he growled, his voice harsh as his hands went to her shirt to finish unbuttoning it. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to maintain my control before, and not take the innocence of the child you were?”Hope felt herself trembling, her flesh sensitizing as she felt the heat of his hands, the hard promise of his body. “I offered,” she whispered. No, she hadn’t, she had begged. She had cried and pleaded with him to take her after he left that mark on her upper shoulder. “And so you did,” he agreed, his voice lethal, his eyes swirling with anger as he stared down at her. “I wanted only to protect you, Hope. How did you repay the sacrifice I made to ensure that protection?”His hand circled her neck. He applied no pressure, but she knew he wanted her to know that the threat was there. All she could feel was the fire of longing, though. It zipped through her veins, bubbled in her cunt. “What did I do?” She shook her head, seeing rage in his eyes, rage and lust and a spark of pain.
