Surrender to Temptation Part VI: Tempted to Possess by Lauren Jameson Read Free Book Online Page A

heart felt as though it was being squeezed in a giant fist. Any feelings of jealousy and anger I had felt disappeared in an instant.
    That poor, poor boy—that boy who had grown up to be Zach. Powerful, distant, billionaire business mogul Zachariah St. Brenton.
    “You were driving.” It wasn’t a question. So many things made sense now, including his need for control.
    “Yes.” His voice was terse as he bit out the word. I felt a jolt when, after avoiding my eyes for the entire conversation, he looked straight at me, his expression defiant even in the dim light.
    “In Cambria, when you left. I was coming after you to tell you that I just needed some time to wrap my head around . . . around what you had said.” Propping himself up on one elbow, Zach ran a hand through his hair, something that I had come to learn meant that he was agitated. “When that car almost hit you . . . that fury, that wasn’t because you had said you loved me. It was because I was so scared that it had very nearly happened again.”
    I held my breath. My heart began to beat triple time. He was so close, so close to saying what I so badly wanted to hear him say.
    “It made me realize something.”
    Yes. Yes. Please. Tell me that you love me, too.
    The three little words that I was waiting for didn’t come. Instead Zach reached for the remote that sat on his bedside table and hit a button. The overhead lights came on, dim, but overwhelming to eyes that had adjusted to the dark.
    He pulled my arm out from my side. I followed his gaze as he ran his hands over a series of small pink bruises. Made by his fingers as he had thrust inside of me, they were barely noticeable to the naked eye, and they certainly didn’t hurt.
    Guilt was painted over his face as he studied each and every one.
    “These were completely consensual, Zach.” I tried to keep the edge of panic from my voice. He had finally broken down and shared with me. I couldn’t let him withdraw now.
    He stared into my face, and a hint of dominant Zach peered through the dark depths of his eyes.
    “I saw a shrink for years after the accident.” He looked so ferocious that I was afraid to interrupt. “My need for control, the dominant side of my personality, was birthed during that car accident. The doc thought that it went a step further, though. He was certain that my . . . lifestyle . . . stemmed from guilt from Marie’s death. He thought that when I indulged in BDSM practices, I was doing my best to drive away a potential partner, since deep down, I didn’t feel that I deserved one.”
    I froze, pinned beneath his stare. Poor Zach. No wonder he ran so hot and cold. He had been put through the ringer.
    “I don’t agree.” His expression dared me to argue with him. “My dominance came from the accident. Yes, I think that’s true. But I know that I live the lifestyle that I do because I need something that the vanilla world doesn’t offer.”
    I had no idea what to say, though his eyes raked over my face, searching for clues to my thoughts.
    “No matter where it came from, that . . . need . . . it’s a part of me now. It’s how I live my life. And while there are lots of women who liked some kink while they’re getting fucked, when it spills into other areas of their lives, they’re gone.” I knew that he used coarse language deliberately to shock me, but still, the statement hit me like a slap in the face.
    I was one of those women he was referring to, at least in his eyes. I was here for a good time, for some kink in the sex we shared together.
    Why couldn’t he understand that I loved him, loved all of him?
    Maybe I was competing with the ghost of sweet Marie, after all.
    Even though he had shared his story with me, I could see clearly that he wouldn’t—no, couldn’t—give me that last piece of the puzzle.
    “I see.” I felt my inner barriers rising, walling off my heart as I shoved the covers off and slid out of bed. I fumbled with the clasp