AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No,” I snap, crossing my arms across my chest and holding my ground. “You can’t just buy my clothes.”
“Why not?” he asks calmly, closing the distance between us, ignoring my obvious annoyance.
“Because you can’t, people don’t just buy other people a whole new wardrobe,” I say, uncrossing then re-crossing my arms, fidgeting beneath his unwavering gaze.
“I really couldn’t give a fuck what other people do. I wanted to do this, so I did,” he says, his expression intense, but calm.
“I have money,” I insist.
“I know, we all have money, more than we’ll ever need.”
“So I don’t need you to pay for my things.”
“I know that. But I’m still going to,” he says, reaching for me and pulling me to him. “The customary response to a gift is thank you.”
“Carson.”
His sigh is loud. “Priss, just say thank you, then kiss me.”
Wary, I stare at him for a long moment, trying to understand his motives, what he thinks this gift is going to get him, what game this is.
“Jesus,” he mutters, a second before he palms the back of my head and pulls my lips up to his.
Mom always taught me that every interaction with a boy had purpose, that I should use it to my advantage. A shy look here, a soft touch there. She promised me I could make them all fall in love with me, if I just learnt their weak spots. I know how to play with a guy, but always on my terms and it’s never more than a means of getting what I want.
Only all those things don’t apply to Carson, do they? The money is gone, he knows that, he helped me get out from beneath its burden, so what game is he playing?
Am I playing with him?
No.
How can I be manipulating him, when I literally have no idea what’s going on?
“Stop thinking,” Carson growls against my lips a second before he reclaims them, teasing me into losing myself to his touch like he does every time he’s near me.
Allowing myself to just give in, I enjoy him, enjoy the way his huge body makes me feel small and protected. I enjoy how he holds me tight against him, like he doesn’t want me to escape, and how when I’m in his arms I feel like it’s possible to just be me. Be who I am in this moment and not a product of my past, and that maybe, just maybe, I can forge a better future for myself.
When he pulls back, I reluctantly release my hold on him, not realizing that my fingers were clinging to him. “Thank you,” I whisper.
I feel his smile against my forehead when he presses a soft, barely there, kiss against me. “You’re welcome Priss.”
“I should go,” I tell him, not wanting to leave, but not wanting to overstay my welcome either.
“Or you could stay,” he says, pulling away until I’m looking up into his handsome face.
“I don’t understand? We already had sex,” I say, bewildered. Does he want to do it again? I mean I’m okay with that, but is that what he means.
“I love fucking you Priss, but that isn’t the only reason I want you to stay with me,” he says, his fingers gripping my chin, holding my face up when all I want to do is look away.
“Then why?”
A sadness fills his eyes and I instantly prickle, I don’t want his pity.
“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”
I shake my head.
“Ever had a guy friend?”
