“Are you still working for Cole?” He asked, voice cold and thin as a blade. He did not wish to scare her. Or maybe he did. The thought that she could betray his generosity had him acting without filter. Worse, he had believed in her.
It didn’t matter now. If she was working with Cole then it was all a lie.
“What? No. I swear.”
“Then explain.”
Sera backed away a step, but he advanced. There was fear and panic and a hint of guilt in her eyes, but he was too furious to care. He towered over her. Outmatched her in strength and speed.
“We’ve been here before, Seraphina.” He used her full name, but the taste had soured. His muscles tensed. Fury poured into his thoughts, blinding him. “You’re not going to get out of an explanation this time.”
He continued to advance on her, no longer concerned with proximity, only with her answer. He was generous, but he was not a fool. If this was all some ruse, some con to get whatever Cole was after, then it ended now. Hospitality withdrawn. Sera and her friend could fend for themselves and Kieran would be down a few problems.
It was not his usual tactic to intimidate, but he had very little sleep, too much stress, and hurt was needling into the rage. He had believed her. Trusted her.
He would only wait so long for an explanation for why she was searching his dead brother’s room. If she refused this time, then he’d have no choice but to rescind his offer to protect her.
Sera stepped closer, tentative. Slow. His eyes narrowed, unsure what she intended. Wide eyed, movements more convulsive than fluid, she pressed her chest against him.
“What are you—”
Her mouth silenced his question, her lips hard and forceful against his.
No. She did not get to charm her way out of this.
He tensed. Intended to thrust her backward. Determined not to succumb to manipulation. He did not move. Did not breathe. Seconds passing while he made no attempt to stop her.
Her lips softened, the pressure shifting into pleasing and…
He brought his hands around her, fingers pressed into her bodice, braced to move, to push her away. To end whatever the fuck she was trying to do. Was their some sort of poison in her lipstick? He couldn’t move the way he wanted. Could not push her away, only pull her closer. A toxin designed to draw him into her magnetic charm.
The warm, wet glide of her tongue eased his lips apart, alighting sensations that he had not experienced in close to a decade.
Why wouldn’t his arms obey? It may not be poison, but itwasa tactic. A ploy. Her aim was to distract him, lure him into complacency with…
His eyes drifted closed. Despite all logic and reason, his body refused to listen. His hand slid higher, his crushing grip easing into a caress as the ends of her raven hair danced on his skin. Breathing unsteady and drowning in sensations. He surrendered.
This was definitively not the Game, but something else. Something wrong, though he couldn’t bring himself to care. Because it did notfeelwrong. She tasted like his every fantasy, felt like endless promise. The pressure of her, the physical presence of another body—ofherbody was overwhelming.
Whether an act or real, his participation elicited a feminine moan that vibrated against his lips, down his throat, throughout his entire being. The hand not consumed in the liquid tendrilsof her hair glided further around her waist, gripping instead of pushing.
His head angled so he could consume every ounce of pleasure from her mouth. He was intoxicated with the taste of her, with how right every curve of her body felt against him.
The poison was Sera. And his resistance had shattered.
She started to gasp. The most exquisite sounds cascaded from her throat with wanton abandon.
Sera was loud.
Her arms grasped his shoulders, then down his chest so her fingers could twine into the fabric of his shirt. The scent of almonds and sex flooded his senses.
She is manipulating you.
An unsettling sense of wrongness that he couldn’t comprehend hovered over him, but he was actively fighting conscious thought, refusing to allow this to end.
Something is wrong! Let her go.
He drank her moans, unwilling to listen. Unwilling to stop.
