Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“I’m a damn good jockey,” I shouted, taking a step closer to him. “And this—whatever you are doing, replacing me or no longer using me—isn’t fair. I won. And getting rid of me because you think I’m going to become some clingy female like the rest of your harem is wrong. I will never join that club—I can promise you that. Sending me cookies to make up for taking away an opportunity of a lifetime doesn’t make it better. I’m not a five-year-old.”
Thatcher grabbed my wrist as his eyes locked in on me. “You are stepping too close to fire, little doll.” His voice sounded deep and raspy.
The sinister glint in his dark depths made me pause for a moment. What if I had stepped too far? I didn’t know what this man was capable of, but I couldn’t accept that he would actually hurt me. I just knew he wouldn’t. Maybe that was foolish, but I decided I’d come this far, so I might as well finish it.
“I’m not scared of you,” I told him. “Your threatening looks won’t send me running like they do everyone else.”
He leaned closer to me, tightening his grip on my wrist until it was borderline painful. “You’re fucking naive.”
It was just a second, if even that, but I’d seen a flash of something I hadn’t expected. My body reacted to it, even before I could find a word to label it.
Stepping closer to him, I tilted my head back so I could hold his heated glare. “Why don’t you fix that?” I challenged, shocking myself.
He released my wrist, but before I could cradle it in relief, I was spun around and slammed up against the wall beside him. His hand held me there by my neck. I could breathe, but not deeply. Panic stirred in my chest for the first time. The depravity that others believed lurked in his soul began to make its way to the forefront. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to plead for my life or try and push him further.
“Stop begging me with those eyes for things you can’t handle.” He glowered as he bent his head down to inhale my hair. “I’m not for you. What you want and what I do are two different things.”
The tip of his tongue ran across my temple. I shivered as my nipples tightened to the point of throbbing.
“You think you can handle straddling my lap and fucking me in a room full of people?” he groaned. “Or sitting down and opening your legs up for me to play with that pussy while others are there to see? Hmm? Think you can handle that? Or what about me tying you up, spanking your ass with my belt, calling you a dirty little slut, and forcing my cock down your mouth until you gag and tears roll down your face? Do you really think you can handle having that soft skin on your cheek slapped for not sucking me deep enough?” His hand left my throat and moved down to my chest as he pressed me harder against the wall. A sinister grin curled his lips. “Tell me, little doll, have you been fucked, or is that pussy still untouched?”
Lie. I wanted to lie. Why hadn’t I just had sex and gotten it over with before now? The fear of God and hell was going to be my ruin. If God didn’t want me having sex before marriage, then he should have put a man in my life I wanted to marry.
“I haven’t,” I admitted.
He jerked his hand off me and stepped back from me as if I’d just admitted to having a disease.
“Leave,” he barked at me, pointing to the door.
No, I couldn’t leave. Whatever it was that he made me feel, I didn’t get that anywhere else. Not with anyone, and I wanted it. If I had felt it before now, then I wouldn’t be a virgin. I shook my head, feeling desperate. He was the only one who could make my body react like this. I didn’t want to leave.
“Please, don’t,” I beg. “Do it. Whichever. Something.”
The cold, uninterested response in his eyes was more painful than anything else he’d done to me. “Virgins don’t interest me. They’re boring.”
I was sure they were, just as I would probably bore him too. The burning in my chest was clawing its way deeper inside. I had to leave without letting him see he’d done more than insult me. He’d crushed me, and I’d let him. I had laid it all out there to a guy I knew was not interested in me sexually. He just wanted to feed me cookies.
Taking a deep breath, I focused on the door and walked toward it. One foot in front of the other. I held my head as high as I could manage, and when the handle was in my hand, I opened it, escaping a room I never wanted to see again. Wishing I could be numb and not a walking billboard of humiliation, I tried not to make eye contact with anyone. I would get to my car and leave. I’d recover—hopefully.