Page 16 of Villainous Intent

The server returned with wine and I couldn’t look away as Annie lifted her glass. I tracked the slide of her throat as she swallowed, the flick of her tongue catching a stray drop. I wondered if she made that same little satisfied sound when she⁠—

“I need to freshen up,” Dawn announced, rising from her seat. “Be right back.”

The moment she disappeared around the corner, Annie’s entire demeanor transformed. The pleasant smile vanished, replaced by a cold fury as her eyes locked onto Menace.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she hissed, leaning across the table. She looked like she wanted to reach out and strangle him with his tie. I’d pay good money to actually see that happen.

Hunter raised his hands. “Bishop, it’s not what you think⁠—“

“Not what I think? You’re dating my roommate! My civilian, non-Super roommate who has no idea she’s sleeping with a League member!”

“Keep your voice down,” Hunter whispered frantically. “And for your information, I like Dawn.”

“Oh, please. What’s the angle? Access to the museum’s Super artifacts?”

“There’s no angle! She’s smart, she’s funny⁠—“

“She doesn’t know what you are!”

I chuckled. I couldn’t help it. The entertainment of watching Annie Bishop verbally eviscerate Menace was too delicious to contain.

She whipped her head toward me. “Something funny?”

The urge to maintain the facade of Thomas Smith, evaporated. It was suffocating anyway. I let the mask slip, just a fraction and gave her Cipher’s smile. It was the smile that showed too many teeth and never quite reached my eyes. It was the smile I wore right before I broke something.

Annie’s eyes snapped to my mouth.

For just a second, time suspended itself as she brought her hands up. They trembled slightly as they hovered over the upper portion of my face.

There was no way. There was no fucking way she could know who I was.

But a perfect cocktail of horror and recognition spread across her face. She knew.

Her hand darted out and snatched the steak knife from the table.

My world narrowed to the point of the knife digging into my suit, right over my stomach, and the frantic, rabbit-fast pulse hammering in Annie’s throat. Everything around us vanished, replaced by the rush of my own blood and the sudden tension coiling in my muscles.

“Did you plan this?” she whispered, her voice barely a breath.

“If I’d planned this, Bishop, we wouldn’t be in a restaurant,” I murmured, leaning forward slightly. “You’d be cuffed to my bed by now, begging.”

She pressed the knife harder against my abdomen and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

My hand moved faster than she could track, snapping out to crush her fingers around the handle. I forced the tip against me harder, forcing her to feel the unyielding resistance of my skin beneath the material.

“Careful, Bishop. You’re holding a weapon against a monster. You better be prepared to use it.” I leaned forward until my mouth was next to her ear. “Knife play isn’t for the timid. If you draw blood, you have to lick the blade. Those are the rules.”

Her lips parted in a small gasp even as she seemed to lean unconsciously closer to me.

I inhaled deeply, catching the sharp tang of adrenaline spiked with the sweetness of arousal.

She was terrified and dripping for it.

She shifted her weight forward and pressed the point harder against my flesh. “Then you better bleed enough to make it worth my time.”

Holy fuck, she was actually in to this. She wanted the violence just as much as I wanted to crack her wide open. I needed to drag the vicious creature living in her skin out of her and see exactly how much damage we could do to each other.

“Guys--” Menace started.