Page 89 of Violet

“It seems your friend is worried about you,” she says and taps her cane on the floor twice. “He called me. Thinks I can talk some sense into you and make you go home.”

“Who? Heath?” I grunt. “Why didn’t he come up and tell me himself?”

“Because he knows you’re stubborn as hell and won’t listen to him.”

“The pot calling the kettle black there,” I say and begin to pour the bourbon into the glasses for us. “He probably doesn’t trust that I won’t break down this door and fuck his sister.”

When Pen winces, I try to apologize but she waves her hand. “It’s not even the worst I’ve heard you say.”

“It is true, though.” I hand her one of the glasses.

“Mr. Gardener has reason to worry. You don’t want to ruin Violet before the mating ceremony,” she says.

“Yeah…”That’s the least of my concerns.

“Stephan,” she says, crossing her arms. “I wiped your butt when you were a baby. I know you. So when I ask you this, I want you to be honest with me.”

I take a huge swallow of my drink. I hope she’s not going to ask if I love Violet, because that’s complicated.Likeher, sure. I like Violet very much, but love is different. That notion died with Cecilia.

Her stare hardens on me. “Why?”

I frown. “Why what?”

“Why did you bite her?”

“Because Sophine made me. She gave us an ultimatum.”

Her gaze searches my face, and I know she doesn’t believe me. “You’ve never been one to follow her rules or play her games,” she says.

“This time she threatened Violet.”

“Did Sophine make you beat up that Stockton fellow, too?”

Damn. She got me there. “Not exactly. But he deserved it. Actually, he got off easy if you ask me.”

“Right.”

“That also could’ve been because of her heat,” I explain. “But none of that matters now. I marked her, I claimed her. She’s mine now, my responsibility.”

“Not because you love her?”

Truth is a twisty, complicated beast, and I think… Fuck, I’m looking forward to learning all the princess’s secrets.

“Well?” she presses.

“I don’t know what I feel.”

Before she can continue, Mrs. Gardener opens Violet’s door just enough for her to squeeze through, and my body jolts to attention. Even through the crack, the air beats with the desire and sexual explosion that’s coming from Violet. I can almost see her scent, and that need pouring off her wraps fingers around my cock.

She’s so fucking potent.

The need to get into that room beats through me, and my sights zero in on the small opening.

“It hurts…” Violet’s moan is loud, and I go for the door.

It’s quickly slammed in my face, making me drop my glass of bourbon. The glass shattering is like a gunshot to my senses, and I blink.

Shit.

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