All Chapters of MY CRUEL PROTECTOR : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

POV RUBYThe interior of the SUV felt like a luxury cell, permeated with Nevan's scent: an intoxicating mixture of expensive tobacco, rain, and something deeper, something purely masculine that turned my stomach in a way I refused to admit. I sat as far away from him as possible, pressed against the door, watching the raindrops slide down the tinted glass as if they were crystal tears."It won't do you any good to try to melt into the door, Ruby," his voice broke the silence, low and raspy, laden with an amusement that made me clench my teeth. "I don't bite. Unless you ask me to, of course."I turned my head sharply, giving him my most contemptuous look."You're a maniac. You kidnapped me, tied me up, and now you're mocking me. You disgust me, Nevan. Every time you touch me, I feel like I need to shower with bleach."Nevan let out a soft laugh, a sound that vibrated in the air and, much to my chagrin, sent a treacherous shiver down my spine. It wasn't an evil laugh, but that of someon

POV RUBYThe silence in the cabin was a physical presence, heavy and electric. Nevan had sat down by the fire again, but this time he wasn't cleaning his gun. He was just watching me. His steel-blue eyes scanned every inch of my body under my gray T-shirt, lingering on my bare legs with a fixity that made me feel as if he were undressing me with his gaze.I tried to ignore him. I lay down on the narrow bed, turning my back to him, but every hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I couldn't stop thinking about the camera, about his hands on my chin, about the way his scent seemed to have seeped into my pores. Desire was a dull, wet throbbing between my thighs, a shameful secret burning inside me.I waited for the fire to die down. I waited for his breathing to become rhythmic. When the only sound was the crackling of dying wood, I moved.My bare feet made no sound on the wooden floorboards. I approached the table where I had left the car keys. They weren't just keys; they were my fr

POV RUBYThe night had turned into a hungry beast scratching at the walls of the cabin. Nevan hadn't returned at his usual time, and the silence of the mountain was beginning to weigh on my shoulders like a layer of lead. I caught myself pacing back and forth, clutching the gray T-shirt he had given me in my hands. It still smelled like him: a mixture of tobacco, cold, and that particular masculine scent that was becoming addictive to me. I hated the way my pulse quickened with every creak of the wood, and I hated myself even more for worrying about my captor.Then I heard it. A thud against the door. It wasn't a code, nor a triumphant entrance. It was the dead weight of a body collapsing against the wood.I threw the door open, completely ignoring my own safety rules and the fear that Julian Vane might be on the other side. Nevan fell forward, landing on his knees on the cedar floor. He was soaked, but not just from the rain. The thick, iron-heavy smell of blood filled the small room

POV RUBYThe SUV devoured miles of asphalt and gravel as we ventured into an area of Ireland that didn't appear in tourist brochures. Here, the trees were denser and the hills seemed to hide secrets that no one dared to unearth. Nevan drove in tense silence, his right hand resting heavily on my thigh. Despite my attempts to brush it away at the beginning of the trip, now its warmth felt like a necessary mark, an anchor amid the chaos that was my life."Why are you staring at me so much, Ruby?" he asked without taking his eyes off the road. His voice had that hint of superiority that set my blood boiling. Are you trying to memorize my features before I throw you to the lions, or have you finally accepted that you can't stop wanting me?""You're an egomaniac," I replied, feigning disgust that crumbled with every mile. "I'm just trying to understand how a man like you ended up living like an animal in a cabin. You don't fit in anywhere, Nevan."He let out a dark laugh and squeezed my thi

POV RUBYI emerged from the bathroom with trembling legs, wrapped in the cream-colored silk robe that felt like a sinful caress on my still-damp skin. Nevan's master bedroom was an extension of his own personality: vast, dark, and decorated with an elegance that bordered on military. The shadows of the velvet curtains were cast over the four-poster bed, and the only sound was the crackling of the wood in the black marble fireplace.He stood there, next to the bay window, looking out over the mansion's grounds with a cut-glass goblet in his hand. He was no longer wearing the silk shirt; he had left it open, revealing the white bandage I had placed over his wound, now slightly stained with red. Hearing my footsteps, he turned with the slowness of a predator who knows his prey has nowhere to run."You took your time, Ruby," he said, his raspy voice cutting through the air like a knife. His eyes scanned my body from top to bottom, lingering on the neckline of my robe. "It suits you better