Page 53 of In the Dark

“Sometimes I think it’s fine to make a fuss.”

She wrinkled her nose and waved a hand across the table. “Obviously. I mean, who orders everything—”

I cut her off. “You realize you didn’t eat for days, Jas?”

She gave me a side-eye. “Don’t start that again.”

“And you were holding out on drinking water because you wanted two more weeks to plan?” Did she realize how concerned I had been?

She murmured, “And maybe for you to agree to let me talk with my cousins and aunt?”

“Communicating with them about this is that important to you?”

“Yes.” That one word held weight when she said it.

I combed a hand through my hair. “You can make calls to them in my presence.”

“Suit yourself.” She smiled then, and it spread across her face brilliantly, lighting up her pretty cobalt-gray eyes. Then, she shrugged like she hadn’t just catastrophically delivered a blow to my psyche. “I’m calling them tonight to discuss the invites. They’ll have the right priest for the ceremony, and—”

“Fine.”

“No complaints? Your mom won’t care?” She searched my eyes for something.

My mom wouldn’t get a say in the matter. “As long as you promise there’s no more avoiding food and water.”

“So concerned.” She chuckled.

“I can’t have you lose another damn pound,” I said honestly.

“Oh, really?” She arched a brow.

I narrowed my eyes at her and reached for the spoon that had the dessert pudding. Maybe it was that we felt hidden in the back corner of that restaurant, that she was talking to me, that she was smiling at me and giving me compliments, but I couldn’t resist pushing us further into a danger zone we shouldn’t have been exploring. “I think you should try the pudding, Jasmina.”

“Callahan …” My name on her lips was a warning I wasn’t heeding. I brought the spoon closer, and my hand dropped under the table to grip her thin bare thigh.

“Show me you’ll keep eating and that you’ll enjoy it.”

I don’t think that Jasmina and my chemistry could be ignored even when we were at each other’s throats. Her body listened, and she spread her legs along with opening her lips so that I could put the pudding in her mouth while I brushed my fingers over her panty line and then pushed it to the side.

She moaned at the taste of the food. Or at the feeling of my hand across her wet pussy, I wasn’t sure which, but I didn’t care because I was focused on giving this woman exactly what she wanted right in that moment. I wanted her lost to me, I wanted her eyes darkening the way they did when her desire took over, I wanted the blush on her cheeks like she couldn’t control herself.

And I got it.

I got her breath coming faster and her wiggling her hips, murmuring, “More.”

I scooped up more pudding and put it in her mouth as I slid another finger into her. I watched how her tongue peeked out to drag along the bottom of the spoon before she wrapped her mouth around it. I pressed my thumb to her clit hard for that, giving her a bit of reward for getting my cock rock solid in two seconds flat.

She whimpered and breathed out my name. So, I asked her, “Want more dessert, Viper?”

She nodded, her eyes fluttering. I knew she was close. I loved how fast she could get there, loved that she’d take it here in a restaurant too if it was offered.

“You need to keep eating dessert every single day, understand?” I wanted her eating every meal put in front of her for the rest of her damn life after I’d been concerned about her starving.

She bit her lip but still had the audacity to tell me, “A bride is supposed to lose weight before her wedding, Callahan.”

I couldn’t stand that she would think she was one of those brides. Her high cheekbones had become more pronounced, her curves a bit smaller. I dragged a finger across her collarbone as I slid another finger into her under the table. Her hand flew out to grab the table linen.

Good.