Wed to the Bad Boy(46)

I was so glad I didn’t let him in.

“Better the devil you know,” I said. “Please. I can’t do what you’re asking. I can’t go there.” I slammed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to fight back the headache that was threatening to overwhelm me. My stomach was swirling and my head was pounding. I didn’t need this right now. I didn’t need any of this.

“Joanna, you do not want to deny me,” I could hear the warning in his voice. What the hell? Had he actually gotten to know me, did he understand who I was at all? No, he’d just shown up, twice. What the fuck was he thinking?

I was starting to feel like this man was anything but stable. “Let me in, Jo.”

“I’ve already told you no,” I answered slowly, precisely.

He slammed against the door.

“Get out of here, David.”

“You’re going to respect what I say, or I’m going to call Greyson.” I was deliberate as I said it. “I don’t think you want him to have a reason to go after you.”

“Fuck. You are going to regret this, Joanna. You are going to wish you’d chosen me. You don’t know Greyson, know what he is capable of, but I do. I know everything that could happen to you. I want to protect you from that. Don’t you see? You don’t belong here, with him.”

“I don’t know Greyson, but I also I don’t know you. I want you to leave.” I said finally and then I turned and walked away, and I sat on that couch. I would rather wait for a man like Greyson than be anywhere near a man like David. “Go away.”

“I will, but I’ll be back.”

It was a promise, one I was sure he would keep.





Chapter Fifteen





Joanna



“When did he come?” Greyson asked as he looked at me, his arms crossed.

I was terrified to answer, he looked so angry. Like he could kill someone. The rage in his eyes made me only want to take away whatever anger he was feeling. I wanted to protect him from himself.

“It happened and he left. I didn’t want to disturb you, I know you were busy,” I explained. I didn’t want to let him know all the details of it. I didn’t want to tell him the threats David made.

It would just cause more pain and trauma than any of us needed.

“That’s why I gave you the number to my cell, so you could call me when things like this happen, Jo.” He may have been admonishing me, but his tone sounded entirely different. He was concerned. Worried.

“Greyson, it sounds like you care,” I joked.

“I do, and I think you are absolutely gorgeous sitting there, all worried like that. You have no idea how everything you do turns me on.” He wrapped his arms around my body and kissed my neck.

He smelled so good and was so warm against my skin.

But this. All of this. It wasn’t my life. I didn’t belong here. What David said ran in my ears. I didn’t know him, didn’t know what he was capable of. But I did know that this wasn’t my life. I was in graduate school, I was getting my PhD. All of the things I should be doing, instead of getting married to man because of our families. It all seemed so stupid to me, so flimsy.

And I couldn’t escape that.

“Greyson, there is something I have to tell you. Something I have to say. I can’t just have sex with you tonight and go back to living with you tomorrow like nothing happened. We keep playing this game.”

“I like our games. Especially the ones where I get to tie you up,” he said, his breath heavy as he kissed my neck. “But I’m dirty, so much dirtier than that. I want to do more to you. Bind you, spank you, fuck you hard. Make you cum over and over again…” he trailed off.

“I want that too,” I murmured, “but we can’t.”

“Oh yes, yes we can.”

No. This was too important.

I pushed him away from me. “We have sex, we act like it was nothing, we exist alongside each other. If all of this is going to happen, I need to know that you want more. I need to know that you won’t just turn back into the playboy everyone says you are.” I swallowed hard. I was so tired of seeing the look in people’s eyes. Like Claire, and David. I was tired of the way they looked at me, questioning me.

Even his own sister looked full of doubt when she saw me.

“Joanna, that isn’t what I want. I think you know that there is something more between us, something that neither of us want to admit. Something we have to explore. Let’s just see where this takes us.” He kissed my temple and said, “I’m glad you didn’t open the door for anyone but me, I can’t help it, but I want you, Jo. I want you so badly.”