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She shook her head. “This kind of fear is different. I’m afraid of how you make me feel. I shouldn’t want any of this.”
“Stop listening to all those voices in your head,” he said. “They don’t know what they’re talking about.” He smiled at her, and she swore she fell in love just a bit.
“Do you want to come upstairs and take a shower?” he asked. Only then did she realize she was holding his forearm with both hands. She gasped and dropped her arms, tears instantly pooling in her eyes.
“I’m sorry.” She felt so embarrassed. Lori was a mess, a needy, pathetic mess.
“It’s okay, baby girl. I’m yours. Don’t be shy with me.”
He pulled a key from his pocket, and then squatted down to release her ankle bond. Chains rubbed the skin, even though he’d wrapped the anklet in soft fabric. She loved the feel of his rough hands on her skin. He forever moved slowly, deliberately. It was almost hypnotic. As he rose, he braced both hands on the mattress on either side of her. His shoulders were broad, his biceps bulging with toned muscle. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. His face was so close to hers, his masculine signature enveloping her. She’d never craved anything more at that moment than his kiss. Maybe more.
Lori had never been intimate with a man. Considering the neighborhood she grew up in, she counted her virginity a triumph. There was no way she’d end up a baby-making machine like her mother. Chains had gotten under her skin. He was protective yet dangerous.
Chains brushed his lips against hers, slow and tender. “Dreams aren’t all they’re cracked up to be,” he whispered. “You were right, Lori. You can’t make someone love you.”
Then he stood up, pulling away emotionally and physically. She wanted to scream for him to love her, to kiss her, anything. “I thought you weren’t looking for love.”
He held out his hand to help her up to her feet. She didn’t hesitate.
Chapter Five
Chains liked her ass. Watching her walk ahead of him, he admired the rounded curves that called for a man to grab hold of. Lori really was a dream, and for him, she was his prize.
“Turn left,” he said.
“You can’t keep me here forever.”
He was growing tired of her thinking that there was a chance of her leaving. It wasn’t going to happen. He’d even fight Boss for the right to keep her. Everything else he’d given up in life because there hadn’t been anything worth keeping. When it came to Lori, she made him want to fight.
She was the first person he’d known that didn’t make him want to kill, but to actually protect. All of his instincts wanted to guard her, and to keep her from harm.
Now that shit scared him.
Lori looked back at him. “Are you not going to answer me?”
“I don’t know if I like you having a bit of sass or not.” He moved his finger in a circle, telling her to turn back around. She did so with a huff, but he saw the spring in her step. Lori may not like it, but being with him, it had given her confidence, even though it had only been a week. They entered the main bedroom, and he waited as she admired the room once again. She seemed to really like his bedroom, which again satisfied him. He wanted to please her, to find everything that her heart wanted.
The truth was, he wanted her to want for nothing, and the only way to do that, was to give her everything.
“It’s so big.”
“I’ve heard that a lot of the time as well,” he said, trying to ease the mood and crack a joke.
She looked over her shoulder at him. “I bet you say that to all of the women.”
“Nope, just the ones I want to impress.”
She crossed her arms, and turned toward him.
“I can show you if you want,” he teased.
“No, that’s fine. I just want the shower.”
“Can I tempt you with a bath?” He brushed past her after shutting his bedroom door. Chains wondered if she’d make a run for it, but she didn’t. She didn’t even look toward the door, instead, following him as he picked up one of the many bath salts he’d purchased just for her.
“Are they laced with poison?” she asked.
He narrowed his eyes in insult. “No. They’re designed to help you relax, to chill the fuck out. I’m not going to poison you.” He stepped up close to her, running a finger down her neck, stroking over her pulse. “I have many ways I like to end people, and poison I consider to be quite dull.”
