Read Online Cinder's Wolf: A Shifter Retelling of Cinderella (A BBW Shifter Fairy Tale Retelling Book 2) by Sylvia Frost - Free Book Online
Authors: Sylvia Frost
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bullets instead of full business cards and lipstick. It helped get the rest of the speech out. “I don’t do repeats or relationships. It’s just how I keep my life from getting messy.”
Cynthia neglected to mention the part of her system that included only banging a guy once a month and never banging anyone who might be able to jeopardize her business. He looked weirded out enough as it was.
No, weirded out wasn’t right.
He looked pissed.
“I see.”
“It’s nothing to do you with you…”
The elevator doors slid shut, and Cynthia felt her stomach drop with the finality of the silence they left. Why should she be disappointed? If he asked her to leave right now because she had been too rude, or because he was, strangely enough, actually the kind of guy interested in more than one-night stands, she would be getting what she wanted. She’d already escaped from Lucille.
“Cynthia…” He sighed. “What do you want me to say?”
“Say that you’re okay with that. That you understand the terms.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I won’t lie. When I want something, I pursue it, and I want you.”
“Rex, I don’t. I can’t—”
He stopped her by reaching for her hand again with a kind of purposeful slowness, to give her enough time to get out of it if she wanted to. She found herself surprised as she limply let him take her palm in his own.
“What I can promise is that I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do. Whether that’s a second date or anything else.” He gazed down at her hand with tender fascination, his eyes focusing on the padding between her finger and thumb, and then her callouses from cleaning. “I’m not some impulsive frat boy.”
She tugged her hand to try to take it back, embarrassed. Her curves she had long come to peace with, but she knew how many men in this social stratum felt about women who worked. Oh, they pretended to be okay with it, but in the end, they always wanted someone to spoil. A perfect princess. But Rex held her firm as he bent down and pressed a kiss right over her callouses.
Her knees felt like water balloons. Wobbly. His lips were so soft. He held the kiss, his brow furrowed as if to prove to her how little it would take to eliminate her reluctance. Just a kiss. Not even on the lips. She swayed closer to him, and his other hand steadied her at the small of her back as he rose. Her ankle buzzed with a strange warmth.
He pressed the up button again, and the doors opened.
He has me. The thought was as unnerving as it was comforting. For all Rex’s speeches about impulse control, there was something brooding behind his clenched jaw and precisely tailored suit, biding its time to escape. That alone should’ve been enough to convince her to hightail it back home.
But she wasn’t eighteen anymore. She knew the real dangerous men weren’t the ones with thousand-dollar suits. It was the hackers in hoodies you had to watch out for. The ones investing billions of dollars all the while dressing like a teenager and considering a granola bar fine dining. The ones who swore they cared about “socially responsible business practices” even as they stole their competitor’s staff and innovations. The ones who promised they didn’t care what shape a woman was as long as her heart was kind, but still went to strip clubs on the weekends.
Old school machismo players like Rex? Those were easy. They didn’t even notice it when you left their bed the next day. As long as he didn’t find out her name or worse, her business, and go around spreading rumors, she’d be fine. Her life would stay simple. Clean. Uncomplicated.
Right?
“Cynthia.” Rex said her name like had invented it. “Come upstairs with me.”
There was nothing else she could do when he spoke like that. She followed him inside the elevator.
Chapter 9
R ex regretted installing mirrors on every wall of the elevator. Originally, it had been a trick to make his wolf think the
Cynthia neglected to mention the part of her system that included only banging a guy once a month and never banging anyone who might be able to jeopardize her business. He looked weirded out enough as it was.
No, weirded out wasn’t right.
He looked pissed.
“I see.”
“It’s nothing to do you with you…”
The elevator doors slid shut, and Cynthia felt her stomach drop with the finality of the silence they left. Why should she be disappointed? If he asked her to leave right now because she had been too rude, or because he was, strangely enough, actually the kind of guy interested in more than one-night stands, she would be getting what she wanted. She’d already escaped from Lucille.
“Cynthia…” He sighed. “What do you want me to say?”
“Say that you’re okay with that. That you understand the terms.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I won’t lie. When I want something, I pursue it, and I want you.”
“Rex, I don’t. I can’t—”
He stopped her by reaching for her hand again with a kind of purposeful slowness, to give her enough time to get out of it if she wanted to. She found herself surprised as she limply let him take her palm in his own.
“What I can promise is that I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do. Whether that’s a second date or anything else.” He gazed down at her hand with tender fascination, his eyes focusing on the padding between her finger and thumb, and then her callouses from cleaning. “I’m not some impulsive frat boy.”
She tugged her hand to try to take it back, embarrassed. Her curves she had long come to peace with, but she knew how many men in this social stratum felt about women who worked. Oh, they pretended to be okay with it, but in the end, they always wanted someone to spoil. A perfect princess. But Rex held her firm as he bent down and pressed a kiss right over her callouses.
Her knees felt like water balloons. Wobbly. His lips were so soft. He held the kiss, his brow furrowed as if to prove to her how little it would take to eliminate her reluctance. Just a kiss. Not even on the lips. She swayed closer to him, and his other hand steadied her at the small of her back as he rose. Her ankle buzzed with a strange warmth.
He pressed the up button again, and the doors opened.
He has me. The thought was as unnerving as it was comforting. For all Rex’s speeches about impulse control, there was something brooding behind his clenched jaw and precisely tailored suit, biding its time to escape. That alone should’ve been enough to convince her to hightail it back home.
But she wasn’t eighteen anymore. She knew the real dangerous men weren’t the ones with thousand-dollar suits. It was the hackers in hoodies you had to watch out for. The ones investing billions of dollars all the while dressing like a teenager and considering a granola bar fine dining. The ones who swore they cared about “socially responsible business practices” even as they stole their competitor’s staff and innovations. The ones who promised they didn’t care what shape a woman was as long as her heart was kind, but still went to strip clubs on the weekends.
Old school machismo players like Rex? Those were easy. They didn’t even notice it when you left their bed the next day. As long as he didn’t find out her name or worse, her business, and go around spreading rumors, she’d be fine. Her life would stay simple. Clean. Uncomplicated.
Right?
“Cynthia.” Rex said her name like had invented it. “Come upstairs with me.”
There was nothing else she could do when he spoke like that. She followed him inside the elevator.
Chapter 9
R ex regretted installing mirrors on every wall of the elevator. Originally, it had been a trick to make his wolf think the
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