Page 71 of The Sinner's Bargain

With my morsel in hand, I went to her and held it to her lips. She peered at me with those unfathomable eyes brimming with confusion.

“Such a dirty, little liar. Open.”

She did obediently and I slid the offering across her tongue. She bit down. Attention focused on me.

“What do you mean?” she asked around her mouthful.

The half-moon wedge with her teeth marks was popped into my mouth. “You didn’t eat supper. You moved it around but you didn’t put any of it in your pretty mouth.” My smirk widened with the parting of her lips. I cut another sliver and brought it to her mouth. She took it without prompting. “Bad girl. You thought I wouldn’t notice.” I leaned in until our faces were mere inches apart. “I notice fucking everything about you, Blue.”

I heard the audible gulp of the apple being swallowed. I saw the dilation of her pupils. Heard the catch in her breath.

Fuck, I wanted to kiss her. Wanted to taste the sweet nectar of the apple across her tongue.

“What do you think we should do about that?”

“I eat,” was her weak, little response.

When you’re alone and no one can see you, I thought, but kept to myself.

“I’ll make you a deal,” I said, slipping another slice of apple between her teeth. “You eat your meals. All three of them. In full. Or...” I moved the knife to the hand with the apple and captured her chin. My thumb swept across the seam of her bottom lip. “I take you back to my office, put you on my lap and feed you myself.”

The skin under my fingers flushed. Her tongue grazed the finger still resting on her lip and the color in her cheeks darkened when I tightened my grip.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” she breathed.

“Perhaps, but sure would be interesting.”

A twinkle of laughter lit behind her eyes. “To feed me?”

I let my nose bump hers. Just once. “To put you in my lap.”

Her shaky inhalation kicked me straight in the gut. It wrapped like a velvet glove around my cock. It throbbed against the zipper of my pants.

Fuck.

I drew away before I did something I would happily finish in the bedroom.

The core of the apple was chucked into the trash. I rinsed the knife before gathering our tray. I added a blueberry muffin as an afterthought and motioned for her to follow me from the kitchen.

“Are you taking me to your favorite place?” Blue asked as we started along the corridor.

“If I show you that today, what will I show you tomorrow?”

I didn’t miss the little pucker of her bottom lip, but she made no complaint as we walked in silence to the office. Her disappointment shifted once we passed the heavy doors into the cavernous chamber lit only by the lamp on my desk.

I set the tray down on the coffee table and faced the woman at my side. She stood with her arms folded beneath her chest.

The temperature of the room had never bothered me, but it did hold a chill and she wasn’t wearing a whole lot.

Reaching past her, I dragged the afghan off the sofa and pulled the loosely knitted blanket around her shoulders. I got her to sit as I poured her tea and left her to light a fire in the hearth.

She was watching me over the steaming surface of her cup. The infant flame nipping at the two logs I’d set up reflected in the cool surface of her eyes.

I went to her and took the open cushion next to her. My hands gathered up the open folds of the blanket and tucked it more securely around her.

“How’s the tea?” I asked.

“Good,” she said and laughed when I raised my eyebrow. As if to prove it, she took a sip.

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