Page 60 of Shattered Diamonds

“Don’t.” I take a step closer to the glass and farther away from him, needing a second to just breathe. To absorb his words and digest them. He had his chest pressed up against my back and just that simple connection makes my thoughts unclear. But something feels off. And the only rational thought I have is that this is a joke. A cruel joke.

“Don’t play games with me.” My anger coming forth.

“I don’t play games, Haven. You should, at the very least, know that by now.”

“Then why? We haven’t known each other but a minute. And besides the point, why would you want to marry someone like me?”

“Someone like you?” One dark brow raises. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because, Demetri.”

“Tell me why.”

“Because you and I… We don’t match. We don’t fit. We don’t make sense.” I can hear the panic in my own voice. “You’re the handsome powerful man that has women falling at your feet. Men respect you with only just a look. I saw how people react to you… I…”

“You what?” He raises his scarred brow higher.

My insecurities, the ones I have worked on for years, come bursting through in spades. “Oh, I get it.” I snort with disgust, slapping my hands together. “I’m good stock. I have good bones. My hips are first-class width for childbearing. You want children, is that it? Someone to carry on your bloodline?” I feel myself starting to lose it. “That’s it, isn’t it?” I sputter my uncontrollable thoughts.

“Is that what you think this is? That I want to marry you because you have good hips?” He damn near laughs in my face.

“I’ll be the little woman at home raising your children while you’re out with your gooms.”

“My what?” He tries to hide his grin, but I saw the glitch in his cheek.

“Your gooms. The women all you men have on the side while your little wifey, in this case, size sixteen wife, is at home cooking and cleaning and taking care of your kids and your house and feeding that horse of a feckin dog you have.”

He laughs. Legitimately cracks up in my face. Then he crosses his arms over his chest and watches me have my meltdown.

“Haven, the proper word is goomah.”

His patronizing tone pisses me off even more. “You think this is funny? It’s not. You don’t play with people’s emotions like this. We just had a great time downstairs. Why would you ruin it by doing this? Is that the kind of guy you are? It’s callous.”

“Take a breath, Haven.” He steps to me and grabs my arm just above my elbows. “I want to marry you. Not because your hips are perfect for childbearing but because you are a beautiful woman that I am very much attracted to and if I must say it… I have feelings for you. You can give that brain of yours a rest. You will marry me. You have no choice. I won’t allow it.”

“I always have a choice.”

“You wanna bet?”

“Demetri…” I feel my craziness settling into sorrow, his words striking an emotional chord that has become threadbare.

“Look at me, Haven.” His gruff voice dramatically changes to his unique demanding one.

“What?” I jerk my arm away from his grip and run my hand back and forth over my forehead. “This isn’t right, Demetri.” I hold my hand up, take a step back, and turn away.

“Turn around. Now,” he demands, giving me no choice when he grabs my upper arm and flips me around to face him. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He points at me and then starts to roll up his shirt sleeves. “Now turn around and put both your palms on the window. And Haven, if you remove just the slightest tip of a finger, I can promise you my next step will be a shock to your system.”

I twist back around and stand there baffled at what is transpiring. One minute, he is asking me to marry him, and the next, he is reprimanding me for reasons unknown to me.

My dress is carelessly yanked up to my waist, my bare ass now fully exposed to him. I hear the deep rumble in his chest and then the first sting radiates across my tender skin, completely knocking me sideways with shock.

“Count them, Haven. And at the end, you will say, ‘Thank you, sir.’”

“I am not going to—”

Whack!

I gasp. The shock of his hand against my skin it’s painful. I squeal as the sting radiates across my skin.“Fuck, Demetri!” I shift, looking back at him.

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