Page 25 of About Time

Her lips twist. “That’s it? You didn’t like me talking to another guy?”

I exhale. It’s harder than I thought it would be to tell her I’m developing actual feelings for her. “Don’t you get it? I felt possessive of your attention. It’s not just your body that I want. Although, I do love playing with you, and I still want you to be my toy, but only in the bedroom.” I look around the room. “Or, any room, but only during sex. I want the rest of your time too. Dinners, movies, walks?—”

“On the beach?” she says with a giggle. “Are you saying that you want to take me out on a date?”

I roll my eyes. “I’m saying that I want you to be mine, completely. You can call it whatever you want. Call me yourboyfriend if that feels right for you. I don’t care what we call it as long as you don’t leave in the middle of the night anymore.”

Her mouth falls open wide, and I don’t think it is because she’s overcome by my romantic gesture.

“Y…you,” she stammers then inhales deeply then tries again. “You make it sound like I snuck out in the middle of the night. You. Told. Me. To. Leave.”

I slip my arm around her waist and pull her flush against my body. “Everyone knows I’m a bit of an idiot. I thought that if I kept you at arm’s length I could protect myself.”

Her eyebrows scrunch together, and a crease forms between her eyes. “What do you need to protect yourself from?”

The corner of my mouth pulls up, and I bring my free hand up to smooth out the worry line between her eyes. I want to kiss her so badly, but this conversation needs to happen first. “Can’t you see? I know what this is for you. I’m a story you’ll tell your friends someday. I’m not the guy who gets to keep you. This town is who I am, and you are meant for so much more than this place. Way more than a grease monkey like me can give you.”

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “Charlie, I can get myself material things. That’s never been important to me anyway. No other guy can give me you. That’s all I want, but I want the real you.”

“Do you know what you’re asking for?” My voice is gravelly and low. She’s turning me into a beast. I’m probably seconds away from growling at her.

I really wanted to give her sweet. Lay her down and make love to her slowly and tenderly and all that shit, but if she wants me, that’s not what she’s going to get. All of my edges are rough.

“You deserve romance and lovemaking,” I tell her. My words say one thing, but my fingers thread through her hair and move her head to face up at me. Hattie is naturally submissive, and hereyes tend to drop down to my chest or feet. Of course, it could be nerves, but I don’t think so.

Her tongue swipes across her bottom lip, drawing my attention to her mouth. My hand tightens in her hair, and I nearly lose control and devour her here and now. “Do you have something to say, Doll?”

That nickname drains the tension out of her, and she’s instantly my toy. But that’s why I haven’t taken her already. I need her to understand that just because I treat her like a cumslut doesn’t mean she’s not also rapidly becoming the center of my world.

Hattie swallows. “I don’t want someone else’s idea of romance. Let the other girls get the roses, I want your thorns.”

The smile that spreads across my face feels obscene. It hints at the things I plan to do to this woman. Only this time I’m going to let myself hold her close afterwards rather than push her away.

“You should have told me that you wanted gentle. I need you to remember that I care a lot about you because right now I want to fuck you like I hate you. It’s an odd feeling, but I can’t easily wipe away the frustration I felt watching you talk to that dumb fuck all night.”

“He was actually a pretty nice guy,” she starts to defend him.

My eyes narrow. That was probably the worst thing she could have said if she wanted a softer version of me. She must really want my thorns after all.

“Those aren’t the words I want to hear coming out of this pretty mouth.”

With my thumb, I smear her lipstick on her face. It’s a natural looking pink, and I wonder what she’d look like with red lipstick smeared off her lips, drool sliding down her face while her mouth is stuffed with my cock, and her hair a tangled mess from me using it to fuck her face. I want to see tears streak down her face as she fights her gag reflex to take me into her throat.

“I think I need to find a way to keep your mouth busy so you can’t say anything else to piss me off.”

My eyes slide down her body. The coldness is present in my demeanor, but inside I burn for her. Hopefully, she knows that, but there will be time afterward to shower her with affection. Now it’s time to play with my favorite toy.

I let go of her hair and step back. “Undress down to your bra and underwear.”

Hattie nods her head and I make a tsking sound. “What do you say, toy?”

“Yes, Sir,” she says softly.

I fight the smile I can feel threatening to spread and force my outward expression into a commanding sternness. It’s hard not to react watching her unveil her beautiful body, but outwardly I give her a bored look.

If she wasn’t built for me, and I her, I don’t think there’s such a thing as having another half. I don’t know if our souls are halves of a whole or any fluffy bullshit, but I do know that her kink matches mine. Hattie gets off on being used, treated like a toy, and degraded. Not harshly, but she does enjoy some dirty names. Which is all perfect for me, because I love playing with her, slipping into the fantasy that she’s a possession.

I jerk my chin up. “Get on your knees.”

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