’s still staring toward the other side of the room as if lost in thought “Yeah, he is,” he agrees absently, finally turning my way. His normally confident walk seems unsteady as he edges toward the couch. The closer he gets, the more uncomfortable he begins to look. As if he’s rethinking his decision to come here, or considering turning back T–um,” he begins, not meeting my eyes. “Ercan I sit down?”
The insecurity in his voice when he asks that, curls around my heart like a band–aid. Staunching a little of the bleeding pain I’m feeling and making me want to wrap myself around his legs. Because the truth is, if he were to turn around and leave right now – no explanation, no nothing – I would be devastated.
“Please,” I say softly, allowing some of the frost in my gaze to melt away
When he takes a seat on the farthest end of the couch, leaving a world of space between us, I’m suddenly aching for his touch. But I shouldn’t be surprised he chose to keep his distance, especially after how I greeted him.
He focuses on the ground in front of him, clamping his hands together between his knees. “You’re planning to go, aren’t you?” he asks, his voice suddenly raspy. “I made a mistake and now… you’re just going to leave.” He shakes his head, closing his eyes.
I don’t know what to say. Telling him yes might result in him walking out the door and not looking back and telling him no… would be a lie. Made a mistake? As in me? Am I the mistake? Tears begin to burn behind my eyes and I clamp them shut, fighting like hell to keep them back. Then I take a couple of shuddering breaths, all the while knowing that if he looks at me right now, he’ll see how much pain I’m in. So I struggle with it and it seems the more I attempt to control it, the worse it gets.
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Chapter One Hundred Forty–Five
“I know you’re angry‘ be says sötly, and his voice sounds closer now, but I don’t look because I’m solli wodong for cursul think I lied to you. That I used you. But I didn’t. You can burte
do… just… please don’t leave,” he finishes in a whisper.
My eyes flutter open, a few silent tears escaping as I observe him sitting next
“You don’t understand,” I say tightly, and he finally raises his eyes to mine. They go law flexes, a muscle in his throat thifting. “I really, really wanted you.” [Breath and girls like me – we’re a fantasy. And I knew that,
you’re not mine.”
de then turbulent upon sight of
warded to burse you and I can
More tears stream from my eyes and he flinches as if I’ve struck him. His hand reaches for the terrachad, touch again. Warm fingers caress my cheeks, wiping the tears away bedde dritting down to my lips to gently
You’re wrong,” he says, sliding his hand down my arm then wrapping around both of my
I lift my chin, studying him as he watches our hands. “I’m not wrong, I’m a mistake. You said so poormat”
His brow furrows and shifts closer, pushing his outer thigh against my You te…” he trails off, shaking head. “You’re not the mistake,‘ he repeats
“You not wearing your ring doesn’t change anything. There is still someone nothing to me. A woman who was probably out of her mind wondering where you not a thief, and I’m not a mistress. You don’t have to feel guilty about ite. 111: tears fall from my eyes. “You just have to let me go
curled under me. “You’re not the mistake, Pal
much to it. A wombat
hot night. I may be a pest mums simp. fine. You don’t have to take care of
did on the yacht. Be appear almost angry and p onto his lap. His face burrows into the side of my
His chest heaves and his eyes darken, the irises swirling in color like the suddenly yanks me into his arms. Closing them around me, he settles hair and he releases a hot shuddering breath into my skin. “No,” he rasps out, his voice strangely deeper than before, almost patied. His muscles seem swollen, the heat of them burning through the fabric of our clothes and imprinting on my skin. “No,” he says again, and 1
feel him tremble.
Some selfish part of me almost wants to tell him that it’s okay. That I can be his mistress, that I will stay here and accape whutne he’s willing to give me, but I know better than that. I’ve been accepting less for my whole life and now that
again. But I dont say that. Instead, I run my fingers through his hair le I’ve been dying to do trying to soothe hit
He purrs against my neck, and soon, he is kissing me there. I need to stop him, but I cant yet. His arms an body is still quaking beneath me.
“Just give me a day,” he mumbles into my throat. “One day. Please. I’ll for everything”
Fix everything? How? What?
the couch. I.
He continues to kiss and nibble my neck, shifting our bodies so that he is now lying on top of me as a sound like a growl rumbles deep within his chest and something sharp scrapes over my clavicle at the base of
“Rainier,” I whimper, noticing as his muscles seem to be tightening around me or else… they’re growing. Even his shirt looks tä shrinking over his shoulders. As his kisses become rougher and more violent, he shifts his hips into me and I feel his super–sized erection grind against my lap. I hear something rip and for a moment I think he’s torn my blouse, but then I realize it’s the loves of his shin. shirt is ripping off his back! What the hell is going on? I grip the back of his head in my hands and try to still his ravenous lips. “You have to stop. Please…”
Another growl rumbles and his voice sounds almost inhuman when he maps, “No. You’re going to try and leave me, and I’m not going
let you
A sob lodges in my throat, and my heart cracks wide open, fighting with my brain for dominance. In that pement, I feel myself surrendering to the chaos. I start moving against him, widening my legs for him, My lips kiss the top of his head and I drag my
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Chapter One Hundred–Forty–Five
his shoulders. His growling gets louder and I start to wander about all things magic. I suddenly think of the wolf that I heard that night in the jail cell. The way he seemed to call to me. How I felt him in my snu Closing my eyes to the strange sound Rainier is making as he devours my neck, I could almost imagine werewolves were real. And that I was smack in the middle of one of those fantasies being ravaged by a man that was sometimes a wolf. Wouldn’t it be amazing me of that were true?
“Rainier,” I moan as he begins to suck on a particularly sensitive spot the side of my neck. It begins to ache and throb. Pulating painfully as if it’s reaching for something. “It hurts?” I cry out.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he growls in that strange voice of his. “You threatened to leave me, and I can’t let you do that.”
I whimper beneath him, thinking it’s no use for me to argue right now. Just as I am about to relent. Just as I am about to promise to stay. Rainier’s mouth clamps over my neck and something sharp pierces into my flesh. The pain has my back arching and my eyes falling heavy I can hear Rainier moaning, the sound thrumming through my blood as the stinging sensation begins to soothe me into slumber.
through a haze. Hovering over my face with his crazy eyes. He says, “You’re mine.”
Then just before I black out, I see
him th
And then everything goes black,
