Page 96 of The Penalty

“That’s not an answer.”

“Your former sexual conquests aren’t my concern.” Indifference colored her words but the emotions swirling in the depths of her eyes told me otherwise.

She’s jealous.

“Maybe, but I want you to ask me anyway.”

Her lashes dipped before sweeping up, revealing a heated stare. “Which one?”

Victoria played this game well. She already knew the answer. She just wanted to hear me say it.

“The brunette.”

An eyebrow arched. “The one who had her hands all over you on the sideline.”

Well-played, city princess.

“Oh, you saw that,” I confirmed in a cool tone. “I thought you were too busy laughing at Liam’s stories.”

Victoria’s aggravated grunt vibrated in her chest. Pride lit a defiant fuse in her eyes. “Seems we both still have a lot of work to do when it comes to jealousy.” A hard swallow disrupted the delicate lines of her throat. “But like I said, your former sexual conquests aren’t my concern.”

Astuteness stretched her features taut. Victoria’s intelligence and power of observation always impressed me. She could play off being aloof or nonchalant but I know she has questions. A few have already tumbled out of her in the months since we met.

I always planned to have these conversations with her as we deepened our relationship and explored our limits together. My biggest desire was for her to find ways to approach me with her curiosities.

I’d seen flashes of it in some of our encounters. Our tryst in the maze comes to mind. Victoria was not shy about what she liked or what she wanted. I loved that about her.

“Ask me what you really want to know, Tori.”

Subtle changes cycled through her features as she worked through and figured out what she wanted to say. Dilating pupils, faint traces of pink staining her cheeks, a nervous swallow.

“Was she ever with you at Bennet’s parties?”

The vulnerability beneath her question pulled a dark smile out of me.

“Yes.” I brushed a stray piece of hair out of her eyes. “That’s not all you want to ask, is it?”

“I can figure out the rest.”

“Can you?” My hands rested on her thighs. “Tell me what you think you know.”

Our bodies were so close I could feel the heat radiating off her. When I stroked along her wrist, I felt the rapid beating of her pulse. I lifted her hand, kissing the frantic rhythm.

She watched me, drinking in my deliberate movements.

Another kiss on the wrist.

Another stroke along her jaw.

“Tell me.”

A long stretch of silence followed. I simply studied her, memorizing every detail; the controlled rise and fall of her chest with each breath, and the flecks of jade sparking and burning in her emerald eyes.

“She’s seen you in ways I haven’t.” Her voice trembled slightly. “Ways I want to see you.”

“Is that what you think?” I wrapped one hand around her neck. “Nobody has seen me the way you do. Nobody ever will.”

“You took her to—”

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