Page 161 of Bitter Secrets

For a moment, she was stunned speechless, and then she stomped his foot with her boot. His face contorted and he staggered back. She tried to put distance between them, but he held on, which got him three kicks to his shin.

“You egotistical, conniving, cold-blooded fuck face—Oof.”

Her rant ended on a grunt as he tossed her over his shoulder and strode out of the room.

“You think that if I had an inkling of where this would lead, I would have gone up to you that night? If I had the radar I have now, I would have run in the opposite direction!”

“I never forced you. You could have put a stop to it at any time.”

That truth made her thrash so wildly that he staggered.

“I didn’t know you were a psychopath! You only showed me what you wanted me to see! You had no right to rip my world apart and tear my life to shreds—”

She screamed as he tipped her off his shoulder. She fell through empty air and landed on her back with enough force that she lay there, stunned, for a few seconds.

“Your life wasn’t the only one that was destroyed,” he said as he undid what was left of his shirt buttons. “A decade of work destroyed in a matter of weeks. I had plans—"

“Did I ask you to change your precious plans?” she spat as she sat up in bed. “You should have stayed away from me!”

“No fucking way.”

It wasn’t until he reached for his belt that she registered where they were and what he intended.

“If you think I’m going to let you…”

She didn’t finish. She’d never moved so fast, but it wasn’t enough to evade him. He grabbed her leg and hauled her to the edge of the bed, where he flipped her with the same ease that he would a piece of luggage. Over his manhandling, she reared up to blast him and found her face clasped between two rough palms before his mouth crashed down on hers. She fought him, nails digging into his bare stomach, teeth trying to bite, but he made sure to control her jaw so she couldn’t hurt him and took what he wanted from her.

“Roth!”

Her scream was laced with fury. He raised his head and examined her flushed face. Bizarrely, he smiled.

“You son of a—"

He stole her curse with another rough kiss before he tipped her head back so she couldn’t avoid his fevered gaze.

“I’ve imagined this for five years.”

His voice reverberated with some emotion she couldn’t define.

“I never knew how or when; I just knew it would have to, by any means necessary.”

“You—"

“Don’t,” he said against her lips. “Let me get this out.”

Dizzy, lips throbbing, and freaked out, she eyed him warily as he straightened. The sides of his shirt flapped open, showing off his abdomen. His belt was undone. So was the top button of his slacks. If she leaned forward…

He cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his unblinking gaze.

“I thought I knew what I wanted out of life, but you changed everything.”

She looked away, but another kiss, this one so tender that her eyes brimmed with tears, forced her gaze back to his.

“You reached out to me, a man who thought he was beyond help. My accomplishments were impressive, but nowhere near your family’s standards. You were brave, artless, and desperate for acceptance. You should have been locked up for safekeeping. Lucky for me, Maximus was careless and arrogant. He thought no one would dare cross him.” He captured a stray tear with his tongue. “Your father wanted you to prove your worth to him, while I would have given all I had to have you as you are. And I did.”

She braced her hand against his stomach and pushed. He didn’t move, but she felt his muscles contract.

“I tried to convince myself it was all in my head, that you couldn’t be as good as I remember, and then I fucked you in Colorado. Nothing compares. Why is that?”

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