Page 15 of Traps and Gretchen

She snapped her face back to him and that killer fury burned in her dark gaze. “You did. And youhateher.”

“You are wrong,” he assured. “The only thing I hated about her was that she never gave me a chance once she found out about the Fate Dice.”

Her brows drew together more somehow, her chest heaving with whatever brewed in her. “It wasn’t the Fate Dice that broke me.”

He captured her jaw when her lower lip trembled and kissed her. The expected resistance and fight never happened as she fought to taste him, sounding starved. Their breaths and tongues clashed as they feasted on one another while her last words niggled in his mind. He pulled back before he lost the dangling string that might unravel his biggest knot. “What broke you Ma Petite Fyoo-rie?”

She stared at his mouth, both of them winded from their kiss. “Because…” She closed her eyes. “I was jealous.”

Even without context, his cock liked that word coming from her but then the mystery of who or what she could be jealous of returned. “Of my ropes? Is that why you hid them?” He honestly couldn’t imagine anything else in his life she might be jealous of.

“No, of… thatstupidwoman I pretended to be.” She stared at him and turned her head away again. “Where is the woman I met on our date?” she reminded, her tiny voice melting his insides. And as he realized what she meant, he couldn’t stop his laughter. She flung her furious face back at him and he kissed her. “I’m laughing in joy,” he swore, wrestling her mouth back to his. He kissed her, loving how quickly she forgave him. “Youwere jealous of the woman you pretended to be, Ma Belle Fyoo-rie?”

“Yes,” she gasped as she leaned up to taste him. “I hated her with all my heart.”

“I want ma Fyoo-rie,” he swore hotly on her mouth. “No other.” He slid his hand under her head, gripping her ponytail and controlling her and the kiss. “You understand?”

“But… I’m—”

“Perfect,” he said, kissing her at a new angle.

“But I’m not witty and easy,” she moaned. “I’m not mannered or confident or secure or stable,” she gasped right in his mouth.

“Thank fuck,” he groaned, tugging her lip between his teeth, getting hungrier for her with every confession.

“Why, why is that good? God you’re an amazing kisser.”

He finally eased her head back to the bed, staring into her face. “You are not the only one who pretends, Fyoo-rie.”

Her delicate brows tugged together. “What? Why would you need to pretend, you’re… you’re amazing and strong and so… beautiful.Everybodyloves you.”

He laughed at her cute criteria while his cock found it insanely arousing. “But is it reallymethat they love or the man I choose to show them?”

Her worry grew for him and the sight of such a thing touched him in his deepest parts. “Who are you hiding? And from who?”

He lay on his back next to her, laughing. He turned his head, and their gazes met till they burned as one. “I’m hiding the parts of me I don’t want to share with the world.”

This further astonished her. “Even your brothers? The Twelve?”

“Especially them,” he assured, leaning in and kissing her. “Ma Belle Fyoo-rie’s mouth is very cute when in shock.”

“Oh no,” she gasped lightly.

He drew his head back, smiling at the look of horror on her face.

“You probably will never feel safe to show me who you really are now.”

“You just told me you pretend to be somebody you’re not and I just told you I do the same. We are married in this.”

Her brow slowly softened as her gaze became fixated on his mouth. “Youaresafe with me. Even when I pretend. There is no persona that wouldn’t accept the real you. Wouldn’t adore the real you.” She lifted her head a little, going serious again. “Can you tell me? About the real you?”

“I thought I was,” he said, smiling, regarding the ties at her chest. He reached over and slid his fingers very slowly over her breast. Her arousal spiked with gasps and tiny moans. “You are the first woman I have ever used my ropes on like this.”

“Tell me,” she whispered. “Why do you love ropes so much? Wait,” she hurried. “You should know… that I was jealous of those too and that’s why I hid them. That person you call… Fyoo-rie, I don’t know if she’s me, the real me, but I think she is,” she said, worried. “She’s jealous of everything you like because she wantsallof your affections. What kind of mother would this make me? Think of it!” she demanded when he couldn’t hold back his smile about it. “Jealous of inanimate objects, Neelo. That’s what unstable people do,” she assured heatedly. “And I wanted to hurt you back for not wanting me as much as I wanted you while knowing you had no idea who I even was because I was hiding it, lying about it and even still I was angry with you. I did want you to make me leave, divorce me, because I hated you for… stealing everything from me. Everybitof me, but most of all I hated you for loving the fake pieces I hid behind because I’m too weak and scared to even figure out who I am, to even care if she exists.”

“Fyoo-rie,” he whispered, kissing her trembling lips again, her confessions unravelling every knot she’d put in him. “I have a question for you.”

“What?” she barely peeped. “Did you know even the things I know belong to a pretend person? Some call it a gift to be able to recall facts but really, it’s not me recalling them at all, it’s another person I pretend to be because the real me is like the scarecrow on the Wizard of Oz and even the tin man and the lion. I have no brain, no heart, and no courage. I’m not even Dorothy because I don’t have a home to go back to because even they think I’m somebody I’m not.”

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