Submission: Guilty Pleasures #3 (BBW Erotic Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

for her...it would have driven you away. I’d hurt you
with what that revelation.”
    He sank into in the leather chair
by the fireplace, the anger draining out of him, elbows on his knees, running
his hands through his hair.
    “I’m losing you anyway, now that
you know the truth.” His voice was muffled, his head down.
    I left the couch, kneeling next to
his chair, resting my hands on his knee. I felt the tension in his body. “No,
you can’t lose me with the truth.
    “But you can lose me if you’re not
honest.”
    He lifted his head, meeting my
gaze, reaching out to touch my face. I flinched and he pulled his hand back.
    “And now I’ve scared you.” He
shook his head. “This is why I try so hard to control my emotions, my anger. I
lose control and things get destroyed...people get hurt.”
    “Jake, this is hard, for both of
us. It’s been a long time since you’ve thought about Jane, and everything that
happened with her. And then I make you bring all that back to the surface...it
has to be hard to deal with. I can’t blame you for how you feel, your emotional
reaction to things. They’re part of who you are.” I reached out slowly,
touching the back of his hand.
    “But you have to know why I’ve
done this, don’t you? It’s not just on a whim. I think you know ... I hope you
do...how important this is to our relationship.”
    Jake nodded, his fingers softly
tracing patterns across the back of my hand.
    “I know. I understand. That
doesn’t mean it’s easy.” His voice was soft, eyes downcast.
    “This isn’t how I expected our
relationship to turn out.” I laughed, a faint sound in the quiet room. Jake
looked up, gave me a puzzled look.
    “I thought being a submissive was
going to be the complicated part. That was the relationship I was having a hard
time wrapping my head around. Compared to what’s happening with me...with us
now...that was the easy part.”
    Jake returned my smile, taking my
hand. I let him hold my fingers to his lips, let him kiss each one.
    “What can I say? You can’t help
who you fall in love with. I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw
you.”
    His smiled deepened, reaching his
eyes, the sadness and pain retreating for a moment. “At the bar, the night we
first met. The minute you walked in, I was awestruck, frozen where I stood,
just looking at you. You took my breath away. And you almost got away before I
managed to get control of myself.
    “It took me seeing you with Chase
to know the depth of that feeling, how much you meant to me. How much I loved
you. And how much I stood to lose. But it’s too late now, isn’t it? To get back
to that place?”
    I shook my head. “Jake, I don’t
know. Truly. Everything inside of me is so confused, nothing makes any sense
some days. I love you, but...” I didn’t need to finish the thought; he knew I
meant Chase. Knew that Chase loved me and I’d fallen in love with Chase as
well.
    “I do love you, Jake. We wouldn’t
be here if I didn’t. Everything just got out of control.”
    My fear had receded. The Jake I
knew, warm, gentle Jake, was in front of me, his eyes searching my face. He
leaned down, kissing me softly.
    The touch of his lips sent a
thrill through me. I wanted the comfort of his arms, the security I felt with
him. Even for a moment, even if it might be the last time.
    I made a tiny noise, somewhere
between a whimper and a moan. Jake broke our kiss, standing, pulling me gently
up from the floor. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me against his chest.
    “Stay with me tonight, Abby.
Please. I want you so badly, even if I’m...if this isn’t the relationship you
want. Let me have one more night with you...please.”
    The need was evident in Jake’s
voice and in his eyes. And it was in me as well.
    I pulled him to me, holding his
face in my hands.
    “Yes. I’ll stay. For tonight.”
    Jake took me upstairs to his
bedroom, where he’d first told me he loved me, where he’d first broken