Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“How could you love a murderer? Look at who was killed. Look at why I had any involvement. That fucking gardener wasn’t your boyfriend. He used you. He was planning on hurting you, on destroying you. And for what? Something as dirty and common as money. All of it was just so he could get his greedy, grubby, callous-covered hands on your mother’s fucking money. Even then, he didn’t do that until she stopped paying him to fuck her. As far as your mother’s death? I did that for you. She hurt you, she abused you, and she stole not only my future but yours as well. How can you be mad at me for freeing you from that monster?”
“Who’s going to free me from you?”
“You don’t want to be freed from me,” I said, gripping the iron bars on either side of her head, pressing my chest to hers. Her body arched into mine. I didn’t even have to tell her to do it. I didn’t have to put my hand on her back and urge her to me.
“Yes, I do.”
“If that were true, why is your body pressing against mine now? If I put my hand between those perfect thighs of yours, am I going to find that pretty little cunt dripping for me?”
She said nothing, but her eyes cast down as she licked her lips, and I knew I was right.
“Tell me you love me,” I said again, this time barely a whisper in her ear as my hands trailed down her body that, even in the cold air, was still so hot to the touch.
I knew she loved me, not only from the way her body bent to mine, but the way she could never stop looking at me. She couldn’t. She was going to give me the love that I deserved. I didn’t care if she wished she could hate me. She was going to love me the way no one else ever had. Unconditionally. Rose had seen the worst of me. She knew more about my sins than anyone else ever would. She was going to love me, anyway.
“No,” she whispered. “If I tell you that, then you’ll just use it against me. You’ll hold it against me, and you will use my love to control me.”
“Angel,” I said, knowing exactly what she meant. “I will never use that against you. It’s far too precious to hold over your head. I don’t control you, demand things from you, or even punish you because you love me. Never. I do those things because I love you. I see how your body responds when I punish you, when I tie you up and take control. If I’m the one in control, then you can’t be held responsible for the way your body reacts to the things I do to you. Things that you seem to think are wrong or forbidden. My power over you allows you to indulge in all of your little dirty fantasies without any of the responsibility.”
My hands trailed up and down her body. I just couldn’t get enough of touching her, feeling her soft skin under my hands, knowing that her body, even tied to an iron fence, was trying to get closer to mine.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “You’re a priest. What does it matter if I love you, or if you love me? It changes nothing.”
“It changes everything,” I said, letting my anger at her words filter into my voice. “Do you think I give a fuck about this priest collar? Do you think I will let something as insignificant as my job stand between me and what I want? There isn’t a thing in this world or any other that could keep me from you. You’re mine. Say it.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I can’t. Not when…”
“When what?” My hand went back to her throat, pushing her head up so her eyes met mine, while my other hand went to her breast and tweaked her peaked nipple. Even just the slightest touch of my thumb running over the taut little peak was enough to make her breath hitch.
“When I can’t have you. Not really. I have never said those words to another man, and I never will until I know he is mine.”
“I am yours,” I said. “All you have to do is say the words. Tell me you love me unconditionally. Tell me you are mine and no one else’s. Let me hear those sweet words pass your lips. Tell me you won’t turn your back on me like everyone else has.” My hand slipped between our bodies, and I slid my fingers between her legs to find her unbelievably hot, wet pussy. “Say it, angel.”
She shook her head again, so I circled her clit with my fingers, reminding her how good I could make her feel. Reminding her I was the only one that had ever made her come over and over.