Page 58 of Lovely Venom

He doesn’t retreat, so I do, watching as he explains the window sensors and silent alarm buttons.

Despite my current frustrations, I have to admit, I feel safer having these things in place. It takes everything in me, but I swallow my pride and get it over with.

“Thank you for doing all of this. You didn’t need to, but⁠—”

“You can stop at thank you,” he says. “And you don’t owe me anything in return.”

I hate that he knows that’s something that bothers me, but I try to let it go.

He checks the time on his watch and lifts his gaze to mine. “Give me your phone.”

I’m tempted to tell him there’s a word missing from his vocabulary, but considering everything he’s done for me, I hand my phone over with a sigh. I assume he’s going to add an app for the alarm, but instead he drops it onto the floor.

“What are you⁠—”

The question dies in my throat as he crushes it beneath his shoe, splintering the screen with a crack. Then without missing a beat, he retrieves a brand new phone from his pocket and hands it to me.

“What the hell?” I sputter. “All my contacts were in there. My schedule, my work stuff⁠—”

“It’s already been transferred.” He gives me a dry stare, as if he didn’t just admit to invading my privacy.

“How?”

“Romeo accessed your cloud backup.”

“Have you ever heard of boundaries?” I snap. “That wasn’t for you to decide.”

“Remember what I told you yesterday?” He raises a brow at me. “You wanted to be a brat. Welcome to the consequences of your actions.”

“A brat?” I echo him in disbelief. “Did you really just call me that?”

“Are you telling me you aren’t?”

My mouth hinges shut. It doesn’t feel like we’re talking about a phone anymore, and participating in this conversation can’t lead anywhere good.

“Look, you’ve made your point,” I tell him. “So you can go back to your life now and lord over your empire. I’m sure you have plenty of people there to micromanage.”

“They aren’t nearly as challenging.”

“Why, because they don’t talk back?”

“Yes.” Amusement threads through his voice. “As it turns out, I like a little resistance now and then.”

My heart does a weird little flip as I study him, trying to figure out if this is another game. It has to be, because there’s no way Cristian Vitale is flirting with me.

Before I can conclude anything either way, he leaves me standing there and gathers up his things for work.

“There’s food in your fridge,” he informs me. “And I have a driver on standby to take you anywhere you need to go. You’ll find his contact in your phone.”

I respond with a sigh, and he shoots me a look.

“You will let him drive you. If you don’t, I’ll come handle it personally, and I promise you’ll like that ride even less.”

“So many euphemisms there I don’t even know where to start,” I answer dryly. “Will you strap me to the back seat until I learn to behave?”

“I’m far more creative than that,” he deadpans. “Keep testing me if you want to find out.”

I offer him a bored expression as if I’m not trying to imagine what he’d do.