Bullied Cinderella - Hollie Hutchins Page 0,38

wasn’t about to try and admit that then. Especially not with all that alcohol swimming in my veins. Unfortunately, he mistook my silence for something else.

“What? You want someone like Jorge? Or maybe it’s Dario you’re pining after?”

I pounded against his chest again and shouted. “Did it ever occur to you that I don’t want anyone!? That you and your stupid cousins aren’t god’s gift to women and that we don’t all swoon and crumble at your feet all wet and ready to go!?”

I tried one final time to get around him, once again in vain. But his aggravation with me seemed to be turning into something else. His eyes studied my face as if they were trying to find something to prove my words to be untrue. He was silently begging me to take it back. I finally stilled, stopping long enough to really take him in. The air suddenly felt heavy as I lost myself there in his stare.

Did that fling in the woods mean more to him than I realized? Was his ego just bruised? Or was all of this his sick way of making sure he claimed me by the end of the night...to establish some kind of dominance over Jorge.

I had been so busy trying to forget about it and avoid my own feelings about us having sex, I hadn’t stopped to consider how Leo felt about it afterward. I didn’t think he was capable of feeling anything at all. Maybe in that short span of time in the woods, my body caught onto something my brain hadn’t. Maybe that’s why it was so easy to give into him and why it felt so amazing when I did. Up until now, I hadn’t seen him as anything more than a rich, spoiled, man child who would stop at nothing to get his way. And anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way would have to tolerate his endless bullying.

The Leo I thought I knew would have left me here in this shed, even if he did know what Jorge was doing. He would have said I deserved it and maybe would have even been happy about it. I imagined him sitting in his parlor, throwing back a drink and laughing about it. He definitely wouldn’t have barged in, guns blazing, ready to kill his own cousin for hurting me.

Once again it was unclear to distinguish between my real thoughts and what was inspired by alcohol. But I became convinced that the man standing before me was someone new. It was a different version of Leo that I had never seen before. His facial features had shifted into something more sincere and mature. And the ever-present spark of desire in his eyes seemed to run much deeper than just his cock.

I found myself swaying a little, only this time it was towards his big, hard chest. I tilted my head upwards and parted my lips, closed my eyes. He was quick to oblige me. His lips crashed back into mine with the same excitement and impatience he had embraced me with the first time. For a brief second, I was certain of just how much I had been craving this since I had it last. I had tried to ignore it and bury it deep down, but as his tongue swirled over mine I knew it was all I had wanted.

But just as soon as it started, it ended. His lips vanished, as did the weight of his body before me. I opened my eyes in shock to see he had taken three solid steps back from me and the indignation on his face had returned.

“You’re just a bitch that likes to play with men,” he growled. “I know what you’re trying to do. Jorge and Dario may be weak and too stupid to see it, but I’m not.”

I instantly felt stupid. Of course, Leo wasn’t any different than the man I knew him to be from day one. Selfish, egotistical, and heartless. But it seemed like a waste to say any of that. Talking to him was like talking to the air. Whatever honest feeling I put forth went over his head. Because I was right all along. He didn’t know how to feel anything.

It was only fitting that his next move was to swing his shotgun over one shoulder while kneeling down to pick me up and throw me over his other shoulder. I kicked and screamed and tried to get