Surrounded by Temptation by Mandy Harbin Read Free Book Online Page B

hold momentarily. She dashed back into the bathroom and propped it underneath the door handle. Then she turned on the water and shed her clothing while it heated. Once the temperature was nice and hot like she preferred, she turned on the shower and stepped in. Deciding she would actually use this time wisely, she quickly washed her body and hair.
    She heard stomping feet just before a shout. “Ariel!”
    She turned off the water and grabbed a towel, patting herself dry and just barely getting the towel around her body before the bathroom door shook. She heard a bang from the other side of the door just as he rattled again. This time, the hinges groaned and the door splintered.
    Holy shit . Rob was sweating and panting and dirt streaked down his face, but he was a god. How could a dirty man, sweating in flannel, with wind blown hair look as hot as this? Her belly tingled and she gripped the towel tighter.
    He looked at the door and frowned at the chair. Then he looked up at her, eyes narrowing. “Toby said—”
    “It doesn’t matter what Toby said.” She leaned down and turned on the shower again. “You’re filthy and I just showered. Strip.”
    “Excuse me? I’m working. I get dirty, angel.” He crossed his arms.
    “And I’m working too. You seem to be doing okay so far. We’re going to take it up a notch. I need you to take off your clothes and get in the shower.”
    He slowly reached for the top button on his shirt. “More torture, huh?”
    “If you like.”
    “You gonna watch?” he asked, eyebrows raised as he held open the top of his shirt.
    “If I like.”
    He hummed in the back of his throat but continued to remove his shirt. Holy hell in a hand basket, the manual labor he must’ve been doing just before he ran in here caused his muscles to grow menacingly.
    “You’re dripping wet.”
    “Maybe you can do something about that later.” She knew he was referring to the water still sluicing off her skin, but she couldn’t pass up the innuendo.
    He shut his eyes, his jaw ticking. “You’re fucking teasing me again,” he said through gritted teeth.
    “But you’re not tied up now, are you? Progress.” She shrugged.
    He growled, sounding a little bit pissed and a whole lot scary, but Ariel stood her ground. He unzipped his pants and pushed them down, underwear and all.
    And he was hard and leaking already.
    “I see my brusque tone hasn’t cooled your ardor.”
    “You’re wet and naked under that towel, angel. Your clipped tone is only making me want to subdue you even more.” He stepped closer to her, invading her space and trapping her against the counter. “My nature is to make you submit to me, and you’re ordering me around like a little fucking puppy. You keep this shit up and I’m going bite back.”
    No matter how hard she tried, Ariel couldn’t contain the shiver of desire that crawled down her spine. It’s just a natural response of a woman to man .
    “Is that what you want? To bite back?” she asked breathlessly.
    “Angel, you make it through this testing shit without becoming my mate and it’ll be a fucking miracle. I want nothing more than to make you mine forever.”
    Then Rob swore under his breath, a look of pained regret in his eyes, and whirled, getting into the shower and slamming the glass door closed.
    Ariel felt a pang of sadness at Rob’s sudden withdrawal, but she refused to analyze why.
    Some things are best left unexplained.

Chapter Six
     
    Rob scrubbed his skin like cleaning it would clean his soul. What the hell was wrong with him? He knew his animal wanted to claim her, but he had no intention of voicing that. At least not when he was considered lucid under this medication. It was almost as if in that moment, his lion had control of everything and it was only through sheer will alone he kept from crushing his mouth to hers. He guessed that was because the medication he’d been shot up with was working, but at what cost? And how well did it actually