Page 78 of Snitches and Serpents

I should hate him. I should be terrified of him. But instead, I find myself craving him. His touch. His presence.

There is just something about him that makes me feel free. Which makes no sense since he is literally holding me captive right now. But it’s as if… when I’m with him, I don’t have to pretend. I don’t have to be someone. I don’t have to keep that pleasant and polite mask on my face and that perfect façade up. Instead, I can just be me. I can get angry. I can scream. I can moan his name while he fucks me hard. And he doesn’t judge me for it.

I’ve never met anyone who makes me feel like that. And it?—

Footsteps sound on the stairs outside the door.

I leap up from the bed.

Showtime.

Grabbing the hem of my dress, I quickly yank it over my head and toss it down on the bed. Then I hurry over to a spot closer to the bathroom.

I’ve only just managed to get there when the door is opened and Tristan walks into the room. He’s holding a plate of what looks like some kind of creamy pasta dish, and he’s looking back at the door while closing it, so he hasn’t seen me yet.

A sudden intense burst of self-consciousness pulses through me.

Tristan has never seen me without clothes before. Even when we had sex in that guestroom back at the party, I was still wearing a dress. And now I’m standing here in only lingerie, which I’m planning to take off as well. What if he laughs at me? Or worse, what if he looks at me as if I’m disgusting?

But it’s too late for second thoughts now, because Tristan finishes closing the door behind him and then turns towards me.

He stops.

His mouth is still slightly open, as if he had been about to say something, and his eyes are wide as he stares at me. Dark desire flares up in those green eyes of his as he rakes his gaze up and down my body.

A satisfied smirk curls my lips.

The moment his gaze returns to my face, he starts slightly as he notices my smug smile. Then he snaps his mouth shut and draws his eyebrows down, his expression darkening.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demands as he stalks over to the desk and puts the plate down.

Oh, he’s not getting off that easy.

While he’s looking down at the plate as he sets it down, I quickly reach up behind me and unhook my bra. I toss it onto the bed right as Tristan straightens again.

This time, he actually jerks back a little when his gaze lands on me.

My heart does a backflip in my chest, and heat floods my core.

He draws in an unsteady breath and his cock hardens, straining against the fabric of his pants.

When he realizes that, his expression darkens further.

“I said, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growls as he takes a step towards me.

“I was going to take a shower,” I reply, motioning towards the door to the bathroom. “But I can’t. Because I can’t take my panties off.” Lifting my foot, I shake it a couple of times in the air. The chain rattles against the floor. “Because of this.”

He glances down at the manacle around my ankle and the chain attached to it that do in fact prevent me from properly taking off my panties. Then he slides his gaze back up to my face. His cock strains harder against his pants as he takes in my almost entirely naked body.

The sight of it makes me feel invincible. He looks like he can barely contain his lust, and all I’m doing is simply standing here.

He locks eyes with me again, and when he speaks, his voice is low and dark. “Is that right?”

“Yes. So how about you unlock it so that I can take a proper shower?”

I know that he is never going to agree to it. But I need him to think that this was my plan. To seduce him into taking the manacle off. Because then, he won’t realize that my real plan is actually to steal the key and unlock it myself.

He narrows his eyes at me. “You want to take your panties off so that you can shower?”

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