Read Online Beneath His Darkness (Healing Hearts #3) by Renee Dyer - Free Book Online Page A

and I push him away.
    “Davyd, what are you doing?” I ask.
    “That’s my price,” he says calmly.  “If you want my help, you become my toy.”
    “But, Emma.”
    “Emma and I have an agreement and the day I saw you, she knew you were being added to that agreement.”
    My mouth flops open and closed.  I look for words to say, but nothing comes to me.
    “Stop fighting me, Grant.  I’m the only thing standing in your way of bringing Tucker to his knees.”
    His words ring true in my ears as I stare at the smile on his face.  I try to envision myself with him, but I have no attraction to him or any other man.  Can I allow myself to let him take me so I can get what I ultimately want?
    I close my eyes and focus on the blackness there.  I call forth the familiar comfort I feel within its murky depths and allow myself to turn off all my emotions.  All of them except my hate.  I hate Tucker.  I hate that he has everything and didn’t think twice about taking my whole life from me.
    When I open my eyes, Davyd understands what he sees in my expression.  His lips come down hard on mine and this time, I don’t fight him.  Every fiber of who I am wants to revolt at having him touch me, but I stay in place, letting his lips explore mine.
    Kissing a man is different than kissing a woman.  His lips are more firm and he’s much more demanding.  When his tongue plunges into my mouth, I have to force myself not to gag.  Nothing about kissing him is natural to me.  He is simply a means to an end.  I need to get into character.
    For too long a time, his mouth attacks me.  His hot breath mingles with my own and his fingers roam through my hair.  It disgusts me that I can taste the pizza and beer on his tongue.  I have to envision I’m anywhere but here to get through this moment.  His moans make my stomach turn.  It feels like acid burning me from the inside out.
    He suddenly breaks our connection and looks at me with a smirk.  Everything about him screams pride and I wonder what the fuck he’s so proud of.
    “That will be all for tonight, but soon, you’ll be begging me for more.  I’m going to leave now.  Goodnight, lover.”
    With that said, he stands from the couch and leaves without looking back at me.  I would almost believe it hadn’t happened if I couldn’t still taste him in my mouth.
    As soon as he’s out the door and it’s closed firmly in place, I run for the bathroom.  I shove my fingers down my throat as far as they’ll go, needing to rid myself of the taint I feel from his touch.  I’ve never felt dirtier than in this moment.  The way he looked at me, devoured me with his eyes… the way he was so sure I would beg for him.
    I wretch up the contents of my stomach and continue to dry heave.  I think of how certain he is that I’ll be his lover, but there is no way I will ever think of him in those terms.  He is only a means to an end.  He is the way for me to get revenge.
    Fuck!
    Can I find another way?
    Brushing my teeth, I know I need to bury myself in a woman and wipe away all memory of what transpired here tonight.  I rush for my cell and text Vic to tell her that I’m available if she wants to come over.  While I’m in the second round of gargling, she texts back for my address.
    Tonight, I will get her to open up to me and I mean that in the most carnal form of those words.
    After a repeated brush, floss, and gargle to rid the foulness of another man kissing me, I head out to pick up the remnants of dinner.  It only takes a few minutes, but I need that time to steady my nerves and calm my heart that has been doing a steady thumpity, thumpity, thumpity since Davyd made his telling exit.
    The gentle knock on my door tells me the concierge listened earlier and allowed Vic to come up.  I walk over and open the door without looking through the peephole.  I know that isn’t advised, but my nerves are too shot to care.
    She is stunning in tight jeans, a fitted cream top,