More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“You caused pain before and after your death. If I could kill you again, I would.”
Reaching out, I trail my fingers over the lily that Miss Green held so tightly, the soft texture how I imagine her skin would feel. I pick it up and press my lips to the petal where she did moments ago, inhaling deeply. The fragrance of the bloom fills my nostrils, along with the scent of the woman who now invades my thoughts.
I believe that people have different facets to their personality. But I never would’ve guessed that Mr. Bennett, the prosecuting attorney who tried to imprison my father, would be the same man who also possessed a degree of chivalry.
“My father never killed his secretary and was found innocent of all charges,” I say, my words rushing from me, tripping over each other in my haste to convince Harper. “I swear on everything, he was a good man.”
“No, she will not have a job here. No, you will not hire her. If you do, then I will burn this motherfucker to the ground. With you inside.”
Today was a prime example. I threatened to kill a man in public, for fuck’s sake. Despite the connections I have with the police and others who’d “handle” this situation, the attorney in me couldn’t believe I acted so rashly. However, the man in me, the primal side that I keep concealed from the world? It didn’t give a fuck. Someone, another man no less, threatened what belongs to me.
If her alibi was real, then I killed an innocent man. “Fucking damn it!”
“Is that happiness on your face because of a man?” When I shake my head, Harper slaps her forehead. “Don’t tell me it’s because of the sanitizer.”
His eyes are glimmering with violence, and his body is taut with rage. I’ve never seen anything this magnificent, so fierce and primal.
“Apologize to Miss Green for putting your filthy hands on her. Then apologize to me for touching what’s mine.”
“You need me. Not this fucking job or anything else,” he says. “Now, get in the car before I carry you.” “Please, just wait a second. I need to think.” “I’ve already thought about it. In fact, I’ve thought of nothing else.”
“Give me your address, or we’ll go to mine,” he says. “Either way, you’re coming with me.”
After a few keystrokes, the inside of Calista’s apartment appears, the cameras allowing me to watch her closely. I installed them the same day I found out about her hiring that private investigator.
“Dreaming of me?” I whisper. “You better fucking be.”
As your karate master, I want you to contact Mr. I-want-to-sit-on-your-face Bennett. Like right freaking now.”
“She is a person of great interest to me and should be shown the ultimate respect at all times. Whenever she requests to speak to me, you will contact me immediately and put all of my other plans on hold. There’s nothing and no one more important than her. Understood?”
His dark beauty stares back at me like Lucifer before he fell from grace.
“Here’s your order. I hope you get run over by a bus on your way out.”
“If I’m her brother, then the things I want to do to her are beyond incestuous.” “I told you!” Harper hisses in my ear, clutching my arm.
“You belong with me. To me.” He brings his face so close to mine that the tips of our noses brush one another. “You can fight it all you want, but we both know it’s pointless. What’s happening between us is inevitable, and I’ll do everything within my power to get you to accept it.”
“It might not be healthy or what’s considered normal.” He releases my chin to slide his hand in my hair, tangling his fingers in the strands to hold me immobile. “But I don’t want normal if it means I can’t have you.”
“Never,” he says, the sound guttural and deep, as if summoned from the depths of his soul. “Do you hear me, Callie? I’ll never leave you. Not in this life or whatever comes after. You are mine. And I will burn this world to fucking ashes before I let anything take you from me. Or me from you.”
“Keeping me means surviving you.” His brows snap together. “Explain.” “If I give myself to you—” “When,” he interjects. I glare up at him, but it lacks any real heat. “If I give myself to you, you’ll break me into pieces so small I won’t be able to put myself back together or make myself whole.” “I’ll fuse your broken pieces with mine. Together, we’ll be whole, Callie.”
“Sleep now,” he says. “What about you?” He squeezes his eyes shut as though in pain. “I need to leave you alone right now, or I’ll break my promise to you.” “Will you come back?” His eyelids lift and he gazes at me with such tenderness that I nearly sigh. “I will always come back to you, Callie.”
“I’ve never felt this loss of control, this all-consuming need for someone.” His hand flexes against my hip, a sense of urgency in his fingertips. “I can’t let you go now that you’re here. If I did, it’d be like removing my lungs. I wouldn’t fucking survive it.”
“Yes,” I say softly. “What?” “I’m saying yes.” “To marriage?” When I shake my head, he jerks back. “Then what?” “I’m saying yes to you, Hayden.” His brows snap together. “What about my conditions?” “I don’t care about proposals, a seventy-two-hour waiting period, or marriage. I don’t care about the physical or monetary things you can give me, but if that’s what you want, then I’ll find a way to accept it. I’ve used everything as an excuse because I was scared, but I’m putting off the inevitable. All I want is you. So, yes.”
