Page 57

CHAPTER 31

RICHARD

E lizabeth stood there wide-eyed. Her arm half raised, ready to knock.

“Your staff said I could?—”

I didn’t let her finish her sentence. Grabbing her head, I pulled her in for a kiss. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I carried her over the threshold and kicked the door shut.

“Richard, I?—”

“Shhh… don’t talk,” I breathed against her open mouth as I kissed her again, while carrying her to my bed.

Tossing her in the center, I tore off my shirt. My hands went to the zipper of my jeans as I kicked off my shoes.

“Richard, we need to talk.”

“No talking. Take off your clothes,” I growled as I placed a knee between her open legs and reached for the hem of her sweater.

Pulling it over her head, I palmed one naked breast while taking the other breast’s nipple deep in my mouth, scraping it along the edges of my teeth.

Elizabeth groaned as her hips bucked.

Moving down to kneel before the bed, I pulled off her yoga pants and leaned in to lick the fabric-covered seam of her pussy. Hooking one finger into her thong, I pulled it harshly to the side, knowing the thin elastic band would press against her tight dark hole as I did so.

“Richard, don’t do this. I can’t think straight. We need to talk,” she moaned as her fingers dug into my hair.

“Later,” I murmured, my hot breath brushing her exposed flesh.

Grabbing her ankles, I propped them on the edge of the bed, spreading her wide.

She was here.

In my bed.

Under my control.

And I was never letting her get away again.

Much later, I untangled from the sheets and strode over to the side table next to the fireplace. Pulling off the crystal stopper, I poured us both a brandy.

Looking over my shoulder, I watched Elizabeth sit up against the headboard, holding a sheet up over her breasts, as she ran a hand over her tangled hair. “You know, Richard, my being here doesn’t change anything. I can’t keep having the same fight, the same doubts, over you. It’s killing me. It’s toxic. We are toxic together.”

Placing the stopper on the brandy, I stared down into the dark amber liquid. “If only we could do it again, but differently.”

Elizabeth sighed. “There is too much baggage. I know that sounds crazy, we barely know one another, and yet I feel like we’ve been doing this same dance over and over again for years. I know I love you but I just don’t know if that is enough.”

Reaching for one of the pills, I cracked open its plastic shell and dumped the contents into her drink, watching as the white powder fizzed then dissipated.

Walking over to the bed, I handed her a glass.

Elizabeth looked at it with suspicion. She raised an eyebrow. “What’s this?”

“Brandy. You’ll hate it. Drink it anyway,” I said, giving her one of my most charming smiles as I took a long sip, still staring at her over the rim.

“You know, no matter what happens, I’ll always love you.”

Her beautiful green eyes looked so sincere as she said it, and I believed her. How could I not? I was already forming a plan to make sure of it.

I held up my glass. “To new beginnings.”

Elizabeth drank deep, then choked. Grasping her throat, her voice raspy, she said, “Oh my God, that burns.”

I chuckled before taking her empty glass. Caressing her cheek with the backs of my knuckles, I said, “Brandy is a lot like love. There’s always a little pain.”