Fifty Shades Darker (book 5) novel Chapter 65

Anxious.

Angry.

I know of one thing that will give me relief.

You, Miss Steele.

My panacea.

“Well, right now I’d like to drink this, and then, if you’re not too tired, take you to bed and lose myself in you.” I’m really chancing my luck. She must be exhausted.

“I think that can be arranged, Mr. Taylor,” she says, and rewards me with a shy smile.

Oh, Ana. You’re my heroine.

I slip out of my shoes and socks. “Mrs. Taylor, stop biting your lip,” I murmur. She takes a sip of her Armagnac and closes her eyes. She hums her appreciation for her drink. The sound soft and mellow and oh so sexy.

I feel it in my groin.

She really is something else.

“You never cease to amaze me, Anastasia. After a day like today, or yesterday, rather, you’re not whining or running off into the hills screaming. I am in awe of you. You’re very strong.”

“You’re a very good reason to stay,” she whispers.

That strange feeling swells in my chest. Scarier than the darkness. Bigger. More potent. It has the power to wound.

“I told you, Christian, I’m not going anywhere, no matter what you’ve done. You know how I feel about you.”

Oh, baby, you’d run if you knew the truth.

“Where are you going to hang José’s portraits of me?” she asks, throwing me for a loop.

“That depends,” I respond, bemused that she can change tack so quickly.

“On what?”

“Circumstances.” It’ll depend on whether she stays. I don’t think I could bear to look at them when she’s no longer mine.

If. If she’s no longer mine.

“His show’s not over yet, so I don’t have to decide straightaway.” I still don’t know when the gallery will deliver them, in spite of my request.

She narrows her eyes, studying me, as if I’m hiding something.

Yeah. My fear. That’s what I’m hiding.

“You can look as sternly as you like, Mrs. Taylor. I’m saying nothing,” I tease.

“I may torture the truth from you.”