of the day, that makes this all worth it. I’m here for the lessons, the journey. Everything happens for a reason.”
He slowly rose and looked her in the eyes, witnessing the stains of past hurt. He could tell that deep down, she believed he was going to hurt her, too. She was determined to be strong enough for whatever came their way. He kissed her softly and for once in his life, he was at a loss for words.
“…You should feel special because you are, Yasmine. I wished for you.” She looked at him in confusion. “I did. Every little note I’ve written and read each morning, in between those lines, I was asking for love. I didn’t realize that until recently. When I was looking at you stand by that fountain, it came to me. It all made sense. Those little pieces of paper are prayers and wishes. My hopes and dreams for what I want to manifest. I saw you standing there, and you are what I wanted. I thought about how beautiful you were tonight… like an angel. I was writing things down to remind myself how to be human, baby. How to feel again. God sent me a teacher. He sent me my Nymph. He sent me you. I told you early on that only a Nymph could make a Satyr settle down. Throughout their history, that is who always stole their heart… made these beasts bow their head… humbled the brute. You humble me because you aren’t afraid to be human in front of me. You aren’t afraid to show your emotions. You’re stronger than me in that way, and I love you for that, Yasmine. You gave into the chase. Letting me be me… dominating you sexually… intimately… while you took over my heart.”
He brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her. “Allowing me to feel comfortable enough to fall in love with you. I know I can depend on you now. There’s no questioning that. You’re on my side, you’re by my side, and when we’re together, I find every chance I can to get inside of you… In your own special way, you have control over me, too… You know this, and that is why you are taking a chance on me. That’s why you have hope you can tame this beast that lives within me, all while I have been using this time we’ve been sharing together to prove to you why you belong to me, and to show you why I will never let you go…”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
They Smile in Your Face, All the Time,
They Want to Take Your Place…
…A few days later
“That slimy, backstabbing son of a bitch.” Yasmine slammed the phone down in her office and took a deep breath in an attempt to regain her composure. She nearly jumped out of her seat when her cell phone rang. She hadn’t had more than a second to collect her thoughts, to calm down the fire that burst inside of her. Collecting her wits, she reached for the phone and tried to speak in an even tone. “Hey, Goldie…”
“Why do you sound like that?” her friend fired off without even a hello.
So much for staying calm.
“Goldie, I want to rip the head off this bastard! I am so tired of this idiot…”
“Who? What? When and Where?”
“Betrayal! Today! Here at work! As far as who, remember when I told you they hired that new guy, Camden?”
“Yeah, he was from Turner and Fawcett, right?”
“Yes. The first day he was here, he rubbed me the wrong way but I just figured I may have been having a stressful day since I am juggling all these cases now. Also, Mike had to take a leave of absence for the next few weeks, so I have his work, too.”
“Right… right… So, what did Camden do?”
“This motherfucker came to me with a big smile on his fucking face, telling me that Terrell said he could take the Spencer case off my hands, that he was going to head that up and work on it. He then told me to forward all of my work to him by the end of the day so he could look at what I’ve done, revise as necessary, and keep what matters. Then he winked, and walked out of my office!”
“What?!”
“Yes! He stabbed me in the back, Goldie! Yesterday morning, that first meeting of the day, we were all discussing our cases, as we always do. I mapped out