Keep Me (Sinful Manor, #1)

by Sara Cate

“You’re unhinged,” he mutters as he faces forward and stares in shock. “People tried to warn me that you’re a loose cannon, but I figured that would mean you’re fun and unpredictable. I didn’t think they meant it in a criminal way.”

I’m working on a theory that if I just ignore literally everything in my life, then the universe will just work itself out.

I had never met a more infuriating and bold woman in all of my life.

Sylvie is infuriating and stubborn. I may hate her personality, but her beauty remains, and my cock doesn’t care much about personality.

I don’t understand these feelings for Sylvie. This hate-fueled desire. This need to own her, dominate her, force her to submit, make her mine. I don’t want her. I don’t care about her. I just need her.

It’s like a game. One insult is traded for another until we’re both satisfied.

I don’t understand if things went right or things went wrong. I just know that wherever this woman is concerned, I’m often more confused than not.

When our arguments grow particularly intense, it’s hard to tell what is hate and what is passion.

Fucking my husband would be a terrible idea.

if I didn’t hate him so much, I might actually like him.

“You’re all bark and no bite, my wee wife.” “Oh, I’ll bite,” I reply with fuming anger.

“Let me see it again, darling. You come so pretty.”

I love the feel of his body against mine. I love the way he quiets my anxious mind. And I hate how much I love it.

“I don’t know what’s going through your head, but you’re out of your mind if you think all of this has been pretending. Even when we’re alone. You are my wife, Sylvie. At the end of this year, you can try to leave, and if you piss me off enough, I might let you go. But I have a feeling you won’t. Because I don’t mean nothing to you, and you know it.”

“You can believe whatever you want, Killian Barclay, but just because I let you touch me doesn’t make me yours. I’m nobody’s wife.”

He can have my body for now, but I refuse to let my husband have my heart.

Sylvie is willful and stubborn. For every smile she gives me, she scowls ten times as much. I’ve never met someone so hardheaded and desperate to show her disdain.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love fighting with my wife. I enjoy how easily I can push her buttons, and doing so has quickly turned into my favorite thing to do.

Affectionately, I brush back her hair. Staring at her like this makes me feel as if my heart is suddenly outside my own body. How could she possibly understand the hold she has on me?

I just want her body in my hands at all times. I crave her against my body and my lips on her every second of my day.

If I could have anything for my birthday, it would just be a typical day at home with my wife. Or perhaps her admitting to me that she actually gives a fuck about me. I’d like that too.

It’s such a strange feeling to fall in love with someone you don’t intend to. It’s like being coerced or tricked. Everything that reminded me of what it was like to despise her is gone. Wiped from my memory forever.

Sylvie lives as if she doesn’t owe anyone in the world an explanation or an apology. She doesn’t belong to anyone—not even me. At least not in that way. Sylvie is fearlessly herself. And I love that about her.

“So, no one else loves you. Big deal. But I’m here, mo ghràidh. And I am telling you that I will love you enough to make up for all of them. I will keep you, and you can trust me that no matter what you do, I won’t let you go. Because you’re mine, understand me?”

“We’re all a mess, but the trick is to find someone who thinks your mess is a masterpiece.

He took the ugliest parts of me and loved them right along with the beautiful ones. He let me scream and cry and held me afterward like I was the most important person in his life.

I just know that if Killian loses it, then I’m lost. He holds us together. He’s our strength, our force, the thing that keeps us together. Without him, I have nothing.

You once broke into this house. You moved across the world to marry a complete stranger. You turned my entire world upside down, mo ghràidh. You can do just about anything.”

If this is what missing someone feels like, I wish I had never fallen in love with him at all.

Thank you for the best year of my life. I hope when you get married for real, your real husband won’t be afraid to fight with you because you are never more beautiful than when you stick up for yourself. Don’t lose that.

“Just because I can do it without you doesn’t mean I want to.”

“I will always wait for you.”