Page 50 of His Own Heaven

“You didn’t want anyone to see me.”

Suddenly understanding how that must have sounded to a woman who was used to people brazenly calling her ugly in public, he winced at his own stupidity.

Then leapt to his feet to stop the understandably irate woman from storming out of his office.

Toby wrapped his arms around Lucy’s waist and yanked her away from the door. “Baby, I didn’t mean it like that. When I said I didn’t want anyone to see you, I just meant—”

“What?” She struggled against his hold, but he refused to let her go, even when she swung her elbow and caught him in the ribs, causing a pained grunt to burst from his lips. His woman was fierce.

But so was he. “The way you were dressed.”

“The way I was dressed?” The venom in her voice would’ve made a lesser man’s balls shrink to the size of raisins. “I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, you pompous arse.”

Somehow, he managed to spin her around so she was facing him, then gripped her wrists in one hand and pinned them to the door above her head. His lips pressed together in a thin line of frustration, but he kept his voice even, his tone low. “No way in hell was I letting you get into a car driven by Christ only knew who while you were wearing one ofmyT-shirts andnobra.”

He shoved his other hand through his hair. “Every time you leaned forwards, even a little, I could see straight down the top of that shirt, right to your goddamn perfect breasts, piercings and all. And I didn’t want anyone else to see you like that, didn’t want to give them the chance to treat you with disrespect. Especially after the way that little shit-stain spoke to you the other night.” He let out a slow breath and stared her down. “I told you I would put your safety first, and I meant it. I was only trying to protect you, Lucy. Your reputation as well as your body. And I won’t apologise for that.”

She sucked down a shallow gasp, then licked her lips. Toby felt his dick begin to thicken against his thigh, the memory of that tiny sound, of Lucy’s sweet gasps when he fucked her hitting him right in his balls.Fuck. He repressed a groan, even as he wished they could wrap up the talking part of their talk and get to the part where there’d be make-up sex and a lot more gasping.

Lucy stopped struggling and watched him cautiously. “Well… maybe you should explain how wanting to protect me was selfish.”

He leaned his forehead against hers. “By driving you home myself, I got to spend more time with you, simple as that.” He released her hands and cupped her cheek. “I don’t know about you, but I didn’t want the day to end. You were so determined that we’d only have the weekend together that I wanted to spend every possible second with you. It was selfish because I should have been doing everything in my power to be with my family.” He shook his head and locked his gaze on hers, hoped she’d see his remorse. “It was selfish because all I wanted was to bury myself deep inside you and never come out again.”

“Oh.” Lucy stared up at him with her very own look of bewilderment. “So… you weren’t trying to hide me?” she said, her voice soft and unsure, her brow tugged down and her gaze marred by shadows of doubt. “You weren’t ashamed of me?”

“No.” Toby shook his head. “God, no. And I’m sorry I made you feel that way.” He’d wanted to protect her from arseholes, not become one himself, and it just highlighted how far he still had to go. How far he was willing to go. For her. “I could never be ashamed of you, Lucy. But I am—”

“A prude?” she said, then immediately pressed her fingertips against her lush mouth and widened her eyes as though she couldn’t believe she’d just said that.

A slow smile spread across his face as he relaxed and leaned down to kiss her. “Not a prude. Possessive,” he said. “I didn’t know how possessive I could be until you came along. You’re mine, and I don’t want anyone else looking at you the way I do.”

She scoffed and shook her head. “I really don’t think you need to worry about that. Nobody’s looked at me the way you do in a very long time.”

When his brow scrunched in a look of confusion, she pointed at the scarred side of her face, raised one brow, and grimaced with an expression that said “exactly how dumb are you?”

Toby’s eyes narrowed and his body zinged with a flash of anger. If he ever got a hold of the people who’d made this gorgeous creature feel less than worthy of every good thing in this world, he’d make them hurt. “No. You won’t be doing that anymore.”

Lucy frowned. “Doing what?”

“From now on, every time you belittle yourself, you will be punished. You, Lucy Barton, are a clever, sexy, gorgeous woman. Say it.”

The blood drained from her face. “What?”

“Say it.”

Swallowing hard, she mumbled the words. “I’m a clever, sexy, gorgeous woman.”

His hand landed on her arse with a sound wallop and he sighed even as she yelped. “Hmm… we’ll work on that.” Then he leaned down with every intention of kissing his woman properly, of getting the make-up sex part of the morning under way, but she turned her head and his lips landed on her cheek.

“We’re at work.”

Toby chuckled and nuzzled against her instead. “Is that another one of your rules? No nooky at work?”

She snorted. “Nooky? How old are you?”

“Same age as you, but we do try to be family friendly around here. Besides, you and I both know when I say ‘nooky’ what I really mean is ‘fuck you senseless’.” Then before she could argue he captured her mouth with his and kissed her, thoroughly, deeply, until she pressed her palm against his chest and gave him a playful shove. Not that it actually moved him anywhere. Still, he leaned back a little, gave her some space.

“Well nooky will have to wait,” she said, looking a little less resolute than she did a minute ago. “We really should finalise that paperwork first. Then maybe you could take me on a tour of the place before we open?”

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