Chapter 20 | Preston
TWENTY | PRESTON
Now she’s running.
But still, I get the sense I’m not the one she’s fleeing from.
There’s something else.
Someone else.
The jealousy I feel, knowing another person is taking up that fucking space I want to be mine, is unexpected. It has me chasing after her.
“Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not the one I’m trying to escape, Captain.”
Everything in my body is demanding to find out who.
Is it too much to fuck it out of her? Hope that filling her with my cock, my cum, will push out the answers she’s denying me.
She’s quick, pacing across the yard, though I’m closing the distance one stride at a time, like there’s this tether that’s straining, and I don’t want to let it snap whatever is transpiring between us.
I feel the eyes of my men on us as we race across the sidewalk to the house. They’re just doing their job.
While I, on the other hand, am entirely distracted from mine.
Kate enters the house, taking the steps two at a time, but I’m hot on her heels, trying to ignore the fact that she’s practically naked in that tiny pink bikini that gives her skin a glow.
Her hair is slicked back, the long strands dripping and gliding over her back.
My focus lands on a drop slipping down her spine and below those bikini bottoms that enhance her curves and pull at my sanity.
If my dick wasn’t already hard, it is now.
God, she’s a beautiful specimen.
When she reaches the second floor, she heads to her room, not looking back. But she knows I’m following based on her stiff shoulders and strained movements, like she knows if she breaks out into a run, I’ll chase.
“Stop following me, Preston. I want to be alone,” she huffs as she opens the door and steps inside, slamming it behind her.
I lunge for it, stopping it with my hand, and barge through. She stops partway in the room, lit only by the glow of the lamp beside her bed, facing away from me. She stares at me through her reflection in the windows of the French doors.
Lightning crackles in my chest, my heart creating a thunderous roar that pulses in my ears. “Turn around and say that to me again because I don’t believe you.”
A subtle mocking laugh shakes her back. “Do you always get everything you want?”
“Usually. But not right now, apparently.” I swear I hear her swallow through the space. I can’t deny that the one fucking thing I want is her.
Under me.
On top of me.
Seeping further into my soul, she somehow cracked to break through to the parts I thought died long ago.
I. Fucking. Want. Her.
And I know I shouldn’t, considering why I brought her here.
“You had your chance. I asked you to kiss me, and you said no. Not very uplifting to a girl’s self-esteem.”
“I was about to choke you to death. I fucking thought about snapping your neck, Kate, and you asked me to kiss you. So, yeah, I was a little taken aback by those words.” Her eyes hold mine in the reflection of the doors.
“Can you tell me with all certainty that you still want that, even after that day?”
Please say yes.
She sinks her teeth into that plush bottom lip.
There goes another fracture in my control.
When she nods, the air is knocked from my lungs. It’s barely a whisper. “But we can’t take it any further than that.”
“I’m a patient man, but fuck, darling. That’s a lot to ask of me when I can smell your arousal from here. When all I’ve thought about since you first opened those lips to lie to me is what they would look like wrapped around my cock.”
The blood rushing to my dick is making it strain painfully in my boxers. At this point, I’d happily settle for her beautiful fingers choking it. Maybe a little flick of her tongue to collect the bead of precum that is waiting eagerly for her mouth.
I’m about ready to get on my damn knees and grovel when she closes her eyes briefly and turns around.
Her eyes remain locked on mine, but I don’t miss the way she’s trembling.
I slowly take her in, like the most beautiful artwork that was created just for me, when my focus lands on the discolored, raised skin on her lower stomach.
Her bikini bottoms conceal others I can’t see.
I stop counting the haphazardly placed scars when I get to fifteen because it doesn’t matter to me.
But it also fucking matters a lot. Whoever the fuck did this to her is going to wish they could use the knife they carved her with to end their pain that I will drag out. I’ll use my blade and then let Imogen heal them.
So, I can inflict pain again.
And again.
I’ll be the devil in their living hell. No escape. Just torment and torture for hurting this beautiful creature who is still the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.
My hands ball into fists at my sides. The familiar coil of rage is starting to stake a claim again. But seeing Kate, the tears falling down her face, all I want to do is soothe whatever pain she’s been living with.
Lucky for her, I know endless ways to torture a man till he’s begging for death. And I have a team ready to haul their ass to me on a silver platter.
“A name,” I growl.
Her eyes bounce between mine. “Preston—”
“Darling, I’m going to track that sick fuck down whether you tell me or not. But this,” I wave a hand over her, “doesn’t change a thing. I want you.”
She exhales a disbelieving breath. “These scars are from someone who took everything from me and never gave an inch back. Sex has never been about me, Preston. I’m not even sure I know what that feels like.
My body is broken—I can’t get off without some pain mixed with the pleasure because that’s all I’ve known.
Running is all I know. And I don’t want to taint anyone, you,” she clarifies, “with something I’ve never healed from. ”
In one heartbeat, I’m consuming the distance, wrapping my arm around her waist, pulling her into me. “Look at me, Kate.” Her eyes are diverted to the floor, but when I whisper, “Please,” the request feels foreign but right coming out of my mouth.
Her heavy, glazed eyes lift to mine.
Seeing her like this breaks my heart. Which is baffling, considering I thought there was nothing left.
I press my finger below her chin, so she feels the truth of every word.
“You are not broken. You were just dealt a fucking shitty hand and had the strength to run and get yourself out of something you never deserved. Trust me when I say, I know how hard it is when you don’t have closure, that the person who did this is still out there wreaking havoc on your life, and won't let you rest. Healing takes time and the right people to help you through it, because it's too heavy to do alone. Healing isn’t a straight path. Let me help you heal, even if it just removes a little bit of the weight you carry.”
A tear glides down her cheek, and I absentmindedly swipe it away with my thumb.
A ghost of a smile plays on her lips. Her voice is as soft as she feels in my arms. “Your dad said the same thing when he was talking about you.”
I swallow. “You aren’t alone.”
She sinks further into me, gripping my t-shirt in her fists.
Tonight is about her and what she needs from me. Because whatever she wants will satisfy us both.
My thumb brushes across her flushed cheek. “Tell me what you want. I want you to trust me, and in return, I’ll trust you.”
She considers that for a moment, rolling her lips.
“And if you need time, I’ll give you time.
” No matter how fucking hard it will be.
“Whenever you're ready, I want to give you everything you deserve,” and more.
“I want to make you feel good. I want you to come on your terms. Darling, doing that for you, and only you, will be more than enough for me.”
Her eyes flutter shut, her gasp floating in the small space separating us.
When she mutters, “Kiss me,” like a plea, I don’t hesitate.
I’d be a very, very stupid man to walk away this time.