but all I can think about is locking her in the bedroom until she’s had time to consider what she just did.
By the time we reach Scarlett’s bedroom, she’s practically vibrating beside me when I stop at the doorway and tug her until her back hits the smooth wooden panel. With my free hand, I tip her chin up, so those pretty eyes are on mine.
“I’m not the monster in your story, even though you’ve clearly made me out to be.” I want to tell her about her father, but that would be going against the agreement we came to. Horatio requested that he be the one to tell her the sordid secrets he’d been keeping. And even though I didn’t want him to, he’s her father, and the fuck up he’s made is his confession to spill.
I doubt she’ll ever give him the redemption he seeks, but I’m sure he’ll beg and plead, just to get back in his daughter’s good graces. But I know for a fact, she’ll never again see him the way she does now or did before he signed the contract, offering me her hand in marriage.
“Monsters all want us to believe they’re nothing more than heroes. But what makes a man a villain in a story is how he conducts his business and how he treats a lady.”
“Are you claiming to be a lady, little red?” I allow a smirk to curl my lips as Scarlett’s muddy hand attempts to make contact with my face, but I’m faster. I’ll always be quicker than her. And that’s something my sweet girl needs to remember.
“You know, Lycan Shaw, just when I think you’re finally showing your true, gentlemanly colors, you go and say something like that which convinces me that you’re nothing more than a monster.” She sneers at me, her nose crinkling, and it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Never once in my life have I thought of a woman being both cute and seductive, but Scarlett portrays both effortlessly.
“I never once claimed to be a gentleman, my sweet,” I inform her. It’s the truth. My tastes have darkened both my heart and soul and though I may be polite, there’s nothing about me that would let a woman think I’m a gentleman. “Tell me something, Scarlett. If there was anything in this world that could be given to you, anything at all, what would you ask for?”
For a long moment, she considers this, her lashes fluttering against the apples of her cheeks, and even through the smears of mud, I notice her cheeks darken with a soft, pinkish hue. A flicker of something dances in her eyes, but before she answers, it’s gone, and suddenly, she’s no longer thinking of whatever had crossed her mind.
And her final response is a lie. “Just let me go.” Her lips are parted on soft breaths as she shivers when I lean in to inhale her sweet perfume. It reminds me of a rainy morning on an overcast day—fresh, cool, and crisp—but also drenched in dirt. The contradiction is a strangely euphoric fragrance to my senses.
Tipping my head to the side, I grip her chin between my thumb and forefinger and pull her closer, so our lips are barely touching, but close enough for me to inhale as she exhales. Inadvertently connecting us for a moment before I respond, “That’s not an option. Try again.”
She tries to pull away, but there’s nowhere to go. I’ve pinned her to the door. My body snug against hers. The soft curves allowing my hard ridges to fit perfectly to her body.
“Lycan.” She murmurs my name like a parishioner calling out a prayer to the heavens above. It hits me right in the chest, in a place I didn’t think still existed within me. Women I’ve been with have screamed my name, but never with such pained need. It’s as if she’s throwing it out there, allowing it to slither under my skin, snaking its way through my veins until it finds the one muscle I’ve refused to allow to beat since the night my brother left with the woman who scorned me.
21
Scarlett
A shiver wracks through me as a lone tear escapes my lashes and trickles its way slowly, gently, down my cheek. Lycan’s quick to react, the pad of his thumb tracing the salty emotion before he locks his gaze with mine as fire blazes in his green eyes.
Shock escapes me as a gasp stumbles over my lips at the