Page 19 of Moonlit Thorns

A hand skims up my leg past my knee. I falter and spill on the tablecloth. A sound comes out of the back of my throat, and I hastily set down the pot to clean up my mess.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Cut the shit, Kol,” Asher says with malice.

I straighten, ignoring the mess for now.

“What? I’m just getting to know your pet better. If you’re not going to make use of her obvious assets, why can’t I? Don’t tell me you haven’t already thought about what those full lips of hers would feel like wrapped around the base of your cock.”

I suck in a gasp.

“That’s enough!” Asher stands so quickly, his chair falls back onto the carpeted floor. He sets his hands on the table and leans in our direction. “Get over here now, Miss Boudreaux.”

I do as he says, happy to be away from Kol, and rush to his side of the table.

“Miss Boudreaux is not here to become one of your playthings, Kol. She works for me. Don’t forget it again.” Though Asher’s not shouting anymore, there’s an eerie sort of calm about the way he delivers his words that makes them sound even more lethal.

It’s apparent Kol wants to say something back. His jaw is set like stone, and his hands are in fists on the table, knuckles a stark white against his olive skin.

Asher Voss turns to me with a look of putrid disgust. “As for you, come with me.”

He latches his hand around my upper arm and drags me out of the dining room and down the hall. He’s holding me tightly, but not so tightly that he’ll leave any marks. He seems to be barely holding it together, so I don’t say anything as he drags me to his office.

With every step, I grow more and more enraged at the way he’s manhandling me. Once he closes the office door, I rip my arm from his grasp and whirl on him, but my words die on my tongue from the fury on his face.

“What the fuck was that?” he seethes.

“What was what?” I step back, but he matches it with a step forward.

“That shit you pulled with my brother?”

“I didn’t pull any shit with your brother. He was being an asshole. That’s not my fault.”

His hands fist at his sides. “I told you to stay away from him.”

My hands fly up at my sides. “I was in there doing the job you assigned me. If you didn’t want me near him, then you shouldn’t have told Mrs. Potter I was to serve breakfast.”

“Are you blaming me for the way you were flaunting yourself in there?”

I open my mouth, close it, and open it once more. “Are you serious? Flaunting? I couldn’t even if I tried. I’m wearing something fit for a senior citizen, thanks to you.”

“And that’s how it will stay since I obviously can’t trust you not to fuck one of my brothers to get in their good graces. Believe me, if you sleep with any of them, it will only make me more determined to make your life a living hell.”

He’s delusional, and I’ve had enough of this. I step forward. “And why exactly is it that you want to make my life a living hell when you don’t even know me?”

He doesn’t say anything, just glares down at me, teeth bared.

At some point in our stand-off, our breathing falls into sync, and I go from agitated and enraged to feeling as if my skin is stretched taut over my body. I’m hyperaware of every place where my uniform touches me, of the way his breath fans over the top of my head, of the musky scent of his expensive cologne.

The small amount of space between us feels fraught with things that neither of us should be feeling—until he speaks again.

“You can shovel shit out of the stables today as a consequence of your actions.”

I open my mouth to argue but think better of it. I’ve embarrassed myself enough here. I’m sure my desire was plain as day on my face, and clearly, I was making things up in my head as far as what he was feeling.

He’ll probably laugh about it with his brothers later—the silly little girl lusting after the older man.

Without another word, I push past Asher and whip the heavy door of his office open without a backward glance, but I feel his eyes on me the entire time I walk down the hallway.

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