Chocolate-covered strawberries, I decided, was a fun fruit, when the chocolate had gone soft and I was able to draw little swirls on his body with it, using the strawberry as my brush. I’d drag it along his skin and then use my tongue to lick it up.
I enjoyed watching what equaled to a squirm to him. His eyes were closed and his stomach tense. When I licked his inner thigh and then blew cold air on the spot, he trembled hard.
“Scarlett,” he almost growled.
“You do that when you like something that you’re not used to.” I mimicked his tone and said my name, then made a growly sound deep in my throat. I licked and blew again, this time along the ridges of his ribs.
He went to pull me up his body, but I refused. “The Bible says what’s yours is mine, remember? And I want to do this.” I blew a big breath against his thigh again, and a raspy laugh came from his throat. He had the sexiest voice I’d ever heard—deep with some rasp, especially when he laughed.
The sound delighted me something fierce. So fierce, in fact, that I did it again. “Ooops!” I said, after he reacted the same way.
“That’s it!” he growled. “I’ve had enough.”
“Oooh!” I said, doing a damsel in distress. “Stay back, beast!”
He flipped me on my back, garnering an uncontrolledoomf!from my mouth. I shoved at his chest, but he went in for the kill, straight to the pulse in the neck. He nuzzled me, biting and licking, and I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Some beast I am,” he said, his breath warm and smelling of chocolate. “My dinner laughs at me!”
“Not all of the time,” I said, hiccupping air. “Only when the beast gets ticklish.”
“I’m not fucking ticklish.”
“Yousoare!”
He rose up on his knees, looking over me. I couldn’t help but gaze every so often athim—all of this seemed to turn him on.God, he was beautiful, all of him.I poked him in the belly, hoping to get another laugh.
“Don’t poke me, Scarlett.”
“Just did. And,hey! Youpokeme all of the time!” And I did it again.
His stomach clenched, all of his muscles tightening, but he held his face serious, though he really wanted to laugh. The sides of his mouth twitched.
“See!” I screeched as he got me under the neck with a finger. “You are. You are.You are!”
He came at me even more ravenous than before—it bothered him that I’d made him laugh. Then the screeches turned into sighs as our bodies started to slide, slick and sticky from the chocolate. He used his tongue, and then I’d use mine, and before we knew it—
There was aclick, click, clicknoise, followed by the sudden rush of an object swinging through the air. Brando flattened on top of me as a solidthwack!connected with his lower back. I felt more than heard his breath leave him in a surge.
Peeking out from underneath him, I tried to scramble out to get to her. Soraya. Her eyes were glazed over, her face pale, and she was in nothing but a raincoat and furry, high-heeled boots. Brando kept me pinned, and I couldn’t move.
“You didn’t call!” she screeched, lifting the golf club once more, coming down with a more mutedthwack!on the bed. Brando barely had time to grab the sheet and cover himself before she did it again. This time his foot was a breath short of getting shattered by the iron.
All covered, he rolled off, coming to stand in an unoffending position in front of her. They sort of danced back and forth—she went left, he went left, all with his hands up.
“Put the club down,” he said, his voice soft, almost understanding. “Let’s talk.”
She laughed like a madwoman. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that it’s not polite to fuck a woman and then not leave your number? The best sex of my life, Brando Fausti! Yousawme! Your eyessawme!”
I resisted the urge to vomit. If he was worried about the bunny, here was the bunny hunter. She was probably wearing the poor creature’s hide around her ankles.
She swung at him, catching him in the elbow. I immediately saw his skin split, blood start to drip and then rush. I wasn’t even sure if he had felt it—his face had hardened to stone, but his eyes were soft with pity. Every time he went to speak to her, she screeched over him until he stopped.
“And now,” she swung again, barely missing him. “Now you’re shacked up with this whore! That should beme! A love like ours doesn’t fade!”
Though I had nothing but disdain for this woman, it was clear to see that something wasn’t right with her. This wasn’t just a jealous woman out for revenge, but someoneonsomething. Her eyes were dilated, and sometimes her speech was slurred. Whatever she was on seemed to up her personality.
“Nemours,” Brando said, making sense of my thoughts. “My uncle. Did he give you something?”
