Her Guardian Billionaire (Forbidden First Time Romance) Read Online Free PDF

himself.”
    Standing up, he smiled down at her. “Don’t give up on him. You could be the woman to slip past his armor. You just have to find a weak spot to break through.”
    Anna swallowed and tried to smile. It’d been hopeless, but in a few minutes, Malcolm had turned it all around. Just like he always did. “Thank you, Malcolm. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
    “Hopefully you never have to find out. Good luck, miss.”
    Anna watched the butler walk out of the room before setting the empty mug on the tray. She flopped on her bed, arms outstretched and mind soaring. She longed to know what James’s secret could be, why he pushed her away, and how on earth she could force him to see her. Not the little girl he’d taken in all those years ago, but the real her. The woman who wanted him and all his broken pieces.
    Sitting up, she made up her mind. I’ll find him and confront him. Prove I’m not some innocent little girl he can’t touch .
    A half an hour later and Anna’d tugged on a dress from her luggage, pulled her hair back into a messy braid, and walked out the front door. Scanning the property for James, she thought about his routine. He always went riding Saturday mornings and not even a fight with his ward would change that.
    After traipsing down the cobblestone drive, she turned off and veered into the grassy hills that surrounded the house. She’d loved the estate since she’d first set foot on it—acres of manicured lawns ringed by native forests. A girl could get lost on the property for hours and never get bored.
    A smile spread across her face as she walked. The sun warmed her skin and she remembered running through the grass, climbing the trees, watching a deer graze in the dew. She’d miss all that if she left, but none of it held a candle to James. Not when a single glance her direction sent a bolt of pleasure through her veins.
    No other man ever made her giddy with a smile or hot with a stare. Not like him. She needed his forehead pressed against hers, his hair falling into her eyes, his short beard scraping her jaw. She wanted him—any way he wanted to have her.
    Bondage should scare her. A paddle and a flogger—thanks to the internet she’d figured that one out—should send her running for the nearest Bentley. But they didn’t. Instead, an ache consumed her. A need to be restrained and controlled—to be dominated by James and no one else—filled her body.
    Cresting a hill, she heard the horse nicker before she saw it and she slowed down. James’s favorite black stallion grazed in the grass, riderless and saying hello. She smiled and walked towards him, holding out her hand before rubbing his nose. “Hello Dante. Is your master around?”
    The horse nuzzled her hand and flicked his ears toward the gazebo. Anna glanced up and bit her lip. Even from fifty yards away she could see James standing inside, hands on his hips, surveying his property. She rubbed the horse in thanks and walked towards James, stopping at the gazebo’s entrance.
    “Hello, James.”
    “Hello, Anna. I thought you were leaving today.”
    “I’m not leaving until you talk to me. Until you see me—the real me and not the version you see in your head.”
    The riding crop in his hand twitched, but he didn’t turn around. “You shouldn’t be here.”
    Anna swallowed but didn’t stop. “Don’t push me away because you’re afraid.”
    “I don’t base my decisions on fear, Anna.”
    “Now who’s lying?”
    He swiveled around, eyes boring into hers, and she fought the urge to step back. “You’re just a girl with a crush. You don’t know what you want.”
    “If I were still seventeen, I’d agree with you. But I’m not. I’m twenty-one today. I’m an adult and I know exactly what I want. And it’s you.” Climbing the stairs, Anna walked toward James, stopping a foot away.
    “If you knew more about me, you’d change your mind.”
    “I know enough. I know that you’re focused,