Free Succumb to Me by Julia Keaton Page B

rest.
Nothing had any value to her beyond her status and reputation, and
like everyone else in ‘high’ society, she expected her desires to
be of utmost concern to everyone … and served up to her on a silver
platter with no effort on her part to achieve them.
     
    The little game he’d planned would do nothing
to melt the ice at her core that surrounded her heart, because she
did not have one. The only purpose it would serve would be to
satisfy his need to see her brought down from her pedestal ...
would satisfy the need that had been burning inside him for six
long, agonizing years.
     
    The disappointment was crushing, the pain
almost more than he could bear. He hadn’t realized until this
moment how desperately he had wanted to believe that he could win
her heart if only he could force her to give him a chance. Without
that, there would be no true victory.
     
    He swallowed his disappointment, allowed his
anger to lead him, realizing that he was determined to take the
victory he could.
     
    “You need not know my reasons, Winter.
Suffice it to say, this is the price you will pay to hide your
dirty secret and protect your precious reputation. You must choose
between your virtue and your reputation.”
     
    “And how am I to know I will not lose
both?”
     
    “My word?”
     
    She laughed coldly. “And you’ve demonstrated
your honor so many times.”
     
    “I guarantee should you agree, I would be
satisfied by your sacrifice. With none the wiser of what has
happened between us.”
     
    “You ask too much. I ... hate ... you,” she
whispered. She couldn’t help but wonder if her attempts at stealing
the painting had given him this idea. He’d been so eager to take
her then....
     
    “Do you? Hate is a strong emotion, a fire
that burns in your soul. Do you truly hate me?”
     
    Logan ran a finger up her bare arm. His touch
raised goosebumps in its wake.
     
    “I hate what you are doing to me.” Heat
flared over her skin, delicious, tingling. No man had ever dared
touch her as Logan did. She hated him for causing her to respond
when her mind screamed against it. She knew such desires were wrong
between her and any man other than a husband. Her father must be
rolling over in his grave.
     
    He looked interested. “What am I doing to
you?”
     
    She swallowed hard, closing her eyes and
shaking her head. “You are making me feel things I should not.”
     
    “And that is unforgivable,” he whispered
hoarsely, feeling his cock harden with painful intensity at her
admission. He wanted to crush her against him, until her last
defense crumbled and she welcomed his embrace. But, more than that,
he wanted to tease her until she begged him to do what he wanted
with her. “You can earn your painting back, Winter. Wouldn’t you
like to earn something, for once in your life?”
     
    Winter trembled, ignoring the pleasurable
shivers whispering over her skin as he continued to stroke her arm
in a leisurely way.
     
    The offer tempted her. God knew it did. She
could admit that much to herself, at least. When he’d caught her in
his bedroom, mounted her, something had broken inside that she
couldn’t fix. He’d unleashed feelings inside her long ago, awakened
them again in that moment to build with every moment that passed in
his presence.
     
    The thought of obeying his demands in every
way sent a rush of liquid heat to flood between her legs, made her
womb ache with need she’d been forbidden to feel. She’d fallen
somehow, into temptation—a dark wanting only he could free her
from. If she’d been the lady she once was, she would have slapped
him. As it was, it took every ounce of strength she possessed not
to give in to her traitorous thoughts. Winter shook, opened her
eyes to look on him once more. “You would have me become a
whore.”
     
    He rose from the desk, moved around behind
her, leaning close to smell her hair, and skated the palm of his
hand gently across her nape. The tender skin came alive