Break Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

balance of hard and tender to crack the foundation and get inside her walls.
    “Are you taking me home to my place? Or yours?”
    Her question caught me off guard and pulled me out of my head. She had her purse and an expectant look on her face. “Where do you want to go?”
    “Yours.”
    That was interesting and curious. I would ask about it later, but for now, I’d take her at her word and take her home with me.
    In our path, just as we got to the door, was Jo. I sighed, having forgotten she’d been in the café earlier. She’d slipped from my head as soon as Claire approached me. I braced myself for a confrontation I didn’t want to be part of, but never got the chance to utter a word.
    Claire slipped her hand into mine, laced our fingers together, and when I glanced down at her, she was smiling. It wasn’t a friendly smile, either, but rather predatory. She was sending a message to the woman blocking our path and Jo must have understood it. She moved aside with an indecipherable look.
    “What was that about?” I asked, innocence in every syllable.
    “She wanted you.”
    “Yes.” No reason for me to deny it. “She gave me her number earlier today.”
    “Are you interested?”
    “No.”
    “Okay.”
    My lips twitched with a smile. Claire had claws I hadn’t been aware of and it made me wonder if she’d been aware of it herself. “Are you sure about this? Going home with me?”
    “No. But I don’t want to go to my house. I don’t want to be alone.”
    The last few words were said so softly I had to strain to hear them. I squeezed her hand still holding tight to mine. “I’ll keep you with me, then.”
    “Thank you.”
    “My pleasure.”
    “It’s your fault, anyway.”
    I laughed at the petulant way she accused me. “Of course it is.”
    “You just kept pushing me and pushing me.”
    “I did,” I agreed.
    “You don’t take no for an answer.”
    “Not usually.”
    “You should try it sometime.”
    “Why? You’re holding my hand and going home with me. Why should I have taken your word for it that you didn’t want to open up?”
    “Because I said so.”
    “Claire…” Her name was a warning floating between us.
    “There it is.”
    “There what is?”
    “The Dom voice. Tim used it too when he’d had enough. Yours is slightly more Southern and holds a little more edge, but it’s still in the same Dom voice family.”
    “Do you think I’ve had enough?”
    “Close to it.”
    “Do you want to push me to that limit?”
    She stopped walking and I turned to face her. “I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know who this person is,” she flailed her free hand in front of her body. “She’s too new, too different. I don’t know what I’m feeling. I only know this is scary as shit and it’s your fault.”
    “All right. I’ll accept the blame. I’m not sorry, Claire.”
    “Selfish,” she muttered.
    “Why? Because I saw beyond the façade? Because I saw something in your eyes every time you looked at me? Because I saw something more in you? Fine. If that’s selfish, I’ll own it. You pushed his buttons. You said so. You pushed his buttons until he couldn’t keep from pushing yours. You want to do the same thing to me?” I bent down, got in her face until our noses touched and I could see every fleck of gold in her eyes. “Push me, Claire. If you have to, if you need to, go ahead and push me, and I promise to give you what you want.”
    Impulsively, I brushed a kiss to her lips and turned away without another word. She followed along, hand still gripping mine. I helped her into my truck and felt her eyes on me as I rounded the front to climb up behind the wheel.
    “No one has talked to me the way you do,” she said softly.
    “And how do I talk to you?”
    “Like I’m not fragile. Like I won’t break.”
    “You won’t.” Even though I suspected she actually needed to shatter completely before this was all said and done.
    Downtown Karim