"You did it for results?"
"Let's say motivation." He circles me until we're face-to-face again. "You see pain. I see promise. Some men mark victories with ink. Others with iron."
I glance at the ink running down his arm. "You have both."
He grins cockily. "I cover all my bases."
I look back at the barbell on the head of his penis. "Doesn't it hurt?"
He lifts my chin, answering, "It did. Now it just reminds me that pleasure and pain share the same nerve endings."
My pulse hammers so hard it drowns the crackle of the fire. I want to scoff, to tell him he's disgusting, but my tongue won't obey. The image of his body, the glint of metal, the idea of ancient hands forging it in the name of pleasure...it all lodges under my skin.
"So what are you thinking?" he asks.
"Nothing."
"Liar."
I open my mouth, but he closes the space between us.
He demands, "Say it."
"Say what?"
"That you're curious."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"I'm not," I insist, though the air between us vibrates with the truth.
He reaches up, pushing a sweat-laden lock of hair off my cheek. "You keep fighting every instinct you have."
"Instincts get people killed."
"Or they keep them alive."
"Not in the Underworld. Rules and structure keep you breathing," I insist.
He smiles faintly. "Then maybe it's time someone rewrote the rules."
For a heartbeat, the world shrinks to the space between our mouths. The blue flames grow more prominent. Sweat beads at my hairline, and my skin tingles from the nearness of his. My heart pounds with new force.
My voice comes out raw. "You have to stop making jokes about the rules."
He intensifies his gaze on me. "Who said I was joking?"
Our lips don't meet, but everything in me strains toward him. The heat in the fireplace bends as if it's alive, watching and waiting for God only knows what.
A loud metallic click shatters the moment. The front lock disengages with a heavy thud.
Brax's jaw tightens. He spins and steps in front of me, pushing me behind him.
I peek around him.
The door swings open, flooding the room with a rush of cool air and the silhouette of a man in all black, wearing a matching ski mask.
