The Belle and the Beard by Kate Canterbary (good book club books .txt) 📕

lifted his palm to my cheek, slipped his fingers into my hair, tapped his thumb against my lips—"I won't be one of those people."

I shuddered. My whole body, it was one indelicate shudder. It wasn't necessary but I still said, "Okay."

"Do you know what that means, Jasper? Do you know how to trust someone to show up for you? Or do you play the part while knowing you're the only one who could ever give you what you want?"

"I know what it means," I said defiantly. "I just don't have much experience with anyone making good on those promises."

He rubbed his thumb over my lips again before tracing the shape of my birthmark. "I won't be one of those people."

Because I was a bratty little punk under all this polish, I shook off his thumb and gestured to the table. "Are you waiting for me to hop up there?"

"You fucking know I'm not," he growled, his hand sliding down to my neck. "I'm having a conversation with you here because I don't want any confusion in there."

I blinked away before saying, "Condoms."

"Of course."

"I'm not into pain or degradation."

He nodded. "Good, me neither."

"I'm serious. I don't mind a slap on the ass or two but if you think I'm going to count while you spank me, I will walk out of here naked."

"The last thing I want to do is spank you in any disciplinary way," he replied.

"What's the first thing?"

His brows bent up. "What?"

"You said the last thing you want to do is spank me. What's the first thing you want to do?"

He hummed for a second, then shook his head. He dragged his fingers up from my navel to my neck. "No, I don't think I'm going to answer that question. Not until you tell me what you want."

"I—" I almost said it. I almost spoke the words inside my head.

"If you can't say it, Peach, I'll—"

"Would you just wait a minute? My god. Let a girl speak, would you?"

I gave an exaggerated shake of my head as I fired a haughty glance at him. He knew it was bullshit but he seemed to know all my bullshit. Every last bit of it. I swallowed hard and dropped my gaze to his beard. There were flecks of silver in there but a dash of sun-kissed auburn too. I didn't know why that amused me but it did.

"I have all night and nowhere to be in the morning," he said, his knuckles gentle as they brushed along the line of my jaw.

"I-I just," I stammered, still struggling to grab hold of those words and share them without immediately regretting it. "I don't want to think."

Why did I say that? Just…why? Ordinary, healthy people didn't say things like that. They didn't ask to zone out during sex. They didn't expect someone else to do the work while lying back and letting it happen.

But that wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't about letting it happen. It was about letting go. It was not having to make one more decision. It was being safe and trusting that I'd get what I needed just as much as he would.

"Now I know you're ready," he said.

I glanced up at him with a glower, still feeling the sting of embarrassment in my face, my chest. "What does that mean?"

He studied my mouth for a long moment before saying, "You wouldn't have said that earlier this week. That day in the woods? Never would've said it. You couldn't stop thinking." He met my eyes, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. "And just so you know, I'm not going to allow you to think."

I always knew Linden was a wolf at heart but now I knew he was a savage one at that.

We were barely inside the bedroom when Linden had me against the wall, my cheek pressed flat while he yanked my dress over my head. He didn't waste a single second rocking that hard shaft against my backside and murmuring, "No, baby, I'm not going to give you a minute to think."

"I feel like you're making a lot of big promises here," I said. "It would be disappointing if you didn't live up to them."

Linden dragged his fingers up my spine and with one flick of his hand, my bra was gone. I didn't even know how to get it off that quickly. "You won't be disappointed."

He kept one hand between my shoulder blades while he ran the other down to my waist and over my backside—and lower. With that broad palm and those thick fingers, he cupped my pussy in a manner I could only describe as crude. It had to be crude. No one with fingers like those could grab a pussy without being a tad bit crude about it.

Then, "This is mine."

"Bless you and that spirited male imperialism," I managed. Honestly, I could barely speak with him squeezing my pussy like that. As if anyone could speak.

He curled those fingers around the crotch of my panties and yanked them down, sending them to the floor with less than a whisper. His hand tangled in my hair, he said, "Don't lie to me. You love it."

Since I did not actually want to lie and this was the best foreplay I'd had in forever, I stayed quiet while Linden nipped and kissed my neck and shoulders. That part was amazing but it was his scratchy-soft beard that had me clawing at the wall and arching my back to feel more of his shaft, anything, any friction I could get.

"You need to learn a bit of patience," he growled in my ear. "You'll get what you need when I'm good and ready to give it to you. Understand?"

What the hell did he just say to me?

"So, so imperious," I said, and those words weren't halfway off my tongue when he pushed two fingers inside me with more force than I'd ever experienced. I hadn't even been fucked this hard. I couldn't