THROTTLE: (A Stepbrother Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

a grown man, so infatuated with a
girl that I killed my own father to keep her for myself," he snarled
softly. "Tell me how I'm not a monster."
    Memories
of their last night together flashed through his mind, an amalgamation of scent
and sound. The vacant look in her eyes that day had fueled eight years of
nightmares. What if something happened to her while he was locked up? His
father may have been gone, but the world was full of predators.
    "Jared,
you’ve got it all wrong in your head.   What you thought about me isn’t a bad thing.   It was natural for us to feel lust for each
other.   The difference is that you would
never have followed through on any of your thoughts before it was the right
time.   You were waiting for me to be
grown.   And I’m grown now, baby.   I’m not a girl anymore, and any thoughts
you’re having aren’t wrong.   There’s
nothing sordid about this thing between us," she released her hold on him
and turned him until they were face to face.   The adoration in her eyes was almost more than he could bear. Reaching
up, she trailed her fingertips over his cheek so gently he closed his eyes at
the sensation.
    "Then
what would you call it?" he asked.
    "Jared,"
she sighed, leaning up until her lips nearly touched his. "It's true love,
of course. What else could it be?"

 
    9

 
 
 
    He’d walked
away.   She’d given it everything, tried
every argument she could think of to convince him, but he hadn’t listened.   It was worse than she’d thought.   Instead of him being disgusted with her he
was disgusted with himself.   When he’d
called himself a monster she’d wanted to cry.   He was her savior, her rock and her love.   She couldn’t bear to think he might despise
himself for the very things she was most grateful to him for.
    They’d
been through something so terrible together, but it had proven to her things that
most women never had confirmed about the person they love.   Jared had gone all the way to protect
her.   He’d committed a terrible crime—patricide—throttling
the life out of the man who’d given him his.   He’d sacrificed eight years, and now he was trying to sacrifice himself
again.   She knew he’d lay down his life
for her, and for that she was prepared to give him hers.
    As
he stalked across the car park she’d called out to him, hoping he would turn.
    She’d
said, “Come to me tomorrow night.   I’ll
be waiting for you.   This is our time now
and there’s been no one else, Jared.   I’ve waited for you.   Come and
take what you’ve been waiting for.”   In
the middle of her pleading he’d stopped.   Maybe when he’d realized what she was saying, that she was a virgin and
that she’d kept herself for him.   He’d
flexed his hands and then turned to look at her with blue eyes so filled with
fire they seemed to flash in the half light.  
    Then,
after a moment of tense silence, he was gone and she was none the wiser as to
how he was feeling.
    But
she was hopeful, which was why she was standing in her bedroom, dressed in
pretty cream satin and lace pajamas, hair in soft waves and the barest hint of
makeup, waiting for a man that might never come.   God, she hoped he would come.  
    There
was a knock at the door.   It was
him.   It had to be him.   She said a silent prayer on her way down the
stairs and when she looked through the spy hole Jared was there, face lowered
and covered by the bill of his cap.   When
she opened the door his eyes raked over her with a desperation and hunger that
sent shivers up her spine.   He seemed to
inhale, nostrils flaring slightly as he tried to remain in control.   At least, that’s what she hoped.  
    She
was panting, her breath coming shallow and faint.
    And
then he was on her, pressing her against the wall as the door swung shut behind
him.   “Don’t say anything." He put
his hand over her mouth and Emma had half a mind to bite it, but his eyes were
frantic and pleading and