Page 62 of Dominated

“You’re reading this all wrong.”

I moved until I felt the back of the couch, and I gripped the cushions with both hands. “No, I’m not—”

“We connected physically.” His brow furrowed. “That’s the language we speak together, Pepper. That’s how we’ve communicated. That’s how I’ve shown you my feelings. But it’s only a starting point, a foundation that we’re going to build on.”

“You really are nuts.”

He took his jacket off and tossed it on the couch beside me, halting when he was a foot away. “You’re fixated on what I did, which was my job, and it was wrong—we know that. What you’re not seeing is that I came back to save you.”

My head tilted back as I smiled. “Like you’re some goddamn superhero … please.” When I faced him again, I glared. “I don’t need to be saved. I’ll ramp up security. I’ll get out of town for a few weeks. Whatever I have to do, but I don’t need you.”

Nothing good had come into my life since Bale had entered.

My thoughts were jumbled and all over the place.

My life was being threatened.

My business was on the verge of being taken.

“You need me, Pepper. And you want me. Which brings me to the question I’m going to ask you.”

I shook my head. “Don’t.”

But he ignored my words, and he pulled me against him, his fingers like teeth when they landed on my skin.

“I know you care about me. I can see it.” He shook me. “I can feel it.”

I couldn’t lie to myself and say I didn’t have feelings for Bale.

Of course I did.

But what trumped those feelings was the destruction he had caused.

The fear.

The risks.

My future—I couldn’t even process that yet.

“I can’t leave here without asking you that question.” For a moment, his grip loosened, only to tighten again. “I want you to come with me. Please, Pepper, leave with me.”

I didn’t want my eyes to fill.

I certainly didn’t want them to drip.

But that was what happened, the tears instantly rising in my eyes and overflowing down my cheeks.

“How dare you!” I tried to look away, but his hand moved to my chin and stopped me. “You have no right to ask me that after what you’ve done.”

He attempted to wipe the drops, and I shoved his hand away.

“These tears aren’t for you. I would never fucking cry over you.”

“They’re mine.” His voice was soft. “I caused them. Let me wipe them. Let me kiss them away.”

This side of him was infuriating.

I wanted to fight.

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