Bree inhaled sharply. Touching James’ cock was like nothing she had ever imagined. She was fascinated by how soft and smooth the skin was. It moved in her hand, a hard bar of steel that throbbed and pulsed.
She looked up at him. His eyes were glowing green and the beard was thick on his face. She had a fleeting image of Draken, his eyes glowing like James’, and she shrieked with fear and scrambled off of his lap.
He stood, tucking his cock into his pants hurriedly, and took a few steps towards her. “Bree, my love? What’s wrong?”
“Stay away from me.” She moaned. She covered her naked breasts with her arms and backed away from him.
James smiled at her reassuringly as he moved slowly towards her. “It’s okay Bree. Just relax and – “
“I’m sorry.” She whimpered. “I’m so sorry but I can’t – I shouldn’t do this with someone like you.”
He recoiled as if she had slapped him. A look of hurt crossed his face and she gave a small cry of dismay.
“I’m sorry James. I – “
“It’s fine Bree.” He said dismissively before walking towards the door of his bedroom.
“How’s your arm?” He reached for the handle on the door.
“I – I’m sorry what?”
He looked at her, his face cold and distant, and she blinked back the sudden tears. “Your arm? Is it healed?”
She had completely forgotten about her arm and she glanced quickly at it. “Yes, it’s fine.”
He nodded and opened the door.
“James wait!”
“What is it?” He gave her an impatient look.
“I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out the way it sounded. It’s not that I don’t – “
He cut her off. “I said it was fine Bree. Apology accepted and don’t worry – I won’t touch you again.”
He slipped out of the room and closed the door firmly behind him. Bree started to cry in earnest as she sank to the floor and buried her head in her hands. She was an idiot. She had only been frightened for a moment. In her heart she knew that James was nothing like Draken, and scrambling away from him had been an involuntary reaction. Her fear had dissipated by the time she was standing across the room from him. In its place was shame.
If Kaden knew what she was doing he would be disgusted and angry with her. Lycans had kept them prisoners; they had tortured them and starved them and used them for sport. It wouldn’t matter to Kaden that James and his family were different. His hatred for the Lycans ran deep and if he knew that she trusted them, if he knew she had almost had sex with one, he would never forgive her.
She crept to James’ bed and climbed into it, burying herself completely under the covers as she sobbed quietly. She had hurt James’ badly, she had seen it in his face, and knowing that she had hurt him and that he would never touch her again made her chest ache.
She closed her eyes. The look on James’ face flickered through her mind again, and she curled into a tight ball and sobbed bitterly. She deserved his anger.
Chapter 10
Bree stiffened and cocked her head to the side as adrenaline rushed through her body. She listened intently and when there was only silence, she relaxed and continued to stuff her clothes into the large leather bag. Tia stared at her curiously from the bed, obviously wondering why she was up when it was still dark.
The last four days had been horrible. She had expected James to be angry with her but he had shown no anger at all. Instead, he had looked at her with a terrible coldness that chilled her to the core. The first day she had tried to engage him in hesitant conversation. He spoke to her but in an oddly disconnected manner. She hadn’t tried again. She would have preferred anger over the cold calmness that radiated from him.
It was as though she meant nothing to him at all which, Bree decided, she didn’t. She was really nothing more than a roll in the hay for him. When she had turned him down and insulted him, he had simply lost interest.
She didn’t blame him for his coldness. What had happened between them was completely her fault. She had asked him to kiss her, to touch her, and when he did she freaked out and basically called him a monster to his face.
He had stopped teaching her to ride. The day after she had rejected him, he hadn’t shown up at the barn for their morning lesson. She had waited for nearly half an hour, pacing nervously back and forth until she admitted the truth to herself. He wasn’t going to show up.
She sighed and buckled the leather bag shut. Her conversation with Sophia this morning had helped a little. She had been lugging a basket of wet and heavy laundry out to hang on the line when she had literally run into James. Struggling to carry the heavy basket, stumbling a little on the frozen ground, she had run straight into him as she rounded the corner of the house. She had fallen backwards, landing on her tailbone with a hard thud, as the basket tipped out of her hands and the wet laundry spilled on to the ground.