Chapter 51

Jerome wanted very badly to avoid staking her claim on Anna. On the other hand, he kissed her, taking her mouth in his own and branding her lips with an intense desire. Instantaneously, she bowed down to him, and he sat there, savoring the triumph of her response in complete silence.

However, her submission only lasted for a short while. Anna tore her mouth away from his as she pressed her hands on his bare chest. The sensation of her touch teased him with the prospect of all the different places they could go together. She mumbled, "No," her voice trembling with desperation and the weight of desire. "I want you, but not in this form," she said. Not when you have no justification for your anger."

He supported himself on his elbows, placing one on either side of her, and fixed his gaze on her eyes as he did so. "You frightened the living daylights out of me." His voice was raspy and had a gravelly quality that was difficult for him to identify as being his own.

Her expression was one o