Page 44 of Cruel Dominion

Instead, Anna turned away immediately and stormed right to my table. I gazed up at her furious face, my hands steepled in my lap.

“You have some nerve, Carter,” she snapped at me.

I shot her an innocent look. “What have I done this time? I’m afraid I can’t remember. Take a seat. I’m happy to discuss it.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to have this conversation in public.”

I raised my brows in approval. “I didn’t realize you were so eager to be alone with me.”

She huffed. “You wish. Get up, quick, before my dad comes back.”

Anna grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to my feet. I had more than enough strength to escape her grasp, but there was something delicious about letting her have the reins.

She brought us to a hallway off the main ballroom. It was huge, made of marble and spotted with statues. Our footsteps echoed off the high ceiling. A set of velvet ropes clearly marked where the venue planned for guests to stop, but Anna lifted her skirts and stepped over it.

“What if they catch us?” I whispered jokingly.

“Then you’ll pay them off. That’s what you do these days, isn’t it?”

She put her hands on her hips in a gesture of disapproval. It only brought my attention to the curve of them, making me grin at her.

The truth was, I’d give away half my fortune in an instant for a stolen moment with Anna.

She huffed, then turned into a small alcove housing an antique settee. I followed. No one looking down the hallway would see us, but we could still hear the band’s music drifting up the hall. Anna turned to me, her face a pretty pink from her misplaced rage.

“You had me followed,” she said accusingly.

Ah. So she figured it out.

I thought she was just angry about me finger-fucking her into revealing her secrets. My security detail already reported back what happened to me, with reassurances that Anna was unharmed and only a little shaken up.

I’d been chomping at the bit to see that truth for myself, and this was my first opportunity to do that. The first time she’d left the Vaughn estate since it happened.

They reported she had no idea I sent them, but unsurprisingly, she was clever enough to figure it out anyway.

“Are you even going to deny it?” she pressed.

“No.”

Her lips made that beautiful surprised O they always did when I did or said something that shocked her. I wanted to push her to her knees and shove my cock into that perfect circle until she saw stars.

“At least have the fucking decency to look sorry, asshole.”

My Anna finally learned how to deliver a curse without blushing. I knew she had it in her. I smirked.

“Why should I? I don’t regret it.”

She scowled. “You invaded my privacy. You basically stalked me, Carter.”

I stepped closer, glaring down at her. “And the men I hired saved you from being attacked.” I caressed her jaw. “You should be grateful, little siren.”

“Grateful!”

She tore away from my touch.

“You tyrannical, manipulative prick!”

She poked me in the chest.

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