Page 72 of Savage Vicious Heir: Part Two

“Later,” he says, and a pang of disappointment goes through me.

Everything has been so romantic but I’m restless. My skin feels too tight and the butterflies in my stomach haven’t stopped fluttering.

The truth is, I want… more.

But aside from the toe-curling kiss when Lauren left us, he’s barely touched me.

I guess part of me thought—hoped—Elliot would get me alone and be unable to keep his hands off me.

Maybe I should have worn something sexier. Something a little more risqué.

Maybe I should have tried harder to be like Lauren.

Old insecurities rise inside me, and I shrink into my chair, suddenly finding the last few florets of broccoli on my plate far more interesting than they are.

“Abi, what’s wrong?” Elliot’s commanding voice coaxes me to lift my eyes and I give him a small listless smile.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t do that,” he says. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not.”

“You think I don’t know when you’re freaking out about something.” His eyes turn stormy, their intensity sucking the air right out of my lungs.

“Fine.” I let out a small, resigned sigh and place down my cutlery. “I was disappointed just now.”

“Disappointed, what are you— Oh.” Something flickers in his hard gaze, but he doesn’t acknowledge it.

“See, now I’ve made it awkward.”

“I want you to be honest with me, Abi,” he says. “If this is going to work, we have to trust each other. If something isn’t working for you, you need to tell me.”

I tilt my head slightly. “And you’ll do the same?”

Elliot gives me an imperceptible nod. “But I should warn you, I’m not used to this,” he admits.

Before I can ask what he means, he adds, “I don’t want to fuck things up again and I don’t want to rush you into something you’re not ready for.”

“You won’t.” The words spill out before I can stop them.

He gives me a self-deprecating smile. “We both know it’s not that simple. Part of me still wants to tell you to run and never look back.”

“And the other part?” My breath catches.

The way he looks at me does things to me.

Dark depraved things that I still don’t quite understand.

But I’m way past thinking rationally when it comes to this boy.

Still, his silence does little to ease the knot in my stomach.

“You don’t have to treat me like some shy, innocent girl, you know,” I hedge.

“That’s not what I’m doing.” He scrubs his jaw and I see a flicker of exasperation in his eyes. “I’m trying to be a gentleman.”

“And if I don’t want Elliot the gentleman? What then?”

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