That rebellious fire burned in her eyes, highlighting the beautiful features of her perfect face. Her lips automatically tightened and her shoulders became tense. Her nipples hardened inside her blouse. I couldn’t see through her shirt but I understood her body language so well I knew exactly what was happening. “I don’t believe you.”
My hand immediately wrapped around her throat and I gave her a threatening squeeze. “If you think I won’t kill the man who fucked you, you don’t know me very well.” I dropped my hold before I actually hurt her. The violent side of me emerged the moment I didn’t get my way. I wanted her back in my bed and underneath me—where she belonged. “Don’t make me ask you again.”
She remained by the door for nearly a minute, her fingers touching her slender neck. There wasn’t a bruise but she still felt the pain. She confessed she asked Jason to do the same things I did to her in bed. There was no denying she still wanted me. And her wet pussy told me the same thing last night. Finally, she cooperated and packed her things.
I watched her, victory in my eyes.
***
The second we entered my hotel room, I lifted her onto the counter in the kitchen and stood between her legs. Nothing held me back tonight, so I gripped her waist and kissed her harshly on the mouth. My kiss was so violent I nearly bruised her lips.
But she kissed me back—with the same desire.
The world disappeared and Button was the only thing that remained. I forgot about my lonely existence back at the estate. I forgot about all the scotch I drank and the regret that festered in my chest cavity. It was the first time I felt at peace in months.
I fisted her hair and recognized the familiar softness. It was longer than it used to be but contained the same smell of vanilla and orange. That scent stayed in my bedroom for weeks after she left. But one day it disappeared—and I felt lost.
My blood pounded in my ears and my heart swayed as it beat in time to hers. And that’s when I finally felt whole for the first time in months. All the pain, the regret, and the anger disappeared.
I severed our kiss and looked into her face. “I won’t kill him.”
With puckered and red lips, she stared at me.
“But I’m not going to leave until you work for every single button.” I would never take her freedom away. There were countless times in the past when I wanted to chain her to a wall and own her completely, but that fire in her eyes stopped me. She commanded my loyalty with only her silence. She had more power than she realized—and I hoped she never realized it.
“When I pay the debt you’ll leave?”
I died a little inside when I heard the hope in her voice. “Yes.”
“Why do you want me to repay these buttons at all? I don’t understand.”
Because every single day was torture without her. My life flashed in a meaningless blur. I lived in the most beautiful place on the planet, I had the kind of luxury people only dreamed about, and I could have any woman I wanted.
But none of that mattered after she left. “Because I want you.”
“And that’s all?” she whispered.
Maybe if I had her again I would get her out of my system so I could move on. Maybe things didn’t end the way they should have. “We never had a chance to say goodbye. I wasn’t prepared for you to leave when you got on that plane. I wasn’t finished with you.”
The desire in her eyes slowly started to fade. If there was something else she wanted me to say, I wish she would tell me. “I’ll get the last of those buttons. And then I never want to see you again.”
I ignored the sting as it stretched across my skin. The burn was hotter than ash and it scorched me through the inside. My expression remained the same and I swallowed the hurt all the down to my stomach. I knew where her pain came from. She said three little words to me that I never said back. And she would never forgive me for that.
But perhaps I could change her mind.
Perhaps I could make her fall for me all over again—and she would give some of those buttons back in exchange for my affection. And she would be mine until the end of time. “Okay.”
***
“What do you want?” She stepped into the bedroom and slowly undressed. Her fingertips played with the top of her jeans before she finally undid the button and the zipper. Slowly, she pulled them down her long legs and stepped out of them. Her hips sauntered from left to right as she moved, and without even trying she looked like the sexiest woman I’d ever seen.