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I lay the sarcasm on thick, annoyed with his insistence that I’m some kind of child who needs protecting from myself and this world when I’m already older than he was before he inherited the Barker Empire.
He shakes his head. “It has nothing to do with age, Beauty, and everything to do with the life I lead, with the things I’ve done and continue to have to do.” A little sigh falls from his lips, and he presses his thumb across mine gently. “I don’t want any of it to taint you.”
I chuckle and nip at him playfully, despite the seriousness of his tone. “Taint me?” The thought makes me tip my head back and give a true, real, deep laugh that sounds so foreign in this austere space that’s usually as silent as a tomb. “You’re still treating me like I’m some innocent virgin sent to be sacrificed to The Beast.”
The corner of his mouth quirks up slightly in the first true almost-smile I’ve seen from the man. “I think you proved you’re no virgin, but you were definitely sent as a sacrifice. And for that, no words are enough of an apology.” He brushes my hair back from my face, tucking it behind my ear. “But what I won’t do, what I refuse to do, is let you get hurt any more than you already have been. And that’s going to happen if I touch you again.” His thumb drifts across my lips again, and he presses the pad over the center. “No matter how much I might want to.”
I open my mouth, but the dark, hard look he gives me brooks no argument.
He’s made up his mind.
Firmly confirmed his decision.
No matter how ridiculous and stupid it may be.
His hard cock pressed between my legs may say one thing, but his words say another. He’s going to fight this pull and pulsating desire. He’s going to battle it tooth and nail until whatever the hell is going on with my father is resolved, and then he’s going to do whatever he can to get rid of me so he can go back to his life of misery and solitude on this mountain.
My frustration with him morphs into anger the longer I stare into his eyes, the feel of his strong, willing body beneath me. “Why don’t you just let me leave? My car is still parked out front. I’m sure you have the keys somewhere.”
His hand falls away from my face as if it burned him. He drops it onto the armrest and releases a sigh, resting his head against the leather chair back. “Because you leaving would cause even more trouble right now.”
“Because I’m your collateral.”
He considers my assessment for a moment, then nods slowly, though something flashes in his eyes that suggests he may not completely agree with the term. “Something like that. And if your father finds out that I touched you…”
There’s almost a question there.
A suggestion that I might somehow use what happened between us last night to further sow the seeds of discontent between Dad and the Barkers.
“You think I would tell my father? You think—Jesus…” I pull back slightly from him, shifting off his crotch. “You have some image of me, of the sweet daddy’s girl. Maybe because I work in a library, you think I’m some Goody Two-shoes.” I offer an annoyed sigh. “Yes, I’m a daddy’s girl because he’s all I have. My father has done everything for me my entire life, has sacrificed time, money, himself, to ensure I had everything he didn’t growing up. He’s a good father, and I did my best to follow his rules while I lived under his roof. But it doesn’t mean I follow everyone’s. Rules were meant to be broken, right?”
It’s meant to sound teasing, to lighten the dark, heavy mood that has settled over us, but Weston doesn’t give an inch. Not a smile. Not a grin. Not even a damn smirk.
“Not this one, Beauty.”
Exasperation finally takes over, all humor and hope of advancing my campaign vanishing.
I huff and cross my arms over my chest. “So, we’re going to go back to the way things were? You avoiding me. Eating here alone? Spending my days by myself in your library, having to imagine you pinning me against that bookcase and fucking me every single time I’m there?”
Maybe it was a low blow, and he does flinch in a way that brings a small bloom of pride to my chest.
He presses his lips together as he tilts his head to the side, squeezing his eyes shut. “Don’t talk like that.”
“Why not?”
It takes him a moment to react, and when he opens his eyes again, they blaze hotter than the fucking sun and his hard cock twitches.
Because I can get to him that way.
Because he knows he won’t be able to stay away if he has to think about being with me constantly.
I slide backward off his legs and stand. “If that’s really the way you want it…”
He scowls. “It’s the way it has to be.”
Nodding, I slip from between his legs and make my way back over to my plate. I snag a strawberry from the remaining tray of fruit and put it in my mouth, sucking on it slightly before I bite through the end to remove the stem.
He watches my every move, his eyes raking over me and zeroing in on my mouth as I chew and swallow.
