Page 30 of Savage Hearts

I did not want to be affected by the brothers, but last night when Maverick was in my room, I?—

I didn’t fight him off all that hard.

Perhaps because I knew I couldn’t.

Or perhaps because I wanted him to push me over the edge.

I wanted to know how it would feel like to be broken so beautifully by such a brutal, beautiful man… again. Only this time, there was no pretense.

And I wanted to know if I could pick myself up and glue back the pieces once he finished—and as of this morning, I wasn’t certain if that was possible.

I jumped when a plate of scrambled eggs, strips of bacon, and roasted potatoes was placed in front of me.

Rachel shot me a look of concern, and I pretended not to see it.

I didn’t need her to act concerned for me, and I didn’t need to crave it like I had once craved my mother’s affection, before I grew up and realized what a cold, callous bitch she was.

“Are you okay, Mila?” Rachel asked.

I nodded mutely.

My fists clenched underneath the kitchen island, and I glared down at the eggs on my plate before slowly picking up the fork and digging in.

It took me a moment to realize she was staring at me.

I tilted my head to the side in question.

“Maverick would like to take you to a beauty appointment today.”

I scowled. “Are you kidding me? Isn’t it bad enough that I am here against my will? Now they want to dress me up and give me a makeover like their own personal doll?”

Rachel blushed a little. “Uh?—”

“Not a makeover, little monster.”

I tensed when I heard his voice. It didn’t take long for his heavy footfalls to sound out across the dark linoleum floor in the kitchen as he came closer to me.

I didn’t turn when I felt the heat of his body pressed against my back.

“Give us a moment?” he asked Rachel.

The other woman nodded and shot me a sympathetic smile before she scurried out of the kitchen.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from calling to her.

I didn’t want to be thought of as timid.

But the memories of what he had done to me last night as I slept, and even when I woke up, came crashing down on me in full force.

I closed my eyes when he gathered up my hair and pushed it to the side, giving him access to my neck.

A vulnerable point, which felt even more so when he bent down and placed gentle kisses along the soft skin there. The tenderness contradicted the brute so badly, I couldn’t reconcile the image I had of the monster who came to my room with this supposedly new man.

But I wasn’t stupid.

This was just another one of his mind games.

“Aren’t you going to say anything? I took off some time from work to come home to take you on this small errand.”

---