Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
“This is my house. You don’t get to tell me where I can and can’t go.”
“You seem to keep forgetting who is in charge here. It’s not you. Get into bed, while I keep packing. You’re coming to stay with me for the foreseeable future. Unless you’d rather leave everything here. I can buy you all new things.”
Was she dreaming?
She had to be dreaming. There was no way this was happening, right?
This sort of thing didn’t happen in real life. Then again, most people didn’t have a Regent Malone in their lives.
They might wish they did.
But, sheesh, he was a handful.
“You’re not buying me new things. And you’re not taking me anywhere. Now, I think you should leave.”
Jilly braced herself, ready to run if she needed to.
Regent isn’t your father. He isn’t going to get angry.
But all he did was shake his head and point at the bed. “Sit down and stop disobeying me.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Disobeying you?”
“Disobeying me,” he repeated firmly. “I told you no showering. You showered. No getting out of bed without me. You did. I told you several times to sit down before you pass out. Oh, and also, I asked you if anything was wrong. You said there wasn’t. You lied to me, didn’t you, baby?”
Uh-oh.
How did he know? What did he know?
“You’re up to three, now.”
“Three what?” she asked.
“Spankings.”
Dear Lord. There he went with the spankings again. And what did he mean she was up to three?
“How can I be up to three?”
That probably wasn’t the question to ask.
“I’m pretty sure that friends don’t spank friends. And that’s what we are, right? Friends?”
“We are not friends.”
Ouch. They weren’t even friends anymore? What were they? Acquaintances?
Tears filled her eyes, sliding down her cheeks as she sniffled.
“What is it? Are you in pain? What hurts?” he demanded, picking her up and carrying her back to bed.
“My heart,” she wailed.
Yes, she was a dramatic mess. But she couldn’t help it. All she’d ever done was look up to this man and want to be near him, but he kept rejecting her.
A girl could only take so much. Especially when she wasn’t well.
“What is it? Your heart? I’m calling an ambulance. I knew you needed to be in the hospital.”
“It’s not my heart,” she said, sniffling. She grabbed the bed covers and pulled them over her head. “It’s you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You. I want you to leave.”
“I’m looking after you,” he stated.
“But I don’t want you to look after me. I don’t want you here. I want you to go away.”
Ouch.
Regent wasn’t sure what had just happened. Sure, she’d tried to get rid of him before, but now she seemed to really mean it.
She was upset. But why?
Because he’d said they weren’t friends? Fuck. He hadn’t meant it like that.
He meant they weren’t friends because what he felt toward her wasn’t just friendly.
Fuck. He’d totally fucked that up. No wonder she was upset with him.
“Baby.” He sat on the bed, drawing her out from under the covers to sit on his lap. She fought him, but he held on tight.
She was surprisingly strong.
“Let me go! I’m gonna say my safeword!”
“Safeword? Baby, you don’t have a safeword.” Was she a sub? Had she been in a relationship with a Dominant before?
Regent wasn’t a Dom, exactly. But he did like to be in control. Of everything. So, safewords in the bedroom were something he was familiar with.
But he’d never had a long-term relationship. He had an apartment in the city that he kept for when he had a mistress. It might sound cold and sleazy, but it was as much as he was willing to give a woman.
For their protection.
And because he’d never met a woman who he wanted to give more of himself to. Until he met her.
Jilly.
“I need you to listen to me, Jilly. No, you’re not going anywhere until you do. All you’re going to do is wear yourself out.”
A cough rattled through her. Fuck, he hated that she was ill. It made him feel so helpless that he couldn’t comfort her. Couldn’t take this away and make her feel better.
“Listen to me. I didn’t mean that we weren’t friends.”
“Yes, you did. That’s what you said.”
“Baby, if you didn’t mean anything to me, do you really think I’d be here taking care of you?”
She stilled. “Then why are you still here when all I seem to do is annoy and disappoint you?”
He cupped her chin. “You could never disappoint me, understand? I don’t want you to ever say that again.”
Her eyes were wide as she gaped up at him.
“I’m serious, Jilly. You think you’re getting a good spanking for all the other things you’ve done? It’ll feel like nothing compared to the spanking I’ll give you if I hear you speak about yourself like that.”
“I . . . I . . . I still don’t know what I earned those other spankings for.”