Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
“Is there a problem, Clara?”
“Damien, she’s—”
“A guest of Gabriel’s. Yes. Can I escort you to a private room while Clara here retrieves him?” My chest expands in heavy pants, out and in. I’m unsure what I’m even doing here. The reality of where I’m standing and what I was about to do starts to settle in. “If you could just follow me.” I don’t say another word and walk with him through a private hallway. We take the elevator down, and when it opens, I come face to face with Gabriel. He stands at the exit, his top shirt button open and missing his suitcoat, but wearing a scowl that would scare off the devil himself.
“Ah, just the man we are looking for. You seem to have lost your guest. I was bringing her to you.”
His eyes glare with anger, and I take a step back.
“It seems I have,” he says, his tone calm yet frightening. He reaches out and claims my arm. I debate on grabbing for Damien and begging him not to leave me with him. This was a mistake.
“I shall see to it you have your privacy,” he ensures Gabriel, then reenters the elevator, allowing the doors to shut behind me.
“Pet.” He says my nickname with such controlled fury. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence this evening. Here. Again.”
I almost recoil at his anger, but the reason I came gives me the courage to stand up and battle. I raise my hand and smack him across the face. The sound echoes down the hallway. If I thought his eyes were angry before, they’re practically on fire now.
He tugs me forward, dragging me a few steps to an open door and tosses me inside. The door slams shut, and I jump.
“You have crossed the line, pet.”
I whip around, ready for him. “So have you. Make up your mind. Take me or don’t, but don’t dangle me around and play with me like a toy. I told you I can take what you do to me. To my body. But not my mind.”
He swallows the space between us, his shoes hitting mine. I almost fall back. He reaches out, grabbing my neck. “Since when do you make the rules, little bird? I warned you and gave you an out, but you wanted to act brave. Little naïve Hazel Winters thinks she knows what she wants. You have no idea what you’re asking for.”
I try to push him off me, but he’s like stone. “Oh, I do know what I want. It’s you who’s naive. Afraid of me? I think you’re a coward. Can’t handle—”
His lips crash against mine, soft yet bruising. He parts my lips, and the faint taste of scotch teases my tongue as he works his around mine. His grip on my neck tightens, and I reach up, tugging at his hair. Two can play this game.
All too soon, he rips his lips from mine. I open my mouth to question why he stopped when he pushes me backward. I fall, landing on top of a plush bed. A switch flips inside of him. He’s not the cool and collected man I know. Before me is a wild beast, and I’m his prey. His eyes grow stormy, and I know I’m in trouble. He’s quick, eating up the space between us and climbing onto the bed. His heavy body blankets mine, and he bows his head, brushing his chin up the side of my cheek. I drown in his gentleness—my first mistake. I should never have let my guard down around a man with dark needs and the appetite of a starved man. He captures my arms and tugs them up above my head. Before I can question his next move, a metal clicking sound resonates, and he’s handcuffed my left wrist.
“What are you—?”
I whip my head to the right as he restrains my other wrist.
“Gabriel, please…” I beg and writhe under him on the bed.
He doesn’t answer me. He doesn’t even look at me as he slides off the bottom of the bed and stands. He rips down my pants, tears off my underwear, and spreads my legs wide. An unfamiliar sound travels up my throat the moment his mouth covers my sex. He’s not gentle. Nor patient. He’s untamed and ravenous as he devours me.
“Oh, God.” My neck arches back, my lips parting. He’s ruthless with his mouth, and it almost becomes too much. My hips buckle when he takes two fingers and pushes them inside me. He works a third one in, and I cry out as his long fingers take me so deeply that his knuckles are met by the barrier of my sex. He doesn’t stop until my body begins to seize, then pulls out as soon as my climax starts to take hold.