Page 81 of The Passion

“They say you don’t know whether to laugh or cry at times, well fuck it, I did both.” She wipes her face while I reach for the tissues in the console.

“But do you feel better for it?”

“Yes… no… I have no idea.” And that is the pure honesty of the situation.

“It’s fucked up,” I mumble.

“No shit,” she replies.

“When I met you, I thought you were the ballsiest woman I had ever met. Strong, powerful, and running your life the way you wanted it.” Leaning across, I take her hand in mine.

“Did you feel threatened by the scary woman?”

“Damn straight I did, and I’m not even kidding. That night you picked me up in the bar, no one had ever told me so boldly what they wanted. It was sexy as fuck, and I would have done whatever you asked.”

“Oh, the big strong man was tamed by the scary woman.” And the laugh from her is music to my ears.

“I knew the moment I pinned you against that wall in your room and your lips touched mine that you had me by the balls. What I didn’t know was how hard it would be to get you to give them back.” I’m not kidding that she hooked part of me that night, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t release her from my soul.

“Well, I’ll admit you were the first man that I wanted to keep those balls and tuck them away, hoping one day in my fantasy world you would come back looking for them. I hoped that I hadn’t scared you away.”

“Can we stop talking about my balls? They are feeling very vulnerable right now.” To which she smiles at me.

“I know it all seems like a lot right now, but be that kickass woman who seduced me that night. Don’t sit back and take shit from anyone. I swear I have seen grown men weep after walking out of meetings with you.”

“Don’t talk shit.” She pushes against my bicep with her free hand.

“I’m not. There is a private support group for all the men that Lady Felisha Kentwall has torn shreds off and taken away their man card in a business negotiation. They meet once a month, I almost joined.” I love that the more we joke, the lighter her body looks.

“You can be such an ass at times.”

“I’ve been called worse… by many people, including you.” She giggles a little. “So, what do you say, can we bring back the raging bull? Because I really like her.”

“You just like when she pins you to the bed and has her way with you.”

“Yes, I do. Can we do that later too?” I wiggle my eyebrows up and down a few times.

And as expected, I don’t get an answer to that.

Her momentary silence is broken with the words that I think give us both some relief. “Game on. You asked me in Australia ifI was ready to fight, well, the answer is still yes.” Determination is now written all over her face. “No one gets to push me into a hole. And any man who thinks he can better be prepared for what is coming for him.”

“Yeah, baby!” I cheer her on.

She picks up her phone from her bag at her feet.

“I am going to put this on speaker because I have nothing to hide, but I swear if you make one sound or say one word, those balls we were just talking about will get cut off with a blunt knife this time.” And she’s back. This is the Felisha we need to get this mess cleaned up.

“Noted.”

I watch her chest rise with a deep breath, and then she pushes the contact in her phone, and I can’t see if it’s her father or Fulton, but either way, keeping my mouth shut will be the hardest thing I’ve done in my life.

“My darling, I know I said I was a patient man, but you have ignored all my messages and phone calls all day. Is your friend dying or something?” Fulton’s deep voice fills the car, and my teeth clench so hard that I know my jaw is going to be aching later. Taking my hand from hers, I clamp them both on the steering wheel so hard that it hurts, but I don’t care.

“What the hell did you tell The Sun this morning?” Felisha doesn’t waste any time and cuts straight to the important things.

“I don’t like your tone, Felisha. Where are you? I’ll come to you, and we can discuss our plans like I wanted to last night. While I undress?—”

“Answer my question, asshole!” she yells at him, cutting him off from saying something that will probably make me crash this car.

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