Newmar, Lola - Devlin's Beast [Scarlett Rose and the Seven Longhorns 5] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) Read Free Page A

the large windows in front of him, the frustration she felt inside didn’t diminish.
    “You’ve been going through a lot, kitten,” he continued as he forked cantaloupe and strawberries onto his toast plate. “Things may not be getting better anytime soon. In the meantime, as your claimed mate, my job is to keep you from harm’s way. And if you don’t stop to take care of yourself, to allow us to take care of you, you can get sick. So I began the day with a lighter breakfast to keep your strength up with healthy calories. I can assure you it has nothing to do with your weight. All the bags have already been packed for the trip. All you need to get together are your toiletries after you take your morning shower. And like I said, I sent the guys away for your own good—”
    “Excuse me?” she screeched defensively, standing to look down at him in challenge. “Next time you decide what the hell is for my own good, how ‘bout you check in with me first?”
    He held his hands out innocently. “Hold on now, kitten. I wasn’t trying to be demeaning.”
    “And I’m not trying to be controlled by a chauvinistic pig looking to treat a woman like a second-class citizen just to get his rocks off, either.”
    Devlin stood to tower over her, his chair noisily pushed back as he did so. The scowl on his face made her immediately regret her words.
    “Are you accusing me of possessing the ulterior motive of hurting you, Scarlett?”
    Her head was tilted back in order to look up at him. He sure was intimidating when he wasn’t sitting down, she thought to herself as she swallowed. She was at a loss for words at what to say.
    “I know your type, Scarlett.”
    “You douchebag!” she screeched, pounding her fists into his marble-hard chest with all the strength she could muster. It only made her angrier when he easily captured both her wrists in one hand, embarrassingly unscathed from her sad attempt at causing him physical harm. “I’m your mate. How can you just compare me to all those buckle bunnies as easily as you talk about the weather?”
    “You are special, kitten,” he said sternly, still holding on to her struggling wrists like heavy-duty handcuffs. Scarlett pushed back the echo of a dirty image forming in her mind as she thought about him using that strength to hold her down and make her—
    The clicking sound of metal brought her focus back to the stubborn bull of a man keeping her bound. “And I know I’m special to you,” he continued as he began to undo his gold rodeo belt buckle. “But women are women, and men are men. And a woman like you is what we call a control freak. You’ve spent your entire life taking care of other people, putting the needs of your loved one’s ahead of anyone else’s. Work, family, friends, love interests—they’re all there demanding a piece of you, some kind of assistance for their own lives and their own obligations. For most women, years will pass, sometimes decades, until they realize they’ve never taken the time out to work on themselves. And then the guilt sets in. They feel guilty about finding their own pleasure, and the habit of controlling others becomes a security blanket to them. Well, kitten, I’m here to give you the permission you’ve been holding your breath for. Submitting yourself to my needs will allow you to satisfy your own at the same time you take care of another person, just what you’re used to.”
    Tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision. “I won’t let you hurt me.”
    “Nothing I do,” he growled through his teeth, “nothing I will ever do, will be because I want to harm you.”
    Scarlett couldn’t keep her eyes from straying down to the rock-hard erection pressing against his denim jeans. She could feel her body heat with lust as she watched him slowly and deliberately pull the black leather belt from his belt loops. Scarlett told herself that she could think of a couple of things to do with that belt, and she wondered if any