โฆ โฆ โฆ
๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ก:
๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐ช๐ก๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐จ ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฃ.
๐ผ ๐จ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ ๐ฅ๐ก๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐โ๐ก๐ก ๐ช๐จ๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ก๐๐ฃ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐๐.
Iโll seduce her. Claim her.
Then flaunt my acquisition in front of her ex, Lawrence Wellingtonโ
The man I plan to destroy.
๐ข๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ, ๐โ๐น๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด.
Sheโll be the easiest and most โฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ part of my vengeance.
Charming her away from a man old enough to be her father wonโt be an issue.
And if it comes down to it, Iโm not above using force.
๐๐๐ก๐:
๐๐ง๐๐ฃ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐ข๐๐๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐๐ก๐๐๐งโ
๐๐โ๐ก๐ก ๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ฅ ๐๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐.
But heโs just like every other rich, entitled asshole.
He doesn’t know me.
All he sees is a pretty object to be possessed and discarded.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฒ.
Iโve come back to the Olympus Club for a reason,
And I wonโt let anything stop me,
Least of all a smooth-talking criminal with arsenic on his tongue.
๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฃ ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฉ๐จ ๐ข๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐จ ๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ ๐๐ง๐ข๐จ,
๐๐โ๐จ ๐๐ฃ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ง๐ก๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐จ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ.
๐ผ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐: ๐๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ขโ๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ-๐ต๐ฐ-๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐น๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ!
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐’๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ “๐ฎ๐ข๐ง๐ช๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ.” ๐๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ง๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ!
I was too pissed to play Prince Charming. Fuck that. Iโd sooner throw her over my shoulder and lock her away than let that geriatric bastard see her in what should have been meant for me.
Jesus, I didnโt know where these thoughts were coming from.
I was out of control and couldnโt find it in me to care.
She started to answer, and I could tell by the fire in her eyes that I wouldnโt like what she was going to say. I cut her off before she got the chance to say a word. Clutching her wrist, I hauled her around to the alley on the side of the building. It wasnโt particularly private, but it was better than having it out with her on the goddamn sidewalk.
โIs Wellington taking you to the club for dinner tonight?โ Just saying the words made my jaw ache with strain.
โYes.โ Defiance. So much bloody defiance.
โYou donโt want to be with him, I know it. You came to Bastion for a reason. I didnโt make youโyou came on your own. So why the fuck are you still going to see him?โ
โI told you, itโs complicated.โ
โNothingโs that fucking complicated.โ
โMaybe for you,โ she shot back angrily.
My mind raced as I stared her down. I needed to handle this carefully, but my frustration tinged my vision with red, making it hard to see anything but my need to gain her submission.
The lighter was in my hand before I knew it, and I flicked it open.
โCan you swear on your life heโll never see it?โ
โYou wouldnโt.โ She gaped at me.
โBaby, you have no idea the lengths Iโd go to.โ
She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed angry blue eyes at me. โFine, I swear no other man will see the lingerie.โ
My smile was slow and lupine as it crept across my face.
โWrong answer.โ
She could try to sass me, but it wouldnโt get her far. The small flame barely kissed the thin black tissue before the hungry flame devoured the paper.
Linaโs jaw plummeted, her eyes going wide with horror. And was that โฆ a touch of โฆ sorrow mixed in?
Shit, I didnโt want to hurt her. Iโd been trying to prevent that. Being near Wellington, clothed or not, was dangerous for her in so many ways.
I tossed the smoking bag away from us and caged her in against the stone wall, forcing her watery gaze to mine. โLook at me, Lina.โ
Questions and uncertainty spun in her eyes like little blue whirlpools of chaos. โWhy, Oran? Why are you doing this?โ
Only an inch separated us, and my body screamed with the need to close the gap, so much so that my breath grew choppy and shallow.
โBecause you need me to. You need my help, whether you want it or not.โ
It should have been a lieโa line I fed to her to win her overโbut instead, it rang with sincerity even to my own ears. Where she was concerned, my actions were no longer purely motivated by revenge. I didnโt know what that meant for me and didnโt want to think about it.
I lowered my face to hers, drawn by an invisible force impossible to ignore. My lips ghosted over her skinโher temple, her cheeks, her lips. I never touched her, though. I made sure of that. My body vibrated inside with restraint, but I kept control of myself.
Lina trembled beneath me.
Her lips parted a fraction, and I felt her warmth as her chest lifted and strained closer to mine. We lingered in a timeless moment of suspense, all the while the whisper of my words from the club echoing in the air around us.
Kiss me.
Kiss me.
Kiss me.
Like a needle to a balloon, chaos exploded when Lina launched herself at me, her lips colliding with mine and arms tugging me close.
Thank Christ.
I responded with equal abandon. Pulling her luscious body against mine and devouring her kiss. The sweep of her tongue along mine turned my cock to solid stone. It pressed so hard against my zipper I worried it would leave a permanent mark. My physical reaction to her was undeniable. What amazed me even more was my emotional response. The second her body melted into mine, I went feral with the need to own her. To possess her so thoroughly she forgot any other man had ever existed.
Her submission to the desire pulsing between us was a sign that I was making progress.
It made me ravenous for more.
The small glimpse of what it would be like to have her for myself had my world tilting on its axis. The breathless moan that snuck past her lips. The tug of her fingers in my hair. The nip of her teeth on my bottom lip.
How could kissing anyone else ever compare to this?
It was impossible.
Sheโd decimated my prior standards and permanently altered my perceptions. Sheโd marked me in a way that couldnโt be seen, but I knew it was there, and Iโd be damned if I didnโt find a way to return the favor.
I hated how much I wanted her.
โฆ โฆ โฆ
Jill is a Texan, born and raised. She manages the hectic social calendars for her three active children and occasionally spends an evening with her dashing husband. Aside from being an author and a mom, she’s a travel junkie and loves to read when she is not lost in her own stories.
With Jillโs books, you can count on confident heroines, plenty of steamy tension, and deliciously assertive leading men. There are no guarantees in life, but with her books, you know everything will work out in the end. However, a perfect ending would not be nearly as satisfying without a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Jill loves to add plenty of adversity in her stories, creating unforgettably dynamic characters and sneaky plot twists you will never see coming.
โฆ โฆ โฆ