Lethal Wedding (Wedlocked Trilogy Book 2) - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,33

out of the blue. Killed by a drunk driver. There was a trial and he got ten years in prison. This wasn't the first time that he was driving drunk and this wasn’t the first time that he had actually hit someone.

“The whole thing was a big fluke but it changed the course of my life. I don't know where I would be if she were still around. I know for sure that I'd be a different person. Kinder. Nicer.”

I don't know what to say. Instead, I walk over to him and take his hands into mine.

“Thank you for telling me,” I say. “I had no idea that anything like that happened to you.”

"I know," he says. “No one does. I mean, my parents knew her. But the extent to which I loved her and the extent to which we had planned to spend our lives together, no one knows except for you.”

“Why are you telling me this?"

“I don't know,” Franklin says, shaking his head.

He shrugs and tries to get up but I keep holding onto his hands and pull him back down.

“Don’t," I say. “Stay with me.”

This is the first time that it feels like we have made a connection since I met him and I don't want it to sever.

Maybe he doesn't have to be a mystery. Maybe I just didn't bother to get to know him earlier.

"Why are you telling me this?" I ask again.

He looks up into my eyes and holds his gaze there for a little bit.

“I guess I trust you,” he says after a moment. “I guess I want you to know something about me that's real. You know what I mean?”

I nod and lean closer to him.

He runs his fingers down my neck and draws me closer to him. I put my head on his shoulder. There's still so much left unsaid between us and yet there's a tenderness that is forming that is difficult to explain.

I expect him to kiss me again and lead me toward his bedroom, but he doesn't.

He simply waits for me to kiss him. I do. Slightly, only a little bit, and then pull away.

“I'm not gonna make you do anything you don't want to do, Aurora,” he says.

“I nod, I appreciate that," I say.

“But I do hope that we can be together sometime soon.”

"Me, too,” I say.

Again, I wait for him to make a move, and again he doesn't.

He's either very good at playing games or he is being genuine. I don't know him well enough to judge the difference but I intend to find out.

We sit together for a while without saying a word. I wonder who this man is that I have agreed to marry, but I'm starting to realize that I don't know the first thing about him.

I had written him off as a womanizer and an asshole, but maybe I was wrong.

Maybe there is more to him than meets the eye.

Maybe we can actually find common ground.

Maybe we can make this work.

Franklin looks over at me and gives me a small smile. I smile back. Then he leans over and puts his hands in between my knees.

He pushes me against the back of the couch and kisses me hard.

So hard that it almost hurts.

“What are you doing?” I manage to get out. “Let me go!”

“Come on, Aurora, tell me that you don't want this.”

“I don't want this.”

He kisses me harder. He pushes me onto the couch and climbs on top of me.

My head is spinning.

What is happening right now?

I thought that we had made this connection and now this?

I have to make him stop. But how?

I try to push back but I can't budge him. I'm tempted to bite him, but I'm afraid of making things worse.

With his hands running up and down my sides, he’s already doing things that I don't want him to do.

What would happen if I actually made him mad?

I freeze and lie there quietly for a few moments, hoping that he will stop.

But he doesn’t. He just takes it as a sign that I'm interested.

“Stop, please stop,” I whisper into his ear and push against him again.

“Come on, please don't be like that,” he pleads and grabs at my breasts. “Just relax, you're going to have fun, I promise. Everyone does.”

I really doubt that, I think to myself but don’t dare say it out loud.

And then, something occurs to me. I don't know if this will be a turn-off or maybe even a turn-on, but it's the only