Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Needing to get it out, finish so he’d let me go, I blurted out the rest. “My dad married his secretary six months later. She was almost twenty years younger than him, and she didn’t like me, but it wasn’t until they were married that I realized it. She had a younger brother, Arthur.” My voice cracked as I said his name. “He helped me deal with her. We … I thought we were friends. We went to the movies together; he took me to New York to see musicals on Broadway. And at first, it was nice. Not being alone. But he changed. He became possessive and controlling. It … it got to the point where I didn’t feel safe. So, I left. No, I ran.”
I took a deep, ragged breath and finally lifted my eyes from his chest to meet his eyes again. There. I’d told him what he wanted to know.
“Did he touch you? Hurt you?” Kash asked through clenched teeth.
The savage glint in his eyes I’d only seen one other time. The night he’d killed Pirate. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I also didn’t trust his reaction to the truth. I remained silent.
“Cressida,” he demanded. His hand gripped my chin, firmly holding my head so I couldn’t look away from him. “Did he hurt you?”
Yes. Many times. It was why I’d run. Why I’d had no other choice.
“I’m not your problem anymore, Kash,” I reminded him.
His eyes dropped to my mouth, and I stopped breathing. A war of what I wanted and what I feared battling in my head.
“You shouldn’t be,” he said, lifting his gaze back to mine. “I wish like hell you weren’t. That I didn’t care. But you didn’t give me back my soul when you ripped it to shreds.” His nostrils flared. “Did. He. Hurt. You?”
Lie. Lie, Cressida. Lie to save a life. One that might not deserve it. Lie to save yourself future pain because it will come with a price.
The world balanced things out, and I already knew that being saved by Kash, in the way he handled things, only sent the bad karma my way.
“Your silence is my answer,” he said. “Don’t admit it. I can read it in your eyes, Songbird.” He released my chin and stepped back.
“No! He didn’t hurt me physically,” I lied, moving toward him, as if I could grab him and stop him. “It was just emotional.”
His hands fisted at his sides as his chest rose and fell with heavy breathing. “I don’t care,” he snarled, and I backed up.
He stalked back toward me, planting a hand on either side of my head, caging me against the tree. His eyes were wild, and I thought maybe I had been wrong. Perhaps I should be scared of him.
“I fucked a stripper last night,” he said more calmly, although his eyes didn’t change.
I winced. Why would he tell me that?
“I let her suck me, then bent her over a bar and fucked her hard. Pounded into her wet cunt like a man possessed.”
I closed my eyes, wishing I could unhear this. Images I didn’t want in my head. The pain that came with it was unbearable, and I hated that, after all this time, he affected me this way. That I cared.
His hot breath was on my neck, and I stiffened. “And when I shot my load into the condom,” he said in my ear, “it was your name I shouted. Yours. And it wasn’t the first time I’d done it.”
Oh God. My eyes opened to see him run a finger along my neck as he studied it.
“I came so hard, thinking about you,” he whispered. “I always do.”
Why was this turning me on? What was wrong with me? The tingle between my legs meant I was as deranged as him, apparently. I was struggling to breathe.
His gaze moved up my neck, pausing at my mouth before meeting my eyes.
“Did that make you wet, little Songbird?”
I shook my head. I wasn’t admitting that.
A wicked smirk curled his lips. “Liar.”
I shook my head again, but when he shoved his hand down the front of my leggings, my knees buckled, and a cry escaped me. His long middle finger slid between my folds easily as he grabbed my waist and held me up. A dark, pleased laugh came from him.
“I stand corrected. Not wet. Soaked.”
I closed my eyes, unable to look at him. He was right. I was a terrible person.
His finger met my entrance, and he thrust it inside me.
“AH!” I screamed and grabbed his arms.
“Jesus Christ, how is it still so tight?” His words sounded like a groan.
I rocked against his hand, no longer worried about anything more than this moment.
“Needy cunt,” he said, leaning in so close that his nose brushed mine. “Sucking my finger so greedily.”