Page 13 of Stalking the Bride

With a single movement, he yanks his T-shirt off and tosses it aside, revealing more muscles than I can count. A sculpted physique most men would die for. Each subtle movement he makes is reflected in the countless cuts and striations that adorn his figure. His eyes search my body, reflecting countless emotions that I wish I could decipher all at once.

“When Fitch sees you naked, Belle…” His voice trails off, his eyes losing focus. Then, like an invisible force has hit him, he gasps deeply and runs his tongue across his lower lip. “He’ll be shell-shocked by just how sexy you are.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.” He nods, pressing his staff against my slippery center. My bud is still buzzing from his previous instruction, and when his manhood touches it, my vision begins to blur. It’s like I’ve been struck by an electrical current that’s frozen me in place. “But he won’t want to wait to be inside you, Belle. He’ll be so turned on by you that he will want to take you as quickly as possible. So he will.”

“And what do I do, Conrad?” I somehow manage to say, drifting in a cloud of spectacular sensation.

“You take a deep breath, angel. Because this will hurt at first–”

A loud digital bleating shatters the serenity of the moment, a ringtone accompanied by a vibration, causing Conrad’s chest to rumble as a lionesque growl erupts from his lips.

“Goddamn it!”

“Is that your phone?” I ask, desperately wanting his answer to be no. But he nods, showing his teeth like an angry animal.

“My work phone.”

“Don’t answer it,” I plead, tilting my hips up, enticing him to penetrate me. But he closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“I have to. There could be an emergency. If I don’t answer and something happens–”

“I understand.” I smile, running my fingers through his hair as the phone continues to blare obnoxiously. “Get it. Go on.”

It’s the complete opposite of what I want to say.

He presses a kiss against my neck, and I watch as he stands and pulls his phone from his pants and answers.

“Conrad. What?” His face twists in confusion, but he quickly turns away to hide it from me. My heart flutters, and I sigh deeply. Well, this couldn’t have gone any worse. “Are you sure it’s him? Well, what’s he saying? Okay. I’ll be right down.”

He’s leaving. I know it before he even says anything.

“Emergency?”

Conrad sighs and nods. He’s doing his best to appear calm, but his eyes track back and forth as he pulls up his pants and buttons them over his hard-on.

“Apparently…my men caught the guy who made the bomb threat.”

My heart sinks, tears beginning to well up in my eyes. This threat was the only thing postponing the wedding. Without the threat, the wedding is back on, and my lifelong future with Fitch is about to begin.

“Do you have to go?”

“What?” Conrad asks, looking confused. He looks at me, then shakes his head. “Yes, I have to go. But you’re coming with me.”

“I am?” I’m fighting back tears now.

“Of course you are, angel,” he says, reaching out to lift me up from the bed. “It’s my duty to look after you, remember? I’m never leaving you alone again.”

5

CONRAD

This is bad.I can’t do my job with Belle draining every ounce of mental energy I have. I wasso closeto finally having her, and to be ripped away from her just like that–it’s all I can do to act like I’m even paying attention to what my men are saying now.

Three of them have surrounded a twitchy blond guy they’ve tied to a dining room chair. My heart pounds loudly in my ears, deafening me to every other sound in the room. It’s warm inside, but my hands and feet are cold, despite the perspiration on my forehead.

I’m compromised. Failing in my duties.

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