The minute Casper backs away, she gets in Freddie’s face. “You don’t scare me.”
“Try not to flinch next time you say that.” Pushing past her, he walks away. “Keep her the fuck away from me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself!” Yelling after him, she looks every bit the spoilt princess she is. “I don’t do cunts anyway! Dicks are my prefe—”
“Shut it!” Casper puts an end to her tirade with growl.
“Lo odio!” Her tantrum chips away at my patience some more.
“If you hate him so much, stop winding him up.” Eyes wide and jaw clenched, she looks ready to stomp her frustration at me, at him…at her unanswered questions.
“What on earth is going on out here?”
Turning to find Arabella standing in the bedroom doorway, I grin when her stare meets mine.
She swallows, her breathing quickening, and I swear my heart pounds in tune with hers. I’m barely able to contain my excitement just as she can hardly hide the realisation of what will happen when we are alone.
You disobeyed me, morena.
A small, jittery smile tips her lips as though she’s replying, I know.
Chapter 29
Arabella
The look Christopher’s giving me should worry me. I should be entirely concerned of what’s going to happen when we step foot behind closed doors. But even with all the commotion and my siblings’ eyes on me, I can’t think of anything other than what he’s thinking.
Delicious knots pull taut in my belly, and for the first time in so long, that full, fluttery feeling doesn’t make me want to shrink away and mourn. Even with the knowledge of what he wants from me…with the unmistakable determination that he’ll get it at any cost, any way he can…I don’t feel anything but need for him. For his control and his fire.
Slipping his hands into his pockets, he takes slow, calculated steps in my direction. Our gazes never part ways even though we’re not alone.
Raising his hand to his mouth, he licks his lips as he smooths his fingertips over them. When I realise those are the same fingers he’d teased me with, heat flashes in the apples of my cheeks so hot that my skin feels aglow.
He stops in front of me, deep, heavy breaths pulling his waistcoat taut over his chest, the thick charcoal weave inviting my touch.
“I don’t recall saying you could move.” Looking down on me, he curls a hand around my hip possessively.
“There was shouting.”
“And?”
“It was loud.”
“So?”
“I was worried.”
“Now.” Tilting my chin up so he’s looking down on me, he smirks. “Now, Belles, you should be worried.”
I swallow, my teeth sinking into my lip with the way his eyes are blazing. Amber and ember. His touch crackles along my skin as he drags me flush to him.
“You disobeyed me.”
The air around us thickens, and as I suck my lip between my teeth, I try to drag it into my lungs.
We must look crazed with the way we’re standing, breaths loud and voices hushed. In the middle of whatever is going on…
“What shall I do with you?”