BargainWiththeBeast Read Online Free Page A

shame, capsizing the guilt
until only need remained.
    She was a bright, living flame—searing, passionate…damn, so
much passion. She gave everything, held nothing back. Could he survive being on
the receiving end of such fierce heat? Shit, he wanted to find out. He hungered to find out.
    Since Evelyn left him, his sexual encounters had been
reduced to escorts, well-compensated to pretend they found him irresistible.
But he could only con himself into believing he didn’t notice their flinches of
revulsion or pity for so long. Fucking his fist had become more preferable…and
less humiliating.
    Gwendolyn didn’t ignore his disfigurement or avoid direct
eye contact. No. Instead she squared off with him, challenging him. And it was
hot as fuck. He skimmed down her smooth shoulders, slender arms and clenched
fingers. Her wine-colored dress draped in clean folds down her full breasts,
narrow waist and hips. His cock throbbed in greedy anticipation and he resisted
the urge to fist his erection and squeeze to alleviate some of the ache.
    More than his next breath, he wanted to lift the long sweep
of material hiding her long legs, pretty thighs and sweetly curved ass. His
palms itched as he conjured the silky glide of her smooth skin and the wet,
creamy flesh of her pussy.
    Wet for him.
    Yeah, he may be a grade-A bastard for blackmailing her into
fucking him, but damn if he could rummage up a conscience about it. His dick
overruled principle.
    “That’s not funny,” she bit out. “And your joke is in poor
taste.”
    “I don’t joke about half a million dollars.” He paused. “Or
fucking.”
    “What happened to you, Xavier?” The outrage bled from her
tightened features, leaving behind the pity he detested. “Did that witch you
called a fiancée hurt you so deeply you would sink to,” she waved a hand back
and forth between them, “to this?”
    He stiffened. Like hell they would discuss Evelyn. He didn’t
want to think about her. Didn’t want to remember walking into their bedroom to
discover his soon-to-be-bride—the woman he’d loved—riding another man. Didn’t
want to recall her tear-filled eyes as she blamed his disfigured face for her
betrayal.
    “Are you involved with someone?”
    “What?” Her brow crinkled as if she were puzzled at the brusque
question and switch in subjects.
    “Are you involved with someone?” he repeated.
    Her head jerked as if an invisible fist had clipped her
chin.
    Impatience jabbed at him, hardening his voice. He couldn’t
contain the urgency stemming from the alarm constricting his chest as he waited
for her answer. If she responded in the positive, he would call the deal off.
The knowledge he could lose her with one word clawed at him. But the pain and
humiliation of Evelyn’s betrayal continued to haunt him like a stubborn ghost
refusing to go into the damn light. No matter how much he
wanted—needed—Gwendolyn, he wouldn’t inflict that torment on another person.
    He was a bastard, an asshole and pathetic enough to extort
sex from a woman he wanted, but he would never force her to betray a man
she loved. So much for his dick overriding principle. It appeared he had one
moral standard left.
    How fucking inconvenient.
    “No,” she snapped. “Do you think I would even consider
your…your blackmail if I were seeing someone?” Anger curled her lip. Yet
beneath the ire a note of pain quivered, adding a slight tremble to her
objection.
    He steeled his heart against an annoying prick of sympathy.
    “The time for consideration has passed. Yes or no,
Gwendolyn,” he demanded, the ice freezing his veins mirrored in his tone. “Make
a decision. It’s your choice.”
    “What choice?” she spat and crossed her arms, turned her
head away. A muscle ticked along the delicate, vulnerable line of her jaw and
he almost rescinded the gauntlet he’d cast down. Almost.
    “Simple, sweetheart.” He eliminated the inches separating
them and shifted forward, bringing them chest