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“It doesn’t matter,” I say. “Look around. Do you see them here? You’re the one…” I inch away from him, disgusted with myself. “You almost had me.” I shake my head. “You almost had me.” I move to get off my bed, and he stops me with a hand on my thigh. “I’m not buying it,” I declare. He’s just another opportunist taking what he can get from me. His continued presence baffles me, but I’m sure there’s an agenda behind it. There has to be. He’s made it his mission to be the only man in my life purely for spite against his brothers.
He leans in, his knuckles brushing my cheek. “I know what you’re doing, and I don’t blame you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He forces my gaze to his, calling my bluff with a single look. But the fact that he knows me well enough to know I’ve checked out, irks me.
But if his confession has any truth to it, then he’s been trying to protect me. That’s why he didn’t tell his brothers. It wasn’t the fact that I was hidden; it was the fact that I was discovered.
The bastard now wants me to believe his black heart was filled with good intentions, despite the way he’s treated me.
“Question everything,” he says softly, reading my thoughts. “I don’t deserve your trust, either.”
“Now, that would be a miracle.”
He exhales, sliding his thumb along my bottom lip. “But you’re right. This is your decision. This card is yours, and it’s your highest one to play. I’ll respect your decision on however and whenever you decide to use it. I won’t fight you on it.”
“Are you forgetting something?”
He draws his brows.
“You’re the great continental divide. They’ve ceased to exist for me, Tobias.” My eyes narrow and I jerk away from his touch. “What are you not telling me?”
“A lot.”
“Get out.”
“I wish it were that simple.”
“It is. You stand, you walk out that door, and you don’t come back. And you cease to exist for me too.”
He leans in, making it impossible for me not to see him. “I wish I could. I would. I’d leave you here and never look back.”
“Then what’s stopping you?” I snap.
He swallows and stands, pulling me to my feet, and stupidly, I allow it. Tentatively, he trails his knuckles from the valley between my breasts down to the button of my shorts.
“Tobias,” I object, stopping his hands.
“Allow me this,” his eyes implore mine. “Please?”
A word I never thought would ring sincere coming from his lips. I remain silent, watching him with clear accusation as his expression remains earnest while he pushes the shorts past my thighs, and grips my hand to help me step out of them. Slowly, he lifts the hem of my shirt before easing it over my head and leans in pressing a kiss to my bare shoulder as he unclasps my bra, discarding it onto the growing pile on my floor. Bare in nothing but my simple cotton panties, I cross my arms over them thankful I opted for a tampon this morning, my cheeks heating before he gently pulls them apart, his eyes gliding down my body in an appreciative sweep.
My pulse kicks up as he retrieves the gown from the floor and lifts my arms before he pulls it down, the silk caressing me as it slides down my frame, where it hangs mid-thigh.
He steps back. “Exquise.”
I bite my lip as the atmosphere swirling around us thickens just before he plucks his wallet from his pants and tosses a few hundred dollars on the bed behind me. He sees the insult his action causes and palms me flush to his side, his thumb sliding along my hip when he speaks, his voice heated. “I didn’t know where you got the dress, so I couldn’t replace it. But the negligee felt like you. Soft,” he presses a kiss below my ear, “sensual,” and another, “delicate,” he pulls back to weigh my reaction before licking along my bottom lip, “beautiful.” He releases me and steps back, eyes searing me before he turns and leaves me staring after him, covered in silk, thoroughly seduced, and utterly perplexed.
I rinse a day of work away, opting to call Christy tomorrow. I don’t even know what to tell her at this point. I’ve been in a daze, just going through the motions since Tobias left me with his confession. Even Melinda has left me alone with my thoughts as I made it through my last few shifts on autopilot.
More and more, I’ve become attuned to my surroundings after my shifts at the plant, fearful at times despite those flanking me to get to their cars and back home. Even though I know I’m being watched, and am under Tobias’s protection, I sometimes get a sinking feeling. More and more, my dreams are becoming nightmares, and more often than not, sleep is starting to evade me. Whether it be guilt for the part I’m playing in my father’s downfall or the lover I’ve taken, or the scary truths that have been revealed to me, something is off.
I’m to the point where I trust nothing and no one.
I told Tobias he feared me as much as he hated me, but with the way he left me days ago, it’s clear he’s attempting to turn the t
ables and paint himself in a better image.
