Dramatic, Mushy, Complicated Love by Leah Sharelle (fantasy novels to read .txt) 📕

shocked that he would even say such a thing. “No!” Shaken but also pissed off, I unwrapped myself, dropped back down the mattress, then quickly rolled off the bed. Dressed just in my shorts and nothing else, and not caring that my breasts were bare, I planted my hands on my hips and glared at Luca.

First fight coming up? Tick!

I fucked up. And Judging by Meadow’s angry stance and the fire spitting from her green orbs, monumentally. Even half-naked, she was fucking spectacular, though by now, I expected her to be under me and moaning my name as my tongue slid up and down her pussy, but my mouth got in the way, and not the way I wanted.

“Meadow,” I stammered, quickly moving towards her, then halted when her hands came up in a defensive move, stunning me.

“No! You had your say, now it is my turn.” Meadow paced away from me, then whirled around and pinned me with her angry eyes.

“How could you even come to that conclusion, Luca? Before you opened your mouth and said the most stupid thing you could come up with, we were about to make love for the first time. Do you honestly think that is how I roll? That I am going to control you with threats? Because if the answer is yes, then I guess we are—”

“Don’t say it, please don’t say it,” I gritted out, hating that I put those words in her mind at all.

“Why not?” she yelled back at me. “You did. You thought the worst straight away–that I would leave you. You didn’t even let me finish, just jumped to the wrong conclusion.”

“I’m sorry, I am. I saw your knees and shame like I hadn’t never experienced before invaded me, baby.”

Meadow softened briefly. “Luca, it is just carpet burn. I get worse at work crawling on the floor fixing shit.”

“But I didn’t cause that, Meadow.” Taking the chance, I moved two steps closer to her, grateful that she’d stopped backing up from me.

“And you didn’t cause this either. I really enjoyed doing that, Luca, and I was hoping to do it again, but it seems you think you can command me not to. No one commands me to do anything, Luca, and you need to know that before we move on.” I went to argue, but Meadow held up her hand to stop me.

“And we will move on from this, Luca, because it is just an argument. I don’t make threats to get my own way Luca, I don’t play with a man’s feelings for me. Ever.”

Never have I hated my name as much as I did then. To her, I was Spunk, and recently even honey, and I found that I liked that too. The way she was saying my name now, her tone so angry and pissed off. For some reason, it hurt and that made no fucking sense to me, because it was me doing all the hurting.

All I wanted to do was wind back the clock fifteen minutes, and that was all I needed. Go back just enough in our conversation and take back the stupid shit I said to her. Holding out my hand, I offered it to her, and thank God she didn’t push it aside. Lacing our fingers, I prayed I had the right words to explain myself.

“I panicked, baby. That is the only thing that makes sense for me to have said that. I fucking loved what you did in my office, it blew me away. It was all I could think about all day today, all night last night.” Pausing, I tried to gauge how open she was for me to keep going. Her face was still annoyed, her mouth still formed in a thin line, but the fire in her eyes was now just a glint of a spark.

Encouraged by this, I pushed my luck and pulled her closer until we were close enough I could feel the tips of her nipples on my chest.

“I never want to be the reason you hurt, Meadow, physical or otherwise. It freaked me, ashamed me that getting down on your knees like that caused the burns. Then I went and hurt you in the worst way imaginable.”

“You assumed something horrible about me, Luca. I can get over the bossiness, that doesn’t concern me as much as the fact you expect the worst of me,” Meadow rasped, her head tilted back to look me in the eyes. Her voice taking a softer tone, my name not sounding so much like a curse word now.

“I didn’t think when I said that, didn’t see how it could be seen that way,” I rushed to defend myself but in no way was l letting myself off the hook. That was for Meadow to decide.

A small smile replaced her frown, it wasn’t the hundred-watt smile that lit my heart on fire, but it was a start.

“I know, honey, and I do understand in a way.” My chest puffed out when she used the endearment. It was a sign that I had not screwed up irrevocably.

“You have led a life of protection and responsibility. But Spunk,” she sassed and winked at me like she read my mind and gave me what I needed to hear from her sweet lips, “you don’t have to protect anything but my heart. A little carpet burn is a-okay, I think of it like my own personal badge of honour. A reminder than I rocked my man’s world and blew his mind.” Meadow got up on her tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss to my chin.

“I will endure skinned knees every day of the week if it means I get to see you lost in passion all because of me. The only thing you are responsible for is buying a soft rug for your office. Can you handle that, Spunk?”

Relief just about buckled my knees. Everything Meadow said about me was right; my father dying had conditioned me