Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Jesus, get a grip, Belle.
I take a step back and tighten my arms around my chest as if I can protect myself from my own thoughts.
I should be terrified of this man. Of this situation.
Yet there is something oddly comforting about Beast. I might be mad as hell at him but I can still admit feeling a strange attraction to him. Which is insane. Yet easy.
Too easy.
Beast walks across the room and slips his leather cut off his broad shoulders and hangs it over the wingback chair near the bed.
I take a sweeping gaze at his powerful body and the muscles straining against his black T-shirt. His thick arms are roped with veins and covered in ink. And his chest is so broad you could line two of me up against it and there would still be room either side of us.
My gaze drifts lower to his belt buckle which is a silver Knights of Saint Bon emblem. It looks heavy and thick. Lower, his boots are huge. And you know what they say about huge feet…
Oh my God, Belle, stop.
“You are free to spend the next twelve hours doing whatever it is you like, as long as it’s in this room,” he says.
“I’m assuming yelling at the top of my lungs that I’m being held prisoner and am not happy about it isn’t one of those things?”
He gives me a pointed look. “I thought after today that would be something you wouldn’t want to do.”
The reminder sends a bolt of resentment through me, and I glare at him. “Fine, what about some Netflix then?”
“Your wish is my command,” he says picking up a remote from the nightstand.
“Clearly not if I’m still here,” I mumble to myself.
Beast presses a remote and an enormous TV rises out of a cabinet on the wall across from the bed.
He hands me the remote.
“If I’m sleeping here tonight, where are you sleeping?” I ask, having to crane my neck to look up at him. This close he is like a wall of muscle and grit.
“In the bed next to you,” he says as easily as if he were telling me he takes one sugar in his coffee.
I look at him, horrified, and gasp. “No.”
His brows shoot up. “The last person who told me no lost his tongue.”
Alarm slams into me as I picture the gruesome image. I try to swallow, but my throat is dry. I’d like to say it’s because of the fear. But I’m not sure that’s fear tingling between my legs. Because the way Beast towers over me and looks down at me with that expression on his face has me feeling warm all over.
Still, his warning is received loud and clear.
Although, I still need to stand my ground.
“I’m not having sex with you,” I blurt out.
He tilts his head slightly.
“I wasn’t offering,” he says coldly.
At least there’s the silver lining in all of this. Although he could force me, I suppose. He’s certainly big enough to do whatever he wants to me. But he’s not like that. In fact, after seeing what he did to Gaston the night he attacked me, he’s not the kind who’d tolerate anyone doing that. A little voice inside tells me I can trust him. Almost as if I already know him. Which doesn’t make any sense and is clearly a result of the earlier knock on my head.
This man is dangerous, and I need to remember that.
Again our gazes lock. His shoulders tense.
“I don’t take from women, Belle. But I’ll certainly punish you if you tell me no again.”
Relief and excitement collide in my chest because of the way he says it and the heat in his expression as he looks down at me.
But they’re quickly followed by an unease in my gut because I don’t doubt him.
I lift my chin and harden my eyes. “Keep your distance, bike gangster, and we’ll be fine.”
His eyes narrow but not with malice. I see a hint of amusement in them. The same with his beautiful lips. They tug briefly with mirth before resuming his scowl.
“So what happens tomorrow? Are you going to keep me locked away in this room like Rapunzel?”
“You can go anywhere in the clubhouse. Everywhere except the west tower. It is forbidden.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“I mean, why is it forbidden?”
“Again, because I said so.”
I shrug. “Whatever.”
He gives me a growly hmm and indicates for me to sit on the bed. I hesitate long enough to consider my choices. I can either be comfortable on the bed or sit uncomfortably on the cold stone floor.
“If we’re to pull this fake relationship off then we need to get our stories straight,” I say, choosing comfort over principle as I climb onto the bed.
“Finally, something we agree on,” he mutters as he sits on the edge and begins to remove his motorcycle boots.