Traitor by Julia Sykes Read Free Book Online

myself longing for his harsh correction.
    I watched his expression turn forbidding, and his dominant aura washed over me. I was caught up in it, my mind swept away by the raging torrent of it.
    Then he released me suddenly, drawing away from me and sitting upright. I gasped at the abrupt deprivation of his touch, and the world seemed to crash back down into existence around me. My gut twisted as I was flooded with a sense of rejection. I pushed myself away from him, hugging my arms across my stomach.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked, unable to keep the tremor from my voice.
    He wasn’t looking at me. “You don’t want this, Claudia,” he said, his tone detached.
    I blinked, confused. How had my actions indicated that in any way? “What?” I asked faintly.
    He turned to me, his eyes hard. “You said that you wanted to take things slow. You aren’t ready for this. I’m manipulating you again.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, mussing it in that way that I loved.
    Yes, I had asked if we could take things slowly. But that was when I was determined not to let him touch me, to pull me in. It was too late for that now; I was lost already, inexorably drawn in by his beauty and his pain.
    “You’re not,” I insisted. “ I kissed you , in case you don’t recall.”
    “There’s a difference between a kiss and what I want to do to you,” he said roughly.
    Heat flared between my legs at his words. “Oh,” I said quietly. “But what if I want that too?”
    He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again I could see intense longing tinged with a hint of anguish.
    “You don’t know what you’re saying,” he insisted. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
    I remembered the ferocity of our passionate coupling after I had found the contents of his locked drawer, and I couldn’t hold back the small smirk that played across my lips. “I think I have a pretty good idea.”
    “No,” he said harshly. “You don’t. You’ve had one other sexual partner, and I know that you have no idea what you are asking for when you say that you want me.”
    I didn’t appreciate that he was treating me like an ignorant child, and his reference to my inexperience stung. “I saw your drawer, and I didn’t run, did I?” I demanded.
    His expression tightened. “No, you didn’t,” he conceded. “But if you knew…” He hesitated. “What I want to do to you is wrong, Claudia. I know that it’s sick, but I can’t help myself.”
    “Don’t you say that, Sean,” I said angrily. “Don’t you dare. Okay, so maybe I’m inexperienced. That doesn’t mean that I’m completely naïve. Maybe your desires aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but you are by no means alone in your tastes. And I’m assuming that you know that based on the fact that you seem to know what you’re doing. There must have been plenty of other willing women…” I trailed off, jealousy filling my gut at the thought of Sean with other partners.
    His expression was tormented. “But you’re different, Claudia,” he insisted. “The way that we met, the way that I trapped you with me… You couldn’t escape me, and I took advantage of you. And I can’t forgive myself for that.”
    My expression hardened. “Well, you’re going to have to,” I ordered. “Because it took both of us to do what we did. What we’re doing. I want this. I want you. And you beating yourself up about it isn’t going to change that.”
    He opened his mouth to protest, but I held up a hand, stopping him.
    “You said that you can’t help yourself,” my voice was quieter this time. “Well, I can’t either. I need this just as much as you do. So if your desires are sick, then mine are too. And I’m okay with that.”
    I reached for him, and he flinched away from me.
    “God damn it, Sean,” I said angrily. “You may control my body when you want to, but my mind is my own.”
    Well, mostly, I admitted to myself. I couldn’t deny that his