Beauty In Her Madness (Winterland Tale #3) - Stacey Marie Brown Page 0,43

never lost myself like this. Never threw caution to the wind. Never ignored what was right and wrong. Because I knew this was wrong, but I couldn’t actually seem to end it.

Sex always felt nice with Scott, especially in our early, horny teenage years of discovering and learning with each other. We had been each other’s first and only. I wasn’t even the girl who had fantasies about some teen pop band or TV star. It had always been him, and I never had a problem with it. But I couldn’t deny the need in me now, shoving away all logic and control.

Frost’s thumb rolled over me.

“Oh god…” I let myself fall back into him, my hips fanning open.

“Too bad.” His tone shifted, cruel and cold. He withdrew his hands, licking them, making a humming noise in his throat. “So good, Dinah, but I don’t reward lying, deceitful little trespassers.” He let go, almost shoving me off him. “Go to Blaze for a quick fuck.”

“What?” I stumbled forward, circling around to face him. Even with his expression locked in fury, the man took all my breath and stomped on it. My veins still throbbed with desire as confusion and embarrassment sprang up, flowering into anger.

“You think I can ever forgive what you did?” He snarled, his blue eyes glinting with hate.

“Forgive me?” I had no idea what he was talking about.

“And you sneak back again. Coming here of all places.” Ignoring me, he continued. “Poking your nose where it shouldn’t. Some things haven’t changed, I guess. Still too curious for your own good. Or mine.” His form loomed as he stepped back for me. I countered his steps, backing away. “I used to be the one who followed the rules, the good boy.” He closed the space between us, his eyes lit with fury and hate. “You changed that. Now I’m the one who takes without care or fairness. The one who has no rules or laws to govern me.”

“What are you talking about?” My body and mind were mystified by the sharp change in direction.

“Don’t play with me.”

“I-I’m not.”

He snarled, his boots ramming into my bare toes. I slammed back into the paintings, my spine scraping against a wood frame. He loomed over me, trapping me, his large build completely engulfing mine. His blue eyes were blistering and bright.

Dangerous.

Wild.

Cold.

Violent.

He was like a winter storm. Behind the beauty, he would destroy and bury you.

“Why are you here, Dinah?” he gritted through his teeth, his frame vibrating with fury.

“I-I don’t know,” I sputtered.

His hand snapped up to my jaw, his finger clamping down on my chin.

“You don’t know?” He inched closer to my face. “It’s been over twelve years, and now you come back.” His nose flared, his chest puffing as his eyes ran over me. Like running through webs, I could feel his gaze consume my figure. “You decided to come back and finish me off?”

“What?” My brow furrowed, my skin humming everywhere his hand gripped me, his handprint scorching into me. “What do you mean?”

As if he were in a trance, he stared at me for another beat. I thought I saw grief and longing flicker in his eyes, but it was gone so fast I was sure I imagined it. Rage took over his features, his broad shoulders rolling back, his lip rising.

“Right. I was going to show you what I do to trespassers.” His large hand cupped my bicep, yanking me forward.

“What are you doing?” He roughly pulled me out of the room, marching me down the hallway, the opposite way I came down. “Stop! Where are you taking me?”

Not acknowledging me, he strode down another corridor, his viselike grip keeping me stumbling right behind him.

“Let go of me!” I clawed at his hand, trying to yank free of his hold, but he only fastened down firmer, squeezing my arm. “Ow! Let me go!”

“Aren’t you the one who broke into my home?” He shot back at me. “Went snooping into private rooms, pilfering through my stuff?” He jerked to a stop in front of a heavy arched wood door lined with metal. The type you would picture in some old castle. “I have every right to contain a thief.”

“Thief?” I responded. “I didn’t take anything.”

“Wrong,” he huffed, stepping into me, sneering down at me. “You took everything.”

“Wha—?” I didn’t get the word out before he flung open the door, shoving me in with force. I fell onto the hard stone floor with a thud. I barely registered