Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
And I didn’t hate it. No. I was quickly understanding that I didn’t know what I’d do without it. I was swimming in an obsession of my own.
“I’ll be right in there.” I nodded to the building. I’d directed him to the nearest big-box store in the small town that was a thirty-minute drive from the base of the mountain. Which wasn’t actually that far, considering this was America and we lived on big-box stores, franchises and fast food. Among other things, but those were the things you could rely on, even in the middle of nowhere.
“Alone.” I could practically hear his teeth gnashing together. “Not gonna happen.” His word was threaded with authority. His word was law.
“If you’ll remember, I walked around New York City alone for years before you stumbled upon me,” I teased.
“Luck. Dumb luck,” he gritted out. “You may have it. I do not.”
I smiled, unbuckling my seat belt then leaning over to grasp his face to lay a close-mouthed kiss on his lips.
This was where I lost control. Knox wasn’t one for chaste kisses. His mouth plundered mine, a brutal invasion of pleasure to the point that he’d hauled me across the car so I was straddling him, grinding against him like an animal in heat before I knew what was happening.
“You’re not going anywhere without me, Petal.”
Pulling back and grinning, I rubbed against where he was hard for me.
“Hold that thought,” I told him. Then in a rare act of stealth, somehow, I managed to open the car door and jump out of it without Knox stopping me.
I closed it behind me, finger waving to a furious Knox, knowing I had at least a small head start since he couldn’t go waltzing into the store sporting a giant, visible boner.
Time to execute my plan.
“You are in so much fucking trouble.”
I was yanked away from my perusal of acrylic paints and into a hard, furious body.
I smiled, though his tone was meant to be scary and threatening.
“Worth it,” I snickered. “And I think I’ll like your form of punishment.” My body was already melting into him, singing for him.
Knox stilled for just a moment, his grip tightening. “I’ll tie you to the fucking bed in the cabin and won’t let you come for hours,” he whispered in my ear.
My entire body tingled. “Like I said, not exactly punishment.”
Knox let out a low sound at the back of his throat. “You will ruin me.”
“I’m counting on you ruining me.”
Before he could say anything, he looked into my cart and froze. “What is this?”
“Well, you ruined the surprise, which isn’t surprising.” Fluorescent lighting was no one’s friend, but he managed to look like a dark god in the aisle of Walmart, eliciting stares from the people who passed by.
I ignored them without much effort, since he was my solar system, a whole universe in his gaze. “I want you to paint.”
I’d managed to find a canvas and an easel. I’d been surprised and delighted they had them in stock along with a scant paint selection that I was sure would do for a start.
“I’m not doing that,” Knox’s voice was glacial. He was wearing his mask, all affection gone from his eyes, his features turning sharp.
I’d expected that. Him to close down.
“Yes, you are,” I returned, pulling myself from his hold so I could face him with my hands on his hips. It felt daring and gratifying to be able to touch him like this in public. To show the world he was mine. Maybe I was a little possessive too.
“It can be my birthday present,” I whispered.
Knox blinked once. “It’s your birthday?” There it was again, the male panic he’d had the first night we had sex, with the wine.
I nodded curtly, feeling a teensy bit bad for the lie, but it was for his own good. I was using his one weakness … me. Knox was a lot of things, and he considered himself inhuman, but he cared about me. A lot. He tortured himself over it.
“I’ll buy you a fucking diamond,” he snapped. “Fancy bag.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want a diamond or a fancy bag.” Though I couldn’t help the image of a diamond on my left hand, given to me by Knox.
Such a fantasy could never come to fruition, and thinking of any kind of future, let alone one so normal, was fatal at that moment.
I focused on Knox, the present, showing him I meant business with what I hoped was a dedicated stare.
He didn’t look like he was going to budge. I had to pull out the big guns.
I jutted out my bottom lip and made my eyes go wide. “Please?” I asked in a small feminine voice.
Again, more than a little manipulative, but it was for the greater good.
Knox glared at me, gaze unyielding and frigid.