Page 53 of House of Lies

Cassidy turns to look at me with glazed, confused eyes.

I stroke my free hand down her chestnut hair. “You enjoyed that, didn’t you, my little toy?”

Her parted lips are begging for a kiss. I lean closer, our mouths less than an inch apart. Her eyes fill my world, gleaming with unshed tears as she blinks slowly at me.

My entire body is humming the need to fuck her. I so desperately want to sink my cock inside her, to claim her as mine, but her mouth is pleading for me to claim it.

I can’t breathe, can’t think, can barely move.

“Do you believe me now?” she whispers. “That I’ll behave?”

Jesus, that breathy voice nearly sends me over the edge. I swallow hard, trying to find my voice. It’s an awful punishment, being this close to her lips and not kissing her, but it’ll change everything.

And all I want—all I’ve ever wanted—was for everything to stay exactly the same.

“I want to.”

The oven timer goes off with a shrill beep.

The spell breaks.

Cassidy pushes away from me, blinking like she’s coming out of a trance. She scrambles up, yanking her underwear and leggings back into place, her cheeks flushing scarlet. But it’s not embarrassment or lust… it’s fury.

She rushes over to the stove and busies herself taking the lasagna out of the oven.

Cassidy sets the casserole dish down on the granite countertop, glancing back at me as she takes off the oven mitts. When our gazes lock, she reaches back absently for the dish, hissing when her bare hand touches the scorching ceramic.

“Careful!” I step toward her, but she backs up like a cornered animal. “Here, let me help you.”

“I don’t need your help,” she snaps, turning her back on me to open the freezer side of the fridge. “I don’t need you.”

The last is a furious whisper that sounds more like a curse.

“True. You’re perfectly capable of injuring yourself all by yourself.” Such petty words, but I haven’t felt this agitated, frustrated… and confused in a long time.

“Help yourself, Sir,” she says stiffly, her back still turned as she cocks her head toward the cooling lasagna. She’s pressing a bag of frozen peas against her scalded flesh. “It’s your house. I just work here.”

Chestnut waves cascade down her back, shifting as she glances at me from the corner of her eyes. It’s like a switch went off. One minute she was panting as I brought her to orgasm, now she’s glaring at me like she’s trying to set my hair on fire through thought alone.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” I say before storming out of the kitchen.

Now I’m the one behaving like a grump. A bratty submissive is one thing…Cassidy is something else entirely.

I slip my phone out of my pocket and call Myles. He doesn’t answer, and I’m not in the mood to speak to Smith or Richmond, so I text him instead.

You fucking bastard.

Your GIFT arrived.

What the hell were you thinking?

I don’t have time for this shit.

I’m sending her back as soon as the open house is done.

Chapter 21

Ethan

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