Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 84635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
With an outraged yell, I didn’t just drop the vase. I threw it through the nearby window. The thin glass shattered. The wind from the storm outside whipped the curtains into a frenzy as freezing rain poured into the room.
A small shard of glass caught in the thick curtain and was flung back at me by the wind. It scraped my cheek. I cried out and turned, holding my hand to my face. When I pulled my fingers away, they were covered in blood.
Greyson had already sprung from his seat when he saw me draw back my arm.
In two long strides, he was at my side, gripping my shoulders as he pulled me away from the window, shielding me with his back from more flying shards of glass and the icy wind that cut just as deep.
“You little fool,” he seethed.
He pulled me further into the room, slamming me against the wall on the other side of the fireplace mantle. His fingers drove into my hair on either side of my face as he tilted my head back to survey the wound.
I tried to pull free. “I’m sure it’s just a scratch.”
His grip tightened in my hair. “You could have been seriously injured. Never do something so stupid again.”
“What happened to ‘if you must?’”
“I gave you permission to break the vase, that was all. I did not tell you that you were allowed to injure yourself, you silly little girl.”
“You’re going to lecture me on doing something stupid?”
The heavy curtains flapped with the howling of the wind from outside.
Greyson’s stare was so intense I thought I would burst into flames despite the freezing chill in the room. “Something stupid, like rescuing a silly, interfering female who was going to get herself killed?”
“And who is supposed to be killing me? Jameson? You promised that Madison was safe with Pierce. Who’s going to kill me? Who should I be afraid of?”
Greyson slowly shook his head without breaking his stare. “No, not Jameson, not Pierce—me.”
The blood drained from my body.
I opened my mouth to scream, desperately hoping someone, anyone, would hear me.
I never got a chance.
Greyson’s mouth fell over mine. Silencing my cry.
I raised my fists and pounded on his shoulders, but it was like hitting a brick wall.
He pressed his hips into mine as he lowered his right hand and placed it under the knee of my left leg, lifting it high. He then ground his hard length against my core. I couldn’t feel the cold bite of the wind anymore. All I could feel was him.
I broke free from his kiss. “Oh god!”
He pulled on my hair, wrenching my head back and exposing my neck. His mouth traced the exposed underside of my jawline. “God can’t help you now. You belong to me.”
CHAPTER 30
PIERCE
Ineeded to get Madison out of her wet clothes.
Though I’d rather push her against a tree and fuck her again.
Force her down to her knees in the mud.
Feel that hot mouth on my flesh.
Hear her moan as my cock slipped deeper and deeper down her throat.
The image of her like that, my come filling her mouth, flashed through my mind with every step.
Meanwhile, her teeth were chattering, and her lips were turning blue.
My plans for her certainly did not include her dying from exposure. Dammit. Angry at myself for letting it go this far, I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and pushed her forward.
This was not the time. I needed to get her inside where it was safe and warm…like in my bed.
Once under the canopy of dark foliage, the splatter of rain took on a hushed cadence. The storm had stifled all animal activity, leaving the lush forest a hollow shell. The stillness was unsettling, broken only by an occasional clap of thunder. Knowing she needed to warm up and get into dry clothes, I stopped and swept Madison off her feet. Then I carried her along the faintly trodden path I used as a boy.
The thought of carrying her past the mansion and walking until we found a place where no one knew my name, where I wasn’t a Worthington, and where she wasn’t a nobody to be ground beneath my ambition, had its appeal. Somewhere her life wasn’t in danger because of me. Somewhere I could be judged on my own merits and not the actions of my ancestors.
But it was impossible. Soon my hands would be as bloodstained as the ancestors I despised.
My own merit. As if I had any character left.
That my father would have been proud of the despicable things I had done left a vile taste in my mouth. This poor girl was a pawn who didn’t even know she was on the board. And I had taken her like a savage in the mud and gravel, with no thought to her comfort.