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“You could be flirting with me and every other girl in or out of town. You say you’re waiting for your soul mate; that could be your pickup line for all I know ‘cause it worked on me.”
She dropped her eyes when she saw the hurt in his eyes, and then a blazing anger that had her jumping off the stool to back away from him.
“Don’t you dare try to run from me … ever.”
She froze in place at the threat in his voice.
“No matter how angry I get …” Matthew strode angrily toward her.
It was everything she could do not to run screaming at the top of her lungs. His friendly visage had been replaced with an extremely masculine one that had her trembling.
Reaching her, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. “I bought a fucking cow for you.”
“I know,” she said miserably.
“Shut up,” he ordered before continuing stonily. “Which serves no purpose on God’s sweet earth other than to eat and shit. There is no woman I would spend that kind of money on other than you. Ask me why, Alanna.”
“No.” She tried to shake her head, but his firm hand wouldn’t let her.
His face became stonier. “Ask me.”
She closed her eyes tightly, terrified, wanting to block the question out of her mind.
“I already know,” she barely whispered.
“Then tell me.”
“Because you think I’m your soul mate.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“But you don’t.”
She closed her eyes again, unable to maintain eye contact with him. “I’ve lost my perspective. I need to stay detached and not care about anyone. Especially you.”
“Why especially me?” The depths of his eyes searched her for a truth which was hard for her to admit.
“Because I don’t even know if I have a future to share with anyone until my court case is over. Besides, I don’t know what I’m feeling is …” She cut herself off and changed directions. “You’re a very physically attractive man who’s paying attention to me. It’s not like men are banging my door down. I like your family. I’ve always wanted to be part of a large family. You want ten children; did you forget telling me that? I can’t even give you one.” She gave one excuse after another to not have to explain how he was becoming the air she breathed.
“You’re innocent of the charges that have been brought about you. Diamond will prove that fact. The only reason men aren’t banging your door down is because men want a woman to light a fire in their balls, not freeze them off. I’m glad you like myfamily. I’d be more worried if you didn’t. My family and I are a package deal.” His furious expression began to lighten.
She was learning Matthew didn’t have it in him to be angry long. His temper would flare when he became angry then quickly went dormant, back under his control. He was the opposite of Owen, who would viciously attack when he became angry and wouldn’t be appeased until whatever had caused his anger lay broken and destroyed.
“We don’t need kids; they just make a mess, according to Greer. Or we can adopt.”
Her hand went to his wrist to remove it from her neck. “We’ve only known each other a few days; I think it’s too soon to discuss children.”
Slowly and methodically, he backed her into a dark corner until her back was against the wall. “You’re the one who brought kids up first. I’m not going to deny it nearly broke me when you said you can’t have children as if it’s no big thing. It is a big thing, and I’m sure, in the future, we’re going to cry about it a lot. I wanted to see your belly swell with my child, hold a baby only we could create, see you nursing our baby. Instead, I will get to see you holding our child, who we will pick out together, and watch as you feed him a bottle. The memories and love we will create don’t depend on whether our child shares our DNA.”
Every word he spoke sparked a fire in the part of her groin that she had assumed no one could make her burn for their touch. The man she had gone out with in her lone attempt to join the dating world had left her passionless and had her wanting to run and wash his taste from her lips.
Her hands were pressed against the wall behind her neck, where she had been trying to remove his. She quit trying now, hers going pliant. There was only one way to find out what she needed to know. Them being soul mates was an impossibility—they didn’t exist—and if they did, soul mates were made forother women, not her. Not a woman who had been born under a gray cloud.
“Kiss me, Matthew.”
Matthew dropped his eyes to her mouth. Alanna could have sworn she saw a flame behind his eyes before he covered her lips with his.
Instantaneous combustion had her knees buckling, and if Matthew’s body weren’t pressed against hers, she would have slipped to the floor. He moved his mouth over hers with the sensuality of man who had been wanting a taste of something inaccessible, and now that it was within his grasp, he was going to linger and savor.
