Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
He groaned low in my ear. “On your birthday, no less.”
“Yes.” I smiled. “You gave me a present I will never forget.”
“And you took a part of me that I’ll never get back. I know you assumed you’d never see me again, and...if things work out with Nick, then I suppose that will be the case, but...I’ll be back in your town in a year or so. If you’re still single by then. If I’m still single and not gotten myself killed by beating up the wrong bastard, then...I’m going to keep you.”
I gasped. “You’re saying I’m yours in a year if Nick doesn’t claim me?”
“Even if he does, he shared you with me once. Perhaps he’d be open to giving me another taste. From one Dom to another. A gift of the girl he most cherishes, all because he knows how well I can pleasure you. If you ask him, he’d have no choice but to agree. His purpose in life is to make you happy...or at least it should be.”
“Pretty sure moving to Singapore is a giant clue that my happiness is not in his top five goals.”
“And that is the cue for me to tell you what you need to do.” His voice slipped into all business. “You asked me how to forget him? I’m not going to answer that. Not yet. Call me back if this doesn’t work and then I’ll tell you. Better yet, if he’s being a prick about it, book some vacation days and come to me. I’ll make it my personal duty to erase every shred of that man from you, one release at a time...but for now...”
He paused.
He gathered his thoughts before saying, “I stand by what I told you. If you want him, you’re going to have to break him. But now that I know he’s probably dealing with the same shit I was, then you need to be smart.”
“Smart?”
“He doesn’t want you to love him ’cause he’s afraid of dying early and leaving you heartbroken, right?”
I nodded, glad Hunter remembered everything Nick had said that night.
“He also probably can’t stomach the thought of you dying and leaving him heartbroken. Especially after what he said about his brother and father dying. There’s deep-seated trauma there for sure. Has he said as much?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “In almost those exact words.”
“Okay then...here is what you do.”
I leaned up and peered into my gloomy hotel bedroom. “Tell me.”
“He thinks he can avoid the pain of a broken heart if he doesn’t claim you as his. He thinks he’s protecting you from that same pain by refusing to love you back. So...replace him.”
“R-Replace him?” I choked. “But...”
“Go to a club. There’s one in your town called The Black Peacock. You’re a natural submissive, Ella. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t seek out what you need.”
“I...I can’t go to a club. I can’t sleep with a stranger.”
“You did with me.”
“Yes but—”
“Regardless, the chances of you having to sleep with someone are extremely slim.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I’m not following.”
“Tell him where you’re going. Leave a note. Tell him face to face. Do whatever you want, but make sure he knows exactly where you’re going and for what purpose. Prove to him that just because he’s not willing to give you what you need, then someone else will. Gladly. You’ll eventually find another who will rule you and adore you. You’ll fall in love. You’ll give your heart away. And one day, that lucky man will die, just like he will.”
“So...you want me to make him jealous?” My voice turned small. It sounded so petty, so juvenile...like it would never work against someone with his mind made up and flight tickets booked.
“No.” Hunter chuckled. “Show him what it feels like to miss you when you’re alive. He’s so focused on not having you when you’re dead that he’s completely missed how he’ll feel if you’re with someone else. Someone not him. Someone just as killable. Someone just as vulnerable to life and its pitfalls. He thinks he’s being noble by not making you his, but in reality, he’s only ensuring his future will be agony. If he wants you as much as I think he does, then the moment he sees you with another, all his morals and rules will come crashing down.”
“But he already saw me with you...”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“I wasn’t a threat. I was merely an inconvenience he had to share you with. He knew my business was my top priority. Our night together and what you felt toward me was purely pleasurable not marriageable.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’d say you’re definitely marriage material.”
“And maybe one day, I’ll take that leap. With you or with someone else...but that’s not the point. The point is...” Sucking in a breath, he murmured, “If he sees you with someone else. Someone who could give you everything you want for the rest of your life, then he’ll finally realise that the pain of not having you when you’re alive and willing is a thousand times worse than the pain of having you and losing you to a hypothetical grave. A million times worse. Show him what he has to lose while it’s still his to lose. Make all those years he could love you flash before his eyes. Make him see another in his place. Another man fucking you. Another man taking care of you. A man who will be lucky enough to adore you for decades.”