Page 54 of A Kiss at Midnight

He follows me, wearing a smile. “If you don’t want to sit, we could go straight into the bedroom.”

There’s no mistaking the desire in his eyes. I’m also well aware of how quickly he can seduce me. I move backward, somehow find a chair, and fall into it.

“I don’t know why you’re here when you dismissed me. None of this makes sense, Blake. This isn’t what you want — not really. This has to be about power... or revenge... or something I can’t fathom.” He walks up to me and leans down, caging me against my chair, making my breath rush out.

I can’t read the look in his eyes, and I can’t figure out what’s going on inside his head, but I know, no matter what he’s thinking, it can’t be good.

“We have things to discuss, Jewel. The two of us began a journey two months ago, a journey we haven’t come close to finishing,” he says, his tone smooth, his eyes on fire.

I answer in a voice barely above a whisper. “Our journey’s over, Blake.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Jewel. I’m not done with you yet.” He leans down closer, and lets his breath wash over my heated skin.

“No...” I almost wail, as my body quakes.

“Oh, yes, Jewel. We’re only now beginning.”

Chapter Review

Chapter Thirty-One

Jewel

I close my eyes andtry to think, try to get my head around what’s happening. “You don’t want me,” I tell him, not sure if I’m trying to convince myself or Blake. “You know you don’t.”

“Yes, I want you, Jewel. Just as much as you want me. I’m always sure, and always to the point. By the way, I became acquainted with some facts after you were gone.”

“You mean after you screwed me on your truck and dumped me off like a trashy whore.”

He laughs, actually laughs at this. I want to reach out and slap the smug look right off of his face. How dare such a worthless, perverted man laugh at me? He’s in serious danger right now, and from the continued mirth I see dancing in his eyes, it’s apparent he knows — and isn’t in the least worried.

“Calm down, Jewel. We’re not getting anywhere with your burst of temper. Though, I must say, it turns me on to see such fire light your eyes,” he says with a wink. “You’re cute when you’re mad. But we can certainly put your heightened emotions to better use than venting.”

Oh how I wish I could be as cold and unaffected as this ice sculpture of a man. He wouldn’t know true human emotion if it was right in front of him, which it is now as I’m filled with it.

“Why are you the way you are, Blake? How can you be so cavalier and unfeeling? Don’t you care at all about anyone other than yourself?” I’m vulnerable, angry, and struggling with other emotions I don’t know how to name.

“I see nothing wrong with the way I act,” he says, refusing to back away despite my words. As a matter of fact, he draws nearer, and there isn’t much nearer to go. “I like who I am, and I know you lose all sense of control when you’re anywhere near me. No one can make youfeelemotion, Jewel.Wechoose how we feel;wechoose what we think, whatwewant, what we desire. You canchooseto enjoy this, or you can choose to run from it. But either way, you’re mine, and I know you want me. You wantallof this. To try to escape when we’ve come this far would be an act of idiocy. And you’re not dumb.”

The way his breath whispers over my flesh, across my cheek, my lips, and my neck, sends shivers. To deny it would be a wasted effort — we’d both know I’m lying.

Instead I do something I’ll later regret because I act with emotion, with rage, and with desire. I clench my fist, and watch, almost as an outsider, as my arm rises and my fist slams into the side of his smug face.

His expression remains neutral, and though he flinches, it’s almost imperceptible. He simply stares at me with eyes that are too knowing. I lose it further. I pull back and slam my fist into his jaw.

When I still don’t get a reaction, I lose the last vestiges of my sanity, and lift both hands, my claws coming out as I reach for him and tug on his hair. I’m beyond reason and control now, lost in a blaze of fury. The past months have come to a head.

Who in the hell does he think he is? It isn’t fair that he can so easily mess with my emotions and choose my destiny. He has no right to make me feel anything. This is a battle I can’t win. And what I’ve just done makes me utterly ashamed. Am I really this woman... no better than an animal?

For some reason I can’t retreat. “I hate you,” I snap. He still shows no reaction. I’m about to fall off the deep end.

Then, so quickly I have zero chance of stopping him, he thrusts out one hand and grabs both of mine, then jerks my arms up while the fingers of his other hand snake behind my head and tangle in my hair.

Before I can think of struggling, I’m being pulled from the chair and shoved backward until I’m flat against the wall, his body a mass of steel, boxing me in. My arms are stretched high above my head, my heart thundering and my breath gone.

Blake displays a hint of emotion as he pushes against me, and I can’t mistake how hard our struggle has made him. This somehow turns my rage into a burning passion — a passion I despise myself for feeling.

Before I’m able to recover, to firmly lock away anything other than hatred for the man who’s trapped me, his eyes narrow, and he goes on the attack. He bends his head and captures my mouth in a kiss of possession.

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