Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 148238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Anger seeped through my blood like lava. I glowered at Kill. He wasn’t paying attention to Mr. Steel, his gaze locked on me, his chest rising hard. His jacket tightened around his shoulders as his muscles tensed. His reaction let me glimpse into his soul, giving away how much he deplored everything going on. It gave me power. It set little flames licking my insides.
He gazed at me with vulnerability. He looked lost and desolate and angry—so damn angry.
Seconds ticked past and he didn’t sever the connection between us—refused to look away.
As long as he stared at me that way, I could survive without memories, without the past or future. I could survive in his present and find a resemblance of happiness.
I’m her.
I’m not crazy.
Mr. Steel sneered, “Am I interrupting something?”
Kill snapped out of whatever held us prisoner. “You want her. There’s no negotiation.”
“There’s always a negotiation. You need that stock. I need that girl. But you need the stock more. So I’ll give you seventy-five percent, and I’m being generous.”
Stock?
I knew I wasn’t being traded for money—but stock? What stock? And why?
Kill crossed his arms. “No. That’s a fucking rip-off. Full control or no girl.”
I closed my eyes, letting the pink of my eyelids grant me a new world as the sun bounced across my face. I didn’t want to watch men scrabble over me as if I weren’t a living thing.
The men continued to argue but I faded them out. Kill wanted what this man had. And badly. I was his bargaining chip. My heart sank like a treasure chest into a bottomless sea. No matter what exists between us, this will be the last time I’ll see him.
The transaction would mean I would float away like a blue-blooded princess aboard this magnificent yacht to face a future of unknown sadism and slavery. While the man I wanted sold me with no hint of a soul.
“No. Full stock or nothing—” Kill’s voice shredded my fragile serenity.
“Stop. I’m done arguing. I have questions before I agree to anything. Do not rush me.” Mr. Steel snapped his fingers. Silence fell while a steward appeared from nowhere, poured a finger of amber liquid into a goblet, and passed it to him. He faded from the room via a door hidden like a bookcase.
“Now, questions…” Mr. Steel’s eyes flashed as he took a sip of his new beverage.
Kill’s nostrils flared, drawing energy from the room just like he had back at the compound. “What do you want to know?” Grabbing my elbow, he jerked me close. We both shuddered as a crackle of electricity thrummed between us. I hated that he affected me. It wasn’t just him who wanted to be far away. It hurt too damn much.
Breathing hard, Kill shook me for no other reason but annoyance at still wanting me. “Tell me what you want to know. That she’s unique? Intelligent? Qualified in veterinary science? Or perhaps you want to know what she’s like in bed? That she writhes more perfectly than any woman I’ve ever met? That she tastes like fucking buttercup sunshine? That despite everything that’s happened to her, she’s still the strongest, stubbornest thing that refuses to be broken?”
Every sentence twisted the dagger in my heart until blood rivered inside. He used it. My nickname.
Buttercup.
I wanted to slap him more than I’d wanted anything.
Bastard!
“She’s one of a kind, Mr. Steel and if you don’t see that, then you’re a fucking idiot.” His chest rose and fell, his eyes bright and glassy.
If I’m so perfect, why don’t you keep me, then, you stupid wanker?
My heart twisted into a painful knot. “Fuck you, Arthur,” I whispered hotly. “Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you!”
Kill took a step back, eyes wide.
I turned on him, ready to attack. My nails wanted to draw his blood. I wanted to make him hurt as much as I did.
But Mr. Steel’s arm wrapped around my waist, dragging me backward. I cried out as his cold reptilian fingers kissed over my scarred hipbone.
I’d forgotten all I wore was a bikini. I’d forgotten everything but wanting to savage Arthur Killian.
“You’re feisty.” His voice threaded down my ear and into my brain. “You’re passionate—I like that. Passion is good and strength is even better.”
I shivered, wriggling in his grip. “Let me go.”
Instead of obeying, he spun me around in his hands, imprisoning me between his spread thighs. I curled my nose at being so close to this monster. “Let me go!”
He smiled, crinkling the tanned skin by his eyes. His teeth were slightly crooked, his jawline strong and spoke of a man used to getting his own way. “You don’t tell me what to do. Ever.” His nose brushed against mine in a horribly tender move. “Tell me, girl. What happened to your body?”
Kill faded into the background as I fought the urge to vomit all over Mr. Steel’s white suit. The pads of his thumbs traced circles around scarred flesh and inked.