Page 61 of Beautiful Beast

But that isn’t the case, at least for someone like me with a childhood full of trauma.

Maybe it’s safe for me to head home now since Ariel caught her prey. I’m most definitely not looking for a hunk of man for myself, so I might as well snuggle with my dog and Mr. King’s latest mind fuck.

By the time I’ve navigated through the sea of people – being touched and grazed far more times than I’d ever consider acceptable – and reached the rooftop patio, Adam’s called twice more.

“Jesus,” I answer, the pulsating beat of the bass pounding around me. I’m starting to get a headache. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Why are you at a club?”

“To dance?” I’m pretty sure that I’m screaming to be heard because my throat sure hurts.

“I thought you couldn’t dance.”

“I can’t. I don’t know why I’m here and wish that I wasn’t. I wanted to support Ariel. I’m going home soon anyway. I have no idea where she is.”

“She just left you there? I’m going to order a car to pick you up.”

“She didn’t leave me,” I return, confident that’s true. She wouldn’t leave the club without at least texting me. “I just don’t exactly know where she is right now.”

“I can see half your breasts.”

“It’s a club. This is what people wear. Don’t you like it?”

“Yeah, I do. But only when it’s just for me.”

Suddenly, it dawns on me. The sexy, aloof, doesn’t-want-to-be-in-a-relationship-weirdo billionaire is all worked up by my current choice of extracurricular activity.

“Are you jealous?” I demand.

“Possessive. There’s a difference.”

But his eyes are stormy, and he’s pacing restlessly in an empty office. I assume that he left the meeting to check in with me, and the silhouette of my absolutely jacked, tattooed man in a loosened white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up should be illegal.

Goddamn.

“Good thing I only care about you,” I say, meaning it. “And, aww, this is quite the flex. You left a meeting for me and want to order me cars and shit. You want me to be your bae.”

The man consumes my thoughts, and when I’m sleeping, he even visits my dreams. Being with him doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it sure makes me feel like I’m finally home.

“My… what? What are you even saying? Anyway, it doesn’t matter. You need to go home where you’re safe. If you were with Ariel, it would be different. I don’t like you just standing there alone looking like a… What did you call it? Buffet? I’m too far away to kill anyone who touches you.”

I burst out laughing and only Adam could put me at ease when I’m in surroundings that make me tense and nervous. “Not a buffet, old-timer. Asnack.”

Guys always say stuff like, “I’ll kill anyone who looks at you,” as though they’re peacocks puffing up their chests. But it hits different when the man in question has actually killed people before. The menace in his eyes makes it undeniable that he’d do it again.

And even though it’s pretty messed up, it’s also kind of freaking hot that he’d literally kill someone for me.

“No one is even paying any attention to me,” I say.

“Trust me, princess,” he replies dryly. “They’re looking. Your sexy ass can’t go anywhere without people noticing you. And I don’t share what’s mine.”

Shivers race down my back and collect in a puddle of need between my legs. Adam’s words cause a delicious ache to spread like heat throughout my core.

He wants me to behis.

And while I’ve never been one for caveman displays of affection, there’s something about this Neanderthal in particular that makes me willing to be clubbed over the head and dragged back to his cave.

“I don’t share either, and I’ve been shipping us from the start,” I return. “And I’m sure you have a parade of basic, thirsty girls after you, so you’re one to talk.”

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