Free The Redemption (Charlotte Bloom Book 2) by Amanda Richardson Page B

that’s not a bad idea.”
    Oh, crap.
    “What?”
    “I mean… maybe I should make you work for it. Maybe you should beg for my forgiveness every day.” He walked over to me, and stopped just an inch away. He leaned in closer, and brushed his finger against my jaw. “Maybe I should punish you a little bit.” I felt my whole body quiver in response.
    What had been dead inside of me for the last three months had suddenly awakened. It took every fiber in my body to keep myself calm and composed. If I tried to kiss him too soon, it would ruin everything. I had to get him to forgive me first. This would be hard. He knew how to manipulate my body. He would use it against me.
    “Seriously? You’re only taking advantage of me right now because you know I’ll do it.”
    I waited for him to say something, but he just stood there. Then he shrugged his shoulders, as if asking why the hell not ? He was serious.
    “I was going to take you back, Charlotte. I will forgive you eventually. Of course I’m happy that you’re here. Of course I still want you,” he said, growling a little bit as he appraised my appearance. “But… this will be fun. This is too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
    I knew Alec was using this against me, and yet, I didn’t care. My heart was singing to his words.
    I was going to take you back.
    I’m happy you’re here.
    I still want you.
    If this was what it was going to take to win him back, I would do it. I would do anything. I’d lived my life long enough without him. A few days of doting on him wouldn’t be that hard. I just had to play along. We were treading deep water here. This could make or break us.
    “Fine. Use me. I don’t mind.” I looked over my shoulder, making sure Ennis wasn’t around. “But just because I’m being punished and begging for your forgiveness doesn’t mean I have to do it with clothes on.”
    And with that, I quickly took the hair band out of my hair and tossed my long, red hair from side to side. Before he knew what was happening, I pulled my shirt over my head and stood there, topless. His eyes turned into saucers, and I noticed a dark gleam take over his pupils. He stood completely still. Not happy with the reaction I was getting, I took it one step further, and removed my pants. Now I was completely naked, and my pajamas stood in a pile at my feet.
    “Fuck, Charlotte. You make it really hard to be mad at you,” he rasped slowly and, with clearly a lot of reluctance, he shut the door slowly, never taking his eyes off of my bare skin.
    I heard the door click and, with a huge grin on my face, I frantically grabbed my pajamas and dashed to my room. The last thing I needed was for Alec’s mom to see me standing buck naked in front of her son’s bedroom. I was still smiling as I went to go take a cold shower. I needed to cool off. I was on fire. As the cool water hit me and ran down the entire length of my body, I tried not to call out in shock. I hated cold showers, but they really did the trick in emergencies like this.
    As I stepped out of the shower, I yelped in surprise. Alec sat on the edge of my bed, watching me.
    “Did you just watch me shower?” I asked, my breath catching somewhere between my lungs and my throat.
    “Why, do you have a problem with that?”
    “It’s polite to knock,” I said, dropping the towel as I went to put clothes on. I heard Alec suck in a breath of air.
    “I figured we should lay out some ground rules.”
    “For what?”
    “For your redemption.”
    “Oh, right. That.” I put on a sheer, super sexy lavender lingerie set. I turned around and bent over, pretending to pick something off the ground. “Is this against the rules?”
    Before I could turn around and see his reaction to my thong-clad ass, he jumped up and pushed me against the wall, so that both hands were on my waist. I cried out, not in surprise or pain but in desire. I saw him move his hands lower and lower, and he exhaled loudly. I looked up at him. We