BoldLust by Sky Robinson Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t have enough money for the fare home yet. Kate
needed to work a little longer, and Carter had taken away her job.
    He didn’t know her financial situation, so he couldn’t be doing
it to force her to stay. He wasn’t that kind of guy anyway. At least she didn’t
think he was. He did like to be in control of things, though.
    Kate could ask her family for the money, but she wanted to
keep her job with Carter, needed to earn her own fare back so her family
wouldn’t find out where she was, wouldn’t ever know she had run off with a man.
She couldn’t ruin her reputation, couldn’t ruin their reputation. Hell, they
might not even pay her fare back if they found out what she had done.
    “Sure. Come upstairs with me.” Carter marched up the stairs
and she followed right behind him. When they got into his workroom, he stopped,
shut the door and then turned to face her. “What would you like to talk about?”
    “Why did you give my job away?” She said the words a little
more aggressively than she intended, but it got across her true sentiments, her
frustration with the situation.
    “I didn’t expect to find someone so fast, but I need to get
help lined up. You are going to either leave me or be with me. Either way I
need someone to take over your job.” He towered over her and kept any emotion
he was feeling hidden—other than a little bit of confusion.
    “Why would you need someone if I’ve decided to stay?” It
didn’t make sense he would get rid of her. He said he liked her work and that
hiring her had been the best decision he’d made since he came to Alaska. How
could that all have changed so quickly?
    “Have you decided to stay?” he asked.
    “Yes. At least for a while.” She ran her hands down the
front of her skirt, wiping off the perspiration on her palms that the whole
situation had caused.
    “Great.” He pulled her in and kissed her lips lightly. “I’m
so glad to hear it.” Carter grinned and then squeezed her around the waist,
pressing her entire body against his.
    Just the smell of him, his touch, caused a tingling between
her thighs. He had some power over her, but Kate couldn’t let her mind turn to
jelly. Not yet.
    “What am I going to do now that you’ve given my job to
Betsy?” She needed that job back, needed him to go and tell Betsy that he had
made a mistake, needed to keep a little of her newly found independence. Needed
to make enough money that she could go home if she wanted to.
    “You don’t need to work. I’ll take care of you.”
    She didn’t want to be taken care of, she wanted to be
independent, wanted to be loved for the things she could contribute. He was
trying to control her just like everyone else in her life had. Just like her
parents and Sean had, and she couldn’t let it happen anymore.
    “What do you expect me to do all day?” She had to make
money, had to take care of herself.
    “Just sit there and look pretty for me.” Carter smiled, but
Kate’s stomach churned.
    She couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Kate wanted to
be valued, to do something helpful, not sit there bored. She’d spent her whole
life being taken care of, and that hadn’t worked out so well. It wasn’t going
to happen any longer.
    Kate shook her head slowly. “I can’t do that.”
    “Of course you can.”
    “No.” She couldn’t let this happen again. She wouldn’t rely
on a man only to have her heart broken and be left stranded when he changed his
mind, decided that she wasn’t quite right for him anymore. “I can’t.”
    Kate stormed out of the room, down the stairs and out of the
house before the tears began to fall. She didn’t want either Carter or Betsy to
see her cry.
    Kate couldn’t fall into the same pattern of letting herself
be supported by a man, following meekly, doing whatever he wanted of her. She
wanted a job where she was actually needed, where she was important. She wanted
the independence that Opal and Emma had. They were both happy