Page 47 of Provoke You

“And?”

“I’m staying.” He shrugged as if this wasn’t a big deal.

“I dragged you into this. I knew it could get complicated.”

“I knew too.”

“Knew what?”

“About you two.” He waved his hand in the general direction of the stairwell where Ela’s vanilla scent still lingered. “I don’t know. The air gets thick when you two are in the same room.” He took another handful of scones and headed for the room in the back of the house, leaving me feeling like a complete idiot.

From the beginning, it’d been so hard not to have feelings for Ela, to keep her at a distance. What was I thinking?

I stuffed a hand in my pocket and fished Ben’s note out. Glaring at the numbers on it was not helpful, but it made me feel as if I were working on a solution rather than idly sitting in the kitchen, thinking about whether Ela was sleeping in her room or wide awake.

The scream from upstairs made me jerk to my feet. Kitt ran into the kitchen and waited for me to issue an order. “I’ll go check it out. She’s having a hard time with all this.”

He nodded. “I’ll do a perimeter check.”

Ela yelped again, and I rushed up the steps. I knocked once on her door and then went inside. She was in her bed, her face against the pillow. I sat next to her and spoke softly without touching her. “Ela. You’re having a nightmare. Wake up.”

She kicked her sheets off her and sat up. Her chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath and figure out where she was. I wrapped my fingers around her shoulders and made her focus on my face. “You’re safe.”

“You’re still here.” She gripped the front of my shirt and nested her head in the nook between my neck and shoulder. “I forgot to leave the light on.”

I reached over to the nightstand and flipped the lamp switch. “Go back to sleep. I’ll stay here with you.”

She relaxed against the headboard but didn’t close her eyes. After a while, she turned and punched the pillow. “Why didn’t you tell Dad exactly what you saw at the lake? I know he didn’t believe me.”

“Because I didn’t want him to know that I agreed with you. This whole thing got started when he made the Baroness deal. Something isn’t right. I can’t tell if he knows that or not. But either way, it’s better if he doesn’t know I’m on your side.”

She smiled. “Thank you. I’ve spent so much time trying to get him to see things my way, I didn’t even think about strategizing. I need to let go of that.”

“He doesn’t deserve a daughter like you.”

“Like what?” She combed her fingers through her hair.

For several minutes we sat still, our breaths colliding in front of us. I felt the pull from the raw charge in the room way before she touched me. She ran a hand up from my stomach to the knot in my tie.

The sheet fell off her shoulders when she shifted her body to sit on her ankles. Her idea of pajamas was a very translucent tank top and silky short shorts. In all the days we’d spent in the same room, I never took a peek. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t. It felt wrong.

But now things were different, and I couldn’t look away. The pink in the apple of her cheeks turned a bright red. In contrast, her nipples poking through the fabric of her top looked much darker. It drove me insane to know she wanted me. God knew she’d never tried to hide how she felt about me.

“Take off your clothes.” Her tone was silk and velvet.

“Ela.” My voice sounded strained and defeated. I didn’t want to fight her anymore. I just wanted her.

“Don’t push me away.” She pulled on my tie to bring me closer to her and kissed my neck while she unraveled the knot. The buttons on my shirt were next, and in one swift push, she removed it all: the jacket, the shirt, and the tie. She sat back as her gaze roamed from my face down to my crotch. Everything she did was meant to provoke me. “I’ve been dying to do that.” Her hands were warm and soft as they covered every inch of me.

“Is that what we’re doing now?” I wrapped my fingers around her wrist. “Are we doing what we want?”

Her lips parted as she watched my hand slide down her arm and capture her breast. “Yes.” She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to my shoulder.

I’d spent so long containing this desire for her I was afraid to let go. To let myself want her like this.

“If you don’t touch me, I’m going to explode,” she whispered against my skin. Her cool tongue drew a line across the tattoo on my chest bone, and I squeezed her harder. Her nipple hardened in my grip and made my mouth water.

“You’re so goddamn beautiful.”

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