“Obedient,” I murmur, letting go of her hand to press two fingers against the groove of her wrist.
Her pulse quickens, and a smile spreads on my lips. Genuine and lethal. Max knows what it means, so he busies himself by fluffing her pillow.
Lillian turns her head to look at him, but a click of my tongue stops her. She flinches, and I lean a little closer.
“Scared of me?” Her teeth dig into her plump lower lip, tempting me to have a taste. “You should be.”
I put my hand on her cheek; this time, she doesn't dare to flinch. Her skin is so warm, cheeks flushed pink—and I barely touched her. I don’t know what it is; her feigned innocence, those big eyes—but whatever it is, it gets me fucking hard.
“Open your mouth,” I say, sliding my thumb over her bottom lip so she lets go of it. I told Max I’d apologize to her by fucking her pretty face, and I’m a man who keeps his promises.
“Wait, wait, wait,” she stammers, turning toward Max. “What’s going on here?”
“Ahem,” he says, staring at me like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
I’m going to kill him.
“Vaughn, outside, now.”
It takes a lot, if not all, of my self-restraint to keep my composure until we’re out of Lillian’s field of hearing. Two doors separate us from her as we reach the deserted hallway; probably not enough, but I won’t walk any further.
I grab Max by his shirt, twisting it in my hand before I push him against the nearest wall.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snarl, looking down at him. We’re almost the same height, but God takes a few inches from him whenever I’m pissed. “How exactly is this supposed to work, Max? Cause if you want someone to hold hands andhave bingo nights, I’m gonna drop you off at the nearest retirement home.”
I tighten my grip and pull him close, only to slam him against the wall once more.
“She looked at me like I just gave her a heart attack just because I told her to open her fucking mouth. This isn’t working, sunshine.”
“Maybe I still have to talk to her aboutthatside of the agreement,” he admits, and my eye starts twitching.
He forces himself to smile at me, looking like a fucking ventriloquist’s doll, and I’m tempted to shove my fist up his ass and turn him into a proper one.
Sneakily, he tries to sink down on his knees, but I’m holding his shirt in such a tight grip he’d have to rip it.
“Don’t even think about sucking your way out of this. My cock is a reward, and certainly not something you get for behaving like the biggest fucking moron in the universe.”
Max looks at me like a kicked puppy, his shoulders dropping as soon as I let go of him. Impressive how he still acts like this fiasco isn’t entirely his doing.
“You’re going to walk your stupid ass back there and sort this out. The next time I enter this room, I want both of you to behave. I’m not risking my paycheck for your little roommate project without getting anything in return.”
Deep down, I hope he fucks it up. That a completely hysterical Lillian waits for him, forcing him to realize that this has to end. Then we could pack her into a car, drive her wherever her innocent little heart desires, forget about this mishap, and go back to business as usual.
Because everything was fucking fine between us before she showed up.
8
LILY
Don’t freak out.
“Shit,” I hiss as a throbbing pain shoots through the inside of my cheek, and a metallic taste hits my tongue.
Admittedly, a tiny part of me would like to hear what the guys are arguing about. I have a slight suspicion that it could have to do with me. Hence why, the other, much bigger part of my brain wants to bolt off to spare myself further embarrassment.
Looking around the small room, my gaze catches on a hole in the wall and on a door leading to what must be the hallway. From inside the run-down bathroom, their voices are less muffled but still far enough away to make trying the handle seem like a good idea.
The door doesn’t open, and the voices fall silent.
