by Lannah Smith
"Please," he muttered with a slight edge to his voice. "Do tell me."
My eyebrows drew together. I didn't expect this reaction.
"Because I'll be better." I lost my breath when his eyes drew the length of me. "I'll make you feel better. Every memory of his kiss and his touch, I'll make you come so hard you’ll forget all of them. "
My lips curled. "You're disgusting."
"Invite me to your bed, April.” His gaze became dark with lust and I felt my nether regions quiver. “And I’ll show you just that.”
I stared at Christopher, my breath caught in my lungs and my heart beating so hard in my chest.
I stared at him, and once again, felt the shame bleed into my bones, taking root in my marrow, burning me from the inside out.
Because a brief thought had crossed my mind. A thought of what it was like to have him in my bed. But hell would freeze over before I let him. And he knew damn well about that.
Not thinking, I never did when I got furious and lost all control, I threw the covers aside and stood up.
"Then do you want to fuck me?" I shouted. "Is that it?"
He tilted his head back to look at me. "No."
"Just do it then! fuck me! Just get me out of your system and let me go!"
"Careful what you wish for," he warned. "Because when I touch you, I won't be able to let you go. Ever."
"Scared?" I taunted. Though his expression hadn’t changed, there were flashes of barely leashed anger in his eyes which I ignored. "Scared that you won't be better than Leon? Because he was very skillful, I assure you. Just with his fingers, he was able to make me come—."
It had been unwise to choose to ignore them.
Moving fast, faster than I’d ever seen anyone move, he had me back down on my bed, his body pinning me over the sheets, my breasts flattened against his chest that surprised me, frightened me.
And excited me.
The last one far more than the first two.
My hands were squashed between our bodies, making me unable to push him away. My head snapped back so I could scream at him to get off. But what I saw made me swallow my scream. The flashes of anger were gone from his eyes, replaced by hunger, raw, passionate hunger.
"You've only been fucked, honey,” he muttered softly, his hand traveling up the side of my thigh, stopping at my hip. “You've never had someone make love to you."
I gasped.
Then his mouth came down on mine.
Christopher was kissing me. And his kiss wasn’t gentle.
Gathering my hair in a fist, he used it to push my head further back so he could kiss me deeper, his tongue touching mine. Then his other hand was drifting around my ass, cupping it and pulling it into his hardness.
And I wanted it.
I wanted it so much.
Giving into the kiss, I couldn’t seem to get enough of him, take enough from him. Heat coiled low in my womb, reminding me it had been years since I last had s*x, that if he touched me, I’d be slick and wet. As if he read my thoughts, he got even closer that I could feel his stiff hardness throbbing against my core. But it wasn’t enough.
I wanted more, more, more—
It was me.
My eyes flew open.
It was me who had them killed, April.
Suddenly, ice water filled my veins. Those words, my father’s voice and the realization of what Christopher and I were doing doused me like a bucket of freezing water. Tearing my lips away from him, I shoved at his shoulders, the desire knotting in my belly gone as icy claws of panic gripped me, my only thought, escape.
“Let me go,” I gasped. “Let me go. Now!”
His head came up, his dazed hooded eyes turning confused and alert.
“Why are you upset?” he asked gruffly, his thumb gently caressing my cheek.
“Let me go!” I screamed in a voice so shrill, it hurt my own ears. “Get off of me!”
His face tightened. When he pulled back, I didn’t wait until he had completely eased away to scramble back from him, quaking from head to foot. There was only so far I could go before my back hit the headboard. Huddling against it, drawing my knees up my chest, I tried to hide from him.
"Get out!" I cried, hating how my voice broke. "Get out of my room!"
Sitting at the foot of my bed, his eyes were on me, searching for something. I turned my face away. He was doing it again, trying to look into my head, delving around in secrets he knew that I was keeping.
For a few minutes that felt like years, he quietly stared at me. A tear leaked out of my eye, sliding down my cheek and his gaze followed it. I wanted to tell him to get out again but I didn’t trust myself to speak anymore.
Then he closed his eyes.
And when he opened them again, his eyes looked frighteningly blank when he said, "If you don't want to have a repeat of tonight, I suggest you don't use my best friend to bait me again."
And saying that, he finally and blessedly left my room.
Chapter 26
I sat on a chair, staring unseeing out the window.
An untouched tray of food was on the table in front of me. I had no appetite. After what had transpired between Christopher and me earlier, I had no appetite for food or for anything at all.
The weight of guilt was too heavy in mind. As well as the shame, bitterness and humiliation. I wanted to blame Christopher for all these feelings but I knew I was mostly to blame for playing with fire. I had been too frustrated and impatient. I let him rile me up. He just had the power to evoke certain feelings from me and it was my fault because I gave it to him.
I endured endlessly to prevent falling into the life-long pit of pain and suffering that my father had planned for me. I lived struggling, thinking that I could avoid it once I ran away. But even here, where I was, in Christopher's hold, I saw that it was painful as well.
There were three knocks on my door before it opened. My head swung from the window to see Alec enter the room. Taking one look at the tray on the table, he couldn’t quite manage to hide his extreme annoyance.
"What?" I snapped at him.
He shook his head. "Well, I can see you're feeling better now."
“What do you mean?” I lifted my chin. “What has your employer been telling you?”
Moving to the table, he said, “Nothing that I didn’t hear last night.”
My throat drew tight with shame. I couldn’t look at him anymore. Couldn’t bear to see his judgment.
“You should be embarrassed of yourself,” I mumbled. “Eavesdropping like that.”
“Hard not to when you were shouting,” he said in a wry tone. “I don’t know if you know but my room’s just below yours.”
So he didn’t hear everything?
My eyes returned to Alec in relief. He was still looking quite annoyed when he cleared the table of the tray. And I wondered why he was not hiding it when usually, he did.
“He wants to know if you’re still angry.” He stared at the tray when he said that. “He sent me on this butler mission to check if you’re crying.”
Ah.
My lips twitched.
So that was what got Alec annoyed. Not because I didn’t touch my food but at his errand. Fool, I scolded myself for initially thinking that way. Alec would never care for me that way. I was just his master’s pet for the meantime.
Then I felt my blood heat.
Christopher couldn’t just come here and check it himself, could he?
"That rude, disgusting son of a bitch,” I ranted angrily. “That obnoxious arrogant jerk. I don't care if he's sorry. He can rot in hell for all I care. And you can tell him exactly that."
"Okay." He nodded.
“And tell him if this his way of showing his thoughtfulness, then he can shove it up his ass.”
“Alright. Anything else you'd like me to whisper into his ears at recess?”
Seeing him this pissed suddenly made me feel better. I had the feeling that after this, he would be giving Christopher so muc
h hell.
“Nope,” I answered haughtily.
“Good,” he muttered, turned and stalked out.
And when he was gone, I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my lips. Because somehow, seeing him angry made me feel a whole lot better.
Then I lost my amusement.
Because, God darn it. I was definitely going crazy.
I thought Christopher would stay away from me for some time, preferably forever. I’d been eating lunch in my bedroom brought by a still pissed Alec when he came in. And looking at how Christopher was grinning at me now, it was like nothing had happened between us.
It didn’t even take him a day to have the guts to face me, I thought of this with anger. I didn’t know whether it was because he was being obtuse or he was just insensitive. And seeing him made me even angrier. Because the sight of him was making me remember what happened between us in this room in a humiliating rush.
“I’m sorry.”
My eyelid twitched.
“I’m really sorry for what happened, April.”
He was saying this without actually looking sorry, the bastard.
"Even if you say it like that, it won't change the fact that I hate you to death,” I told him.
He laughed. "That's unfortunate."
I lifted a brow and put my fork down. “What’s unfortunate is that you’re still here. Don’t you have even an ounce of shame in you?”
“I’ll leave the room only if you close your eyes for ten seconds.”
He couldn’t be serious.
“Do you really think I’ll close my eyes for ten seconds when you’re here?” I asked in bewilderment.
“No. But I’m hoping you’ll indulge me.”
“You seriously have a screw loose if you think—.”
“You’re only dragging this out,” he cut-in, grinning. “If you wish me to leave quickly, then you better close your beautiful gray eyes.”
I opened my mouth but he went on, “I promise that I won’t come no more than ten feet close.”
I gave him a suspicious look. But I couldn’t read what he was thinking or planning. What did he need ten seconds for?
“Fine,” I bit out, trying not to show that he had piqued my interest. “Ten seconds.”
He nodded. Closing my eyes, I started to count.
“Count loudly,” I heard him say.
“Four!” I growled. “Five.”
I heard him go out of the bedroom and my curiosity grew.
“Six. Seven. Eight.”
My head jerked when I heard a sound. Did I just hear a purr?
“Nine. Ten.”
I opened my eyes. Christopher was standing again in his previous spot, his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans, his grin suspiciously wider. Opening my mouth, I was about to ask him what he did in those ten seconds when I heard the sound again. The purr.
And this time, it sounded closer, like it came from below.
I dropped my gaze. Then my eyes almost bulged out from their sockets.
It was a kitten.
A black kitten with a white spot on the middle of its chest.
My eyes sliced to Christopher. "What the hell is this?"
It was his turn to lift a brow. "It's obviously a kitten, April."
My upper lip curling, I stared at the creature that was rubbing on my leg and mewling.
"What the hell is a kitten doing here?"
"I gave one to Rohan," he replied.
"Was my question difficult, Christopher?" I spat at him.
He laughed. "No."
"Then why can't you answer it?"
"It's therapeutic," he told me with a grin. "I gave Rohan a cat when he moved out of the Schuyler house and started to live alone. Someone once told me that having a pet could help deal with loneliness and depression." He gave me a pointed look to remind me that I was that someone. "So I'm giving you a cat too.”
I was pretty sure my jaw was hanging open.
“Also, it's my peace offering for being a bastard to you."
My mouth snapped close and I glared at him.
Therapeutic, my ass. He was plotting something again, I was certain. It wasn’t like he knew we were going to fight today that would warrant this… present. He had already planned to give this to me. And it was mind-boggling, how his memory was this good. Even I didn't remember saying that until he pointed it out.
"I'm not lonely," I gritted out. "Or depressed. I'm just surrounded by assholes. And an apology would have sufficed, Christopher. I don't need a cat."
He paid no heed to my words and said, "If you have trouble naming it, I can suggest you a name. How about Cow?"
"Cow?" I asked, growing more and more bewildered.
He nodded. "Rohan name his cat Pig."
"That's a terrible name."
"Cow's a cute name."
"Honestly, how many times were you dropped on your head when you were born?" I clipped.
Chuckling, he turned and walked to the door.
"Then you choose his name," he said. "Cat food's in the kitchen. I'll bring his toys up later."
"W-wait—!"
But he had already left the room.
I tried to follow him but a mewl stopped me. Hesitantly, I glanced down the floor. The black kitten was staring at me with its large, gold eyes. With a side-step, I passed it and rushed out the door.
"Where is he?" I snapped when I ran down the stairs and met Alec.
His cup stopped midway to his lips as he looked at me with brows raised. Then his gaze went over my shoulders. Looking around, I saw that the kitten had followed me and was prowling up the top of the stairs, mewling loudly.
"It'll tumble down the stairs if you don't get it," Alec warned me.
Whipping my head around, I almost growled at him.
"You get it," I ordered. "And return it to where you purchased it because I don't want it."
"Christopher picked it up from the streets. He found it on a box that said 'please adopt me.' Are you that heartless to make him take it back?"
He said that all with a straight-face. I was sure that Christopher put him up with this.
"Christopher!" I shouted, walking to the study. Finding the door locked, I pounded on it. "Come out, you cowardly piece of manipulating crap!"
"He's in a very important Skype conversation." Alec was carrying the kitten down the stairs when I glanced at him over my shoulder. "Please don't disturb him."
"Do you seriously think I give a damn about - what are you doing?" I shrieked when he pushed the kitten my way.
His lips were twitching when he said, "Take it."
Taking several step backs, I said, "Are you insane? I'm not taking it! And hold it properly, for God's sake," I went on to say when I saw that he was holding it precariously up in the air with his fingers just slightly curled around its body.
"See? You already care for Cow."
Oh, my God. Christopher did put him up to this.
Throwing my head back, I let out a loud groan that made the usual dour-faced Alec actually chuckle. I sat on the couch heavily and folded my arms, glaring at him, telling him with a look that there was no way I was keeping the cat.
Shaking his head, he mumbled, "I have no time to deal with this shit." Then he put the kitten at the other end of the couch before disappearing down the hall.
Letting out another frustrated groan, I hung my head down. The moment I did, the kitten, who had kept staring at me at the end of the couch, immediately padded towards me and pushed its head against my arm. I couldn't resist it this time. Carefully and hesitantly, I lifted a hand and scratched its head. And when it purred, once again, I couldn't help but gather it into my arms and stroke its fur.
"There's no way in hell I'm calling you Cow," I declared.
The kitten's answer was a contented purr in my arms.
Chapter 27
Christopher was busy with work for the next two days. Cooped up in the study, he was bombarded with call after call and emails that were far
too important to ignore this time.
"Don't even try to take a step outside this room." Alec said when he dropped a pile of newly printed paperwork on his desk. "Look that over, will you? I need to send them by tonight."
