Page 151 of By His Rule

“I’m worried about you,” he says quietly. “Did you want to talk about last night?” he offers like he does genuinely care.

“Which part, exactly?” I ask, taking a sip of my coffee in the hope it drowns out some of my sass and bitterness.

“Well, any part, I guess.”

“The part where you accidentally asked me to be your fake girlfriend?”

“That was no accident,” he says firmly, squashing any doubt I’d woken up with about the whole situation. “The elevator?” he hedges. “Did you want to?—”

“No,” I snap. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay. Then how about the ki?—”

“Don’t,” I bark, jumping to my feet and backing away from him.

“Lorelei,” he warns.

“There is nothing to talk about. Thank you for sticking around long enough to rescue me last night, I really appreciate it. But there is nothing more that needs to be said about the matter.”

“Nothing?” he asks, his brow quirking in amusement.

“Nothing. Now, if you could get dressed and leave…I’ve got things to do.”

“Things?” he enquires.

“I want to go for a run, and I…I’m not justifying myself to you. Please, just go.”

Spinning on the stool, he looks toward the window and then back to me.

“A run? In that weather?”

“It’s just rain. It won’t kill me.”

His smirk returns.

“I’ve got a better idea. Go and get dressed for your run.”

“Oh no. I’m not.”

He steps closer, eradicating the space between us.

“Whose hoodie is this, Lorelei?” he asks, running his finger down the zipper. His fingertip hovers just above my breast as he does, and damn if my nipple doesn’t pucker with the promise of his touch.

“No one’s,” I breathe, hating how desperate I sound.

“It’s his, isn’t it?”

I clench my teeth, not wanting to go down this road.

But before I can force a lie past my lips, he grabs the fabric roughly in his hand and drags the zipper down. I don’t register what’s happening, and he’s ripped the hoodie from my body and thrown it to the floor before my brain catches up.

“He’s gone, Lorelei. It’s over. Get him out of your life in every single way.”

His green eyes blaze with fire as he silently dares me to defy him.

“Okay,” I whisper. Honestly, I wasn’t keeping it for sentimental reasons. It’s soft and…yeah, okay. When he first left, it smelled like him, too, and I liked it.

But now…now things are very different.

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