Page 97 of Arrogant Bastard
But I cannot make the word leave my lips. I just can’t. It feels like surrendering, admitting I can’t resist him, that I’m powerless. And I cannot do that. There will be no hiding from it then.
He’ll win. He’ll use it against me. I can’t give him that kind of upper hand. I’ll never get it back again.
“One.” His teeth scrape my earlobe. “Little.” His lips brush the corner of my jaw. “Word.” His tongue licks the curve of my neck.
My mouth stays firmly shut, even though I’m screamingyesin my head. Why won’t he just do it? When he knows he can? He knows I can’t resist. That I want it. Want him.
I put my hands on the chair and thrust up, rubbing against him.
He moves away, laughing. “Say the word, Cat.”
I shake my head. “I can’t.”
“No?”
“No.”
“You sure about that?”
“I’m sure.” These words, the ones Idon’twant to say, have no problem at all escaping my lips.
“All right then.” He plants one open-mouthed kiss against my throat, his tongue fluttering over my pounding pulse for a fleeting second, and then he’s gone. He straightens, untangling my legs from around his hips. “Let’s get to work.”
I stare back at him, unblinking, my mouth slightly agape. “Are you serious?”
He picks up an apron and throws it at me. “I’m giving you what you want.”
And just like that, I hate him all over again.
Later that afternoon, I’m coming up the back staircase, tired and dirty. After setting up the tasting room with every herb imaginable and making sure we were fully stocked, Caden and I spent some time in the garden going over the crops.
Under his care and diligence, the garden is practically bursting with life.
He also has ideas.
Good ideas.
Ideas that are like a kick in the gut because I didn’t think of them.
I sigh, pinching my eyes shut for a second to work the dust from them. I feel like I have a fine layer of filth on me, and I can’t wait to wash it all off.
Just as I’m heading down the hall, Payton exits the guest room she’s occupying, and I practically feel myself shrink. She looks far more gorgeous than should be fair.
I blink, taking in her lanky, lean body in a form-fitting black jumpsuit that clings like it was custom made for her. She and Gwen are built the same way, all legs.
My mind immediately fills with Caden watching her entrance in an outfit I couldn’t pull off in a million years. And here I was planning on wearing jeans to the pizza boozefest.
I plaster a smile on my face, and it hurts my cheeks, it’s so forced. “Hey, you look fantastic.”
Payton beams at me. She might be one of the friendliest and most vivacious women I’ve ever met. How could anyone not love her?
How could Caden not want her?
“Why, thank you.” She sweeps her long, softly curled hair over one shoulder and it drapes perfectly over her breast. She looks sophisticated and has a big city vibe that’s impossible to replicate. Hope and Gwen have it too. It’s elusive and mysterious, something I don’t understand about them. Even in the same outfit, with the same hair and makeup, I wouldn’t look the same.
Impoverished farm girl is too ingrained in me.
I clear my throat. “I thought this was casual.”
