Page 48 of His Asset
“I’m nervous,” I admitted, the alcohol making me more honest than I might have been otherwise.
“We don't have to—“
“I want to,” I interrupted, surprising myself with the firmness in my voice, with the knowledge I really did want him.Adam might have broken my hymen, but he’d left me unfulfilled.I was no longer a virgin but I was still naïve.I wanted to feel what other women did, I wanted to embrace my sexuality, celebrate it.I managed a smile.“I want this.With you.”
His answering smile was soft, almost reverent.“You’re incredible, Bella.So brave, so beautiful.”
When he went to grab the hem of my borrowed shirt, reality began to cut through the whisky haze.This was it.The moment I’d dreaded and longed for in equal measure.There would be no hiding once the fabric came away.No pretending to be something I wasn’t.Even intoxicated, even dizzy with desire, there was startling clarity in the moment.
Either way, I couldn’t let him touch Adam’s shirt.It didn’t feel...right.I stepped back, Reuben’s hands falling away.My own hands shook as I undid the shirt’s buttons, one-by-one.His eyes followed my movement, confusion flickering across his features.
“Reuben,” I said quietly, my voice barely above a whisper.“There’s something you need to know about me.Something...different.”
“Differenthow?”His voice was gentle, encouraging.
I closed my eyes, took a shuddering breath, and slowly drew the shirt off my shoulders.
Chapter Eighteen
The air hit my baretorso, and with it, the freedom I’d been denying myself.I fumbled with the hooks of my bra, then finally threw it aside, while my wings, compressed and hidden for so long, unfurled naturally, the thin, leathery membranes stretching wide in the spacious room, the dark skin catching the golden light through the windows.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I opened my eyes to watch Reuben’s face, waiting for his reaction.For a moment, he was perfectly still.His stare moved from my face to my breasts, then to my wings and back to my face again, his expression unreadable.Until something shifted, shock and even a little horror followed by something cold and calculating.
My blood froze.The tender lover had vanished completely.In his place stood someone I didn’t recognize, someone whose eyes held not wonder or acceptance, but assessment.Like he was looking at a secondhand prize he’d just won.
“Now I understand,” he said quietly, his voice stripped of all warmth.“That’s why you healed so fast.And why Adam can’t let you go.”
The words hit me like physical blows.Notyou’re beautifuloryou’re amazingor evenwhat are you?Just cold, clinical comprehension of my value.
Some things never changed.It was being with Adam all over again, except even he hadn’t looked at me with such calculating coldness.
I stumbled backward, my wings instinctively folding around my breasts like a shield.“Reuben, I—“
“You’re one of his experiments.”His tone was almost conversational now, but with a distinct lack of empathy, his distaste all too clear.“No wonder he’s been so desperate to get you back.”He shuddered.“Christ, I almost—”
The room spun around me, and this time it had nothing to do with the alcohol.His feelings had been real.I could see that now in the way his face twisted with self-loathing.He had genuinely cared for me, desired me.But now that care had curdled into something ugly.I wasn’t the woman he’d wanted anymore.I was something else.