Page 56 of Wicked Praise

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Oh, no you don’t, BellaMontgomery.

Or whoever you are.

Blake watched Bella as he leaned back in the dining chair as she went in search of her purse. She’d dropped it on the coffee table and had clearly forgotten. A moment later she found it and then stopped in the middle of the room, glancing over at him.

“Sit down,” he commanded, nodding to the chair she’d just vacated.

“Stop bossing me around,” Bella snapped. “I don’t know what you think you know, but...”

“But?” he prompted as her voice trailed off.

“But it won’t work,” she finished. “Whatever you are planning.”

Blake walked over to her, cupping her chin. “The first thing I plan to do is remove all your clothes. I’m fairly confident that will work. Then I’m going to fuck you. I might not be on my game after the allergic reaction, but I’m fairly confident you’ll be screaming my name right after dessert.”

Her skin did that sexy flush he loved.

“So yes, it will work.” Blake growled quietly. “But I’m going to ask you one more time. Who are you Bella? Who are youreally?And why have you recruited your brother to introduce you to a bunch of wealthy fucking suitors?”

When she gawked for a second too long, he crossed his arms and glared down at her. “Start talking.”

A part of him felt like he didn’t really have the right to be pushing her for the information. The other part didn’t give a fuck.

Bella had been in his bed last Friday. She’d woken up on Sunday, tucked up with him in his hospital bed.

If she had spent the last few days dating other men, he wanted to know. If her family was into arranged marriages, then...

Then...

Then what Blake? Then what?

Shit. Marriage was the furthest thing on his mind. It was something he wanted in the future. With the right woman. When he was thirty-three or thirty-five.

Thirty-eight, even.

But to sit back and watch her strategically find someone to sayI doto after the nights they’d spent together? No fucking way.

He needed to understand what was going on.

The urge to ring Knox Montgomery and scream down the phone at him was close to the surface. The wordsshe’s minewere on the tip of his tongue.

But that was insane.

All he wanted was to date her.

Not stand in front of every other man and claim her. One date. Maybe two.

Hell, maybe they could date for six months.

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