Page 105 of Lovely Venom

This time, there’s a beat of hesitation before he answers.

“I knew the whole time.”

“Oh, Jesus.” I slip out from beneath his arm, pacing the hall as I mentally unravel the entire timeline of our history.

He lets me have that because he knows me—intimately.

He knows when to talk me through it and when to give me silence.

He’s seen me at my most vulnerable, and suddenly, I feel like such an idiot.

“Was this a game to you?” I ask. “Did you and Marco…plan this?”

“That’s where your mind goes?” His jaw tightens. “You think I liked seeing you with him?”

“You knew who I was the entire time,” I choke out. “You must have gotten some kind of sick enjoyment from that.”

He stalks toward me and backs me against the wall, his lips so close to mine, I can almost taste them.

“Sick?” he murmurs. “No. But I definitely enjoyed it.”

“Did it happen by accident?” I swallow. “Us being matched at Sanctum?”

“No.”

My thoughts buffer as a swell of emotion overwhelms me. I feel raw, exposed, betrayed, and confused. But worse than that is how much I like what he just admitted.

I should be angry. I should want to walk away right now. But the primitive part of my brain is stuck on the fact that he wanted me so much, he set this entire thing up.

“You didn’t want to know,” he reminds me. “You stated that explicitly on your form.”

“Yes, but, Cristian—" My voice fractures as I fail to find an argument for that. “I don’t understand. I thought you hated me.”

“Is that what it feels like when we fight?” He presses closer, his rigid cock straining against me.

When I don’t answer him, his gaze drifts to the bite mark on my neck. “I think you get off on it.”

I want to deny it, because it sounds insane, but maybe there’s some truth to it. Sparring with Cristian has annoyed me beyond comprehension, but it’s also fed something inside me.

Whenever those dark eyes land on me from across the room, the anticipation of what he might say or do always makes my heart beat faster.

Part of me recognized there was something wrong with me, because I liked the game we played far too much. I just didn’t know he actually liked it too.

Regardless, there are so many reasons we shouldn’t be doing this.

“What about Jolie?” I ask.

“What about her?” He dips his head, breathing me in as his hands slide over my hips.

“You were with her at Eden.”

“Not by choice.” He twists his fingers through my hair, angling my head back as his gaze drops to my lips.

My breath catches as I register the dark hunger in his eyes. He doesn’t just want this. It’s primal for him.

I never could have known how much the mask actually protected me. Watching Cristian unleash his intensity is more dangerous than my wildest fantasies ever could have imagined.

And when he grips a handful of my ass, letting out one of those masculine growls I love so much, I know I’m so screwed.