Dirty Beautiful Rich Part Five Read Online Free PDF Page A

time.—”
                  “I’m still afraid, Julie, ” he admitted quietly.
                  That silenced her.
                  “I live in fear that this thing between us. . . That it’s going to destroy me and then you.”
                  A strange expression crossed her face. “I never thought you’d be the type to believe in predetermination.”
                  Predetermination. That stopped him. He drew in a long breath. “I didn’t either. I don’t. But. . .”
                  “You’re not your father.”
               “I’ve tried so hard not to be,”
                  Slowly, she crossed to him then drew his hand into hers. “Stop trying. Stop worrying. Just be you. You, Damian, are enough. You can stop trying to fight what you aren’t already. Fighting it is what’s hurting you and us.”
                  Her words burned him. They burned and hurt and his instinct was to shrug off her hand, shut down his feelings, and get the hell out. Instead, he pulled her to him. “Hold me?”
                  She melted against him, and yet she felt so strong. This wasn’t the Julie he’d met in the Denver club. The strength that he knew was there had come full force. She had the power in her now to speak the truth and to act on it, as terrifying as that might be.
                  A wave of desire washed over him. She was everything he wanted. Everything he needed. And he wanted to claim her again. To make it clear that she belonged to him and no one else.
                  “I need you, ” he growled against her ear. “Right now.”
                  She pulled back. “Not yet.”
                  He tensed. “What?”
                  “Damian, there is nothing more that I’d like than to go up to your room right now, but that would be the worst thing for us.”
                  “Indeed? ” he drawled, knowing that he was going to have to get his intense lust in check. This was entirely foreign. When he wanted to go to bed, he was never told no. And to him, sex had always been a way to heal, to forget.
                  To forget.
                  That’s why she was saying no.
                  “No quick fixes? ” he asked.
                  “I knew you were a terribly clever man, ” she teased.
                  He groaned. “You’re going to kill me.”
                  “You’re made of sterner stuff than that Damian Fitzgerald.”
               “God, I hope so.”
                  “Come on. ” She stroked his hair back from his face.  “Let’s go back and join the others.”
               “Just give me a moment. I need to. . . compose myself.”
               She grinned, clearly pleased that she inspired desire in him.
                  “You really are a torturer, woman.”
                  She gasped with mock shock. “Only because I care.”
                  He arched a brow. “To quote the rather cloying proverb, ‘No pain, no gain’?”
                  She stood on tiptoe and softly kissed his cheek. “Now, you’re getting it. ” she whispered.
                  He studied her lush body as she walked away, and tried to calm his thoughts.
                  Julie wasn’t going to just accede to his wishes. He loved it and it terrified him. But wasn’t that what he had wanted when he met her? To see her in her own power, confident, and able to stand up for herself?
                  Well, now, she was also standing up for him. A slow smile curled his lips. It was possibly the most wonderful thing he’d ever known.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
                  “Holy crap!