Page 62 of Sinfully His

“You do. You are mine, angel.” He took another step toward me, and I whipped the blanket off of my body, not feeling the cold, threw it at him, turned, and ran.

I raced down the sloping grass, trying not to trip over my Louis Vuittons, that I only even put on because my feet were cold and I didn’t pack slippers.

The stiletto heels were slowing me down, but despite there being no snow on the ground, it was still a bitter, frosty night. Going barefoot was not an option.

“Rose, get back here,” he called, and I could hear the anger in his voice pushing me to run further, to run faster.

My lungs burned and my ankles struggled to keep upright in the heels, but I wasn’t about to turn back.

The hedge maze was barren, dead leaves crunching under every single step, but the dense twigs still provided some coverage. Surely, I could find somewhere in there to hide, orat the very least, it would slow him down and stop him from catching me. My hair was being whipped around by the frigid wind, getting in my eyes, making it that much harder for me to run.

“Rose,” he yelled again. His voice sounding closer.

No, I couldn’t let him catch me. There was no telling what he would do if he caught me.

I ran harder and when I looked back to see if he was behind me, my ankle twisted out from under me, and I went crashing to the ground with a scream.

“Rose!” he yelled again. This time there wasn’t anger in his voice, but fear.

I clamped my lips shut, trying to quiet the whimpering that was coming from my lips as I tried to move my ankle. With every movement, a sharp spike of pain shot up my leg and tears burned behind my eyes.

There was no way that I was going to run like this. I couldn’t get away. It was only a matter of time before he found me.

“Rose,” he said as he turned the corner and found me sprawled on the cold ground. “What did you do, you silly woman?” He knelt down at my side and picked up my shoe that now had the heel hanging off of it.

“Fuck,” he swore under his breath. Then he turned to face me. “Come on,” he said, offering me his hand. “It’s too dark for me to see anything out here. Let’s get you inside where it’s warm and then we’ll get you taken care of.”

“No,” I said.

“Rose, I won’t leave you out here to freeze to death.”

“Get away from me.” I tried to push him away. He only rolled his eyes, shoved away my flailing arms, and then slid one of his hands under my knees and the other behind my back. He lifted me like I weighed nothing and carried me back into the house.

“I said I don’t want your help.”

“And I told you I’m not letting you freeze to death out there. You are mine, angel. Mine to keep, mine to punish, mine to pleasure, mine to protect, and mine to care for.”

“What if I told you I didn’t want to be yours?”

“Then I would call you a liar,” he said as we approached the house. A painting I had done of him, the one of him shirtless, his abs on full display, with only his cross on his body, could be clearly seen through the living room window.

Fuck.

CHAPTER 26

THOMAS

“Where is your bedroom?” I asked.

My little angel was testing my last thread of patience. First, she left the city without permission, without even telling me where she was going, and then she tried to run from me in the dark, wearing ridiculous shoes.

Didn’t she understand what could have happened to her? She only fell and twisted her ankle, but it could have been so much worse. What if I wasn’t able to catch up with her, and didn’t find her in that maze? What if she had fallen and hit her head instead of just twisting her ankle?

And why the hell was she running from me in the first place, without even a coat? I knew she had had a few glasses of wine, that was clear enough, but she wasn’t inebriated to the point of using that as an excuse for her foolish behavior.

“Where is your bedroom?” I asked again, raising my voice and tightening the grip I had on her body.

“I won’t tell you. Put me down and leave.”

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