Page 95 of Painted Truths

Incorrigible hussy.

Giggling softly, I nibble on my bottom lip while looking up at him through my lashes, his nostrils flaring, sending a jolt of electricity through me at the knowledge I can affect this powerful man so easily.

“It’s been wonderful, Henry. Thank you for having me as your guest.”

He raises his eyebrow while one side of his lips quirks up in a smile.

“You’ve been an exceptional plus-one.”

“Oh, is that right, McHottie?”

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Peach. I’m serious. I’m not good with the words.”

Choosing that moment to move closer so that my stomach is flush against his body, his eyes darken before I taunt provocatively. “I’m not making anything hard.”

Arching a brow at him, I can’t help the smirk that appears on my face. I love riling him up and sparring with him. I’m so utterly unlike my usual self. Yet somehow it fits the me that I am when we’re together.

The me that I want to be.

He narrows his eyes imperceptibly. “I don’t do girlfriends. I’ve never had a one, or a partner, or a lover, or any other label you want to put on a significant other.” He stops, his intense eyes levelling me with their sincerity. “I fuck, Peaches.”

My stomach roils at the bare, naked honesty in his voice, and I remain silent, allowing him to continue, though I have no desire to hear his words.

“I’ve only ever fucked. Nothing more, nothing less. And I’ve fucked probably more than my fair share, to be frank.”

I want his candour, but hearing it doesn’t make the thought of him being with other women any less shit.

Is this the cliché part where he pushes me away after starting to open up to me?

I pucker my brow in thought as my mind kicks into overdrive.

No way, not now. Not now that I know how this feels. Not now I know how intimacy tastes. How he makes me come alive in ways I could never have dreamed of.

I’m not fucking having it.

Placing my hands on his broad chest, I look him right in the eye, not wanting him to finish what he has to say because screw this, I’m not letting him ruin what we have started to build here.

“Henry. I want you. I want what we have together. I told you last night. I just want us.”

I grit my teeth and narrow my eyes as I seethe, “And you can get fucked if you think you can push me away after what we’ve already shared. I’m stronger than I look, so just know that when you push me, I’ll push back. Ten times harder.”

He tilts his head to the side questioningly before his face mirrors my own, brows furrowed, eyes spitting fire.

“Why do you do that? It drives me insane, woman!”

Glancing over his shoulder before turning to me with a face like thunder, he grabs my shoulder and swiftly marches us both off the dancefloor and out of the pavilion, Caden’s hoot of “Get it!” ringing loudly behind us.

I barely have a second to take a breath before we land on the dark beach at the far side of the wedding party. Stomping across the sand, I rip my arm from his grip before I lean down to take my heels off, toss them over my shoulder, and continue down the beach alone.

I can hear him jog to catch up to me just as I spin to face him, my emotions at a fever pitch right now.

“What is with this hot and cold you’ve got going on? Because I can’t deal with you being Dr Jekyll one minute and Mr Hyde the next, okay? You tell me about your childhood, open up to me, let me in, and Lord help me because I want that. I want to inhabit your every living, breathing, waking moment. I want in. But then you ruin it—you ruin me when you call me an ‘exceptional plus-one’ before launching into, what I’m sure is, your usual speech to get rid of stage five cling-ons. But I’m not having it. We’re more than that. I know it. You know it. So, no! I’m not having it.”

Dropping my discarded heels to the sand, I throw my hands to the sky in exasperation, laying my cards on the table and letting the chips fall where they may.

“As fucking pitiful as it makes me sound, as it makes me feel, I have no pride when it comes to you, so I’m here. Putting myself on the line, being vulnerable for us. The us we can be if you just let me in.”

He invades my space without saying a word and grabs hold of my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes as he says the words that blow my mind and make my spirit soar.