Page 66 of The Beekeeper

“What are you doing?” Harper demanded, anger mingling with uncertainty.

I moved closer to her, watching her pulse flutter faster. She moved back until she couldn’t anymore—until her legs hit the edge of her bed.

“Looking for something that belongs to me.”

Her breath hitched. “Marc doesn’t…belong to you.”

Slowly, I lowered my head until our noses were almost touching. The scent coming off her was incredible. Definitely lavender and a little bit of honey and a whole lot of lust. It was heady and thick and my mouth watered for a taste.

“I wasn’t talking about Marc.”

Her jaw slackened and she sputtered, “I don’t belong to you.”

She was right. She didn’t—she couldn’t. Still, I had to bite my tongue until I tasted blood in order to stop myself from contradicting her. It was because I wanted her—needed to fuck her. I’d gone too long without being with a woman, and then too long in proximity to the only woman I wanted. I wasn’t a strong person; I knew that. I was an addict. Recovering or not, I knew better than to expose myself to repeated temptation. I knew better and I’d done it anyway.

Because I hadn’t wanted to recover from her.

“Give me your phone,” I ordered roughly, watching her lips peel apart.

“Why?”

“So I can sign your contract.”

Her pupils blew wide, and my dick throbbed, just imagining how luminous they’d look after I was done with her.

“Because you thought I brought Marc here?” Her brows drew together, the surprise on her face diminishing into something…angrier.

“Because the thought of you bringing someone else here and fucking them drove me insane.”

This time, her breath leaked from her lips in a slow, melting stream. She swayed into my hold, her lips parted dangerously close to mine.

“Give me the contract,” I ordered, my lips tracing against hers.

I was so fucking close to forgetting everything—to stamping my mouth on hers and sinking into every fantasy I’d had about her since the moment we’d met. Sinking into the warmth and sweetness and sunshine that had captivated my daughter just as easily as it had me; the only difference was I’d made it my career to hide my true self—my true feelings from everyone around me. It was how I’d protected myself by keeping everyone at arm’s length (or around for a night only). Everyone except Harper.

“Contract,” I gritted out, feeling the threads of my restraint snap one by one.

The only thing that held me back was her. Harper. I was an asshole for the way I’d treated her, the way I’d tried to push her away, and the way I was going to agree to this now. But I wouldn’t be the asshole who let her go into it with any expectations other than sex. Other than so much mind-blowing sex. I could make myself the villain and hurt her a lot of ways, but that would always be where I drew the line.

Trembling, she drew her phone from the small pocket of her robe and handed it to me.

“Good girl,” I crooned. “Now get on your knees.”

To her credit, she didn’t balk at my command. I stepped back far enough for her to be able to lower to the floor and widened my stance to relieve some of the pressure on my dick.

On her knees, she didn’t try to stop or to hide her gaze from leveling on my throbbing erection, and for a second, the words on the screen blurred as I savored the way she looked at me, all hungry but innocent. The same way I’d caught her watching me in the shower.

My cock pulsed, and drops of cum leaked onto my thigh. Fuck. This little honeypot was about to make me come in my pants and all because she got on her knees for me. All because she blatantly admired and hungered for me. Hundreds of women had done that before, so why the hell was I unraveling for her?

Gritting my teeth, I tapped out some random phrases into her phone—things that I’d had Wade put in my other NDAs before. Not because I needed them there, but because I needed her to see—to think this was transactional. If she knew I would’ve signed practically anything at that moment to be with her, it would’ve invited the kind of complications I had no solutions for.

I glanced at her again, and the hope in her eyes gutted me. Like she saw the man I wanted to be but couldn’t. I added in a few more things, making it very clear the kind of kink she was signing up for. And then I scrawled my finger across the glass, signing my name.

“Your turn,” I rasped and spun it to her. “Read carefully, my little queen.”

Her brows popped up as she took her phone back.

I crouched until our eyes were level, ignoring the throbbing pain this position caused my dick. Pink seeped into her cheeks and I let my head tip.