Page 56 of Possession

There’s no doubt she’ll hate me. And I’ll deserve it.

“Thank you for today, Boz.”

I shake my head, more to clear it and to wipe those regrets from my brain. There’s no room in my life for regrets. I need a clear head to focus on the goal. “You’re thanking me for forcing you to go to a funeral?”

She lifts a shoulder. “Thank you for standing up to my father and making the funeral you forced me to go to bearable.”

“I do what I can,” I deadpan—dead being the operative word.

“Can I ask for a favor?”

Finally, something I can be truthful about. “I can’t make any promises.”

“Don’t play with my heart.”

I pull in a deep breath to control myself so I don’t fall to my knees in front of her and beg for forgiveness before she even knows who I really am.

She just won’t stop. Her words might as well be a knife to my gut. “On top of everything else, I won’t survive that.”

She doesn’t give me the chance to answer. She shoves her beer at me, steals my sunglasses, and stands.

“What are you doing?” I ask as she moves away from me.

Her blond hair flips over her shoulder as I watch her walk toward the Pacific. “I’m taking advantage of my freedom while I have the chance. Don’t worry,darling.” I’m not sure if any other word could sound so unnatural falling from her lips as that one being thrown at me when she just keeps pushing my buttons. “I’m not an idiot. You could tackle me to the ground in a nanosecond. I think being kidnapped and forced into marriage is messing with my head, because I’m afraid I might enjoy being tackled by you. But that’s just one more thing my heart can’t take.”

She turns from me and heads straight to the water. Reaching down, she yanks the bottom of her dress that barely hit her knees and pulls it up under her ass as she wades in. I set both bottles down and lean forward to study her. I have no clue what to expect from this woman. If I have to run in and save her, I will. The fact she just told me she’d enjoy me tackling her to the ground makes me want to do just that.

She’s careful as her bare feet navigate the rocky sand. This stretch of the shore is quiet for a reason—it’s not a wide-open beach. There are never swimmers, surfers, or tourists. I fucking love it. If I can ever steal a moment to myself, I come here.

After the funeral, I told the guards to stay with Damian’s body as they took him to Mexico for the burial, that my wife couldn’t take any more today. I lied about a meeting with our investors on the east coast.

Really, I just needed to get the fuck out of there and didn’t want to make Landyn have to sit through the burial too. Alamandos can’t hold it against me if it’s for work.

She turns back when she’s knee deep in the Pacific. Her dress is bunched right below her pussy that I really need to stop thinking about. It’s all my cock wants after our time in the dining room last night.

I just want all of her.

As she wades deeper, she bends to pick up shells from the ocean floor. I watch her do this over and over again, tossing them back to the water before searching for another.

I finally get up to walk to the edge of the ocean and stuff my hands in my pockets. If she’s going to push my buttons, I’m damn well going to push back. “Why aren’t you angrier about this?”

“You mean this?” She motions between the two of us.

I stare at her through the bright sun. “Because if I were forced into the situation you’re in, I’d be angry as hell.”

The waves lap at her bare thighs, soaking her dress where she has it bunched. Since she stole my shades, it’s all I can do not to look at her legs. The same ones that were wrapped around my waist last night.

“Do I have a choice but to be in this situation?” she asks with a bit of a bite that I’d expect. Hell, who am I kidding? I need her to be pissed. Her anger will make it easier for me to not want her.

All of her.

“No,” I answer honestly. “Not unless you want the Marinos to hunt you down.”

“You promised to protect me,” she states. “Were you lying?”

She’s making it harder and harder for me to be frustrated with her, and easier and easier to want her more.

“Haven’t I protected you so far?”

---