And the relationship I knew would never happen. Not with Tavlor duty-bound.
It just isn’t fair.
I sighed as I opened the door to my new bedroom. I needed a nap. I was sure my sisters wouldn’t mind if I took a few hours.
I stepped into the room and gasped.
“What are you doing in here?” I glanced from Tavlor, who sat on my bed, apparently waiting for me, to my closed bedroom door. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Tavlor didn’t move. “Your sisters have stopped asking me questions.”
That seemed to be explanation enough for him.
“Well, that’s nice. You can go back now, can’t you?” I snapped, clinging to the towel that barely covered all my important bits. I didn’t need his eyes dropping to the towel either. I wondered what he was thinking as he looked at me. Was he trying to visualize what I might look like without the towel?
He stood up and I scurried around the room, getting out of the way of the door so that he could leave as soon as he wanted to.
His eyebrows lowered.
“I was hoping you’d want me to stay a little longer.” His voice was soft. It might have been my imagination, but it almost seemed as though he was disappointed.
“Why would I want that?” I asked.
Especially after what you said to my sisters about me being an obligation.
“Well, we haven’t had any time alone, or to get to know each other, and after I searched your mind for how you felt about me, I—”
I jumped in before he could finish that embarrassing sentence. “What? You thought that because you found out how I felt about you, I’d just throw myself into bed with you?” I scoffed. “I don’t fucking think so!”
He scowled. “But... what’s wrong Ava?”
I clenched down on my jaw, angry swirls of emotion curling in my veins. “What’s wrong? Are you serious right now? You tell my sisters that I’m an obligation... a... a... job! And then you come into my bedroom like you own the place and expect me to grovel at your feet? Come on, Tavlor, you’re smarter than that.”
He moved so fast I didn’t actually see him take a step. But he was in front of me, holding my arms, making me to look up into his face.
“I never said any such thing.” His voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. “You know you’re so much more to me than that.”
I forced my chin up higher, glaring at him with all the anger inside my body. I needed him to understand what I felt, how much it hurt, even if what he had said was true.
“Really?” I growled. “How? How would I know you feel anything other than obligation? You’ve never said anything else.”
He growled, the noise strangely feral as he moved his hands around me to pick me up, then pro
ceeded to carry me over to the bed and throw me onto it.
I squealed in shock and tried to hold onto my towel, but it uncoiled around me.
Then Tavlor was on the bed, over the top of me, grabbing my wrists and pinning me to the bed.
“Get off me!” I screamed, my chest heaving with anger.
He stared down at me. His eyes darkened to black as silver flecks danced in their depths.
“I’m not good with words, Ava,” he said. His voice was soft, but his eyes burned into me, so hot I could feel warmth pinch my throat, my cheeks. His gaze seared my body... and I liked it. “You have to know that... and I can’t let you into my head. There’s too much torture in there for you to access.”
I hesitated. My anger faltered, my body instead reacting to the presence of his muscled form on top of me rather than the anger that had once burned through me so ferociously.
“I don’t want to see inside your head,” I insisted. “Especially if all I’d see is that you’re protecting me for the sake of my father!”