Ghosts & Liars (The Impossible Julian Strande, #2)

by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

He delighted in her fear as much as he delighted in being the one to soothe it.

“You cock-sucking, donkey-fucking, giant piece of trash!” She tackled him to the ground, pinning him there, and poised her fist over her head, ready to pound him into a pulp. Except he was laughing. He was lying there looking up at her, cackling with glee in his eyes. His hands were resting on her thighs, and he was squeezing them. He made no move to stop her. “What’s so funny?” “Nothing. I’m not laughing at you. I’m delighted.” “Why? Nothing about this is okay!” “I know. Go ahead. Punch me. Hit me all you want. I deserve it. I want it. Make me pay.” No. That’d be too easy. That meant he’d be getting away with it. She snarled and climbed off him, moving to sit with her back against the bed again. “I thought—I was so worried about—you monster.” “I know. You were resisting me so beautifully.”

She didn’t know how she could forgive him. But she also didn’t know how to leave him.

He’d invite her wrath. She could hit him as much as she wanted to. Anything if it meant she wouldn’t leave him. She couldn’t ever leave him. He’d see to that.