Page 72 of Threaded

At least he had whiskey.

They remained like that for a moment—seconds, minutes, Mariah couldn’t be sure—staring, assessing each other. Mariah was first to break the silence, the whiskey now churning through her veins, loosening her lips and cutting through the ice filling her head.

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I said no to Sebastian tonight?”

“I don’t ask questions I don’t need the answer to.”

“Are you not curious?”

“Do you need me to be curious?”

“No.”

Silence fell again, and they continued to stare at each other, tanzanite and forest green warring with each other in the soft light. They both lifted their whiskey glasses to their lips at the same time, each taking a sip without breaking their eye contact.

It was again Mariah who spoke.

“I almost died tonight.”

Andrian was silent for several heartbeats, his gaze almost contemplative.

“Yes. You almost died tonight.” A pause. “But you didn’t.”

The air thickened with his words. Mariah was unsure if the warmth in her core was caused by the whiskey or something else, somethingforbidden.

This time, it was Andrian who spoke next.

“What do you need, princess?” His voice was soft, dark, slightly rougher than it had been before. Even the inflection of the nickname, as insulting as it still was, was different. She answered without hesitation, without thinking.

“A distraction.”

She could’ve sworn one side of his mouth ticked up, almost imperceptibly, into a smirk.

“And is that why you wanted me to bring you here?” His mouth twitched again, pulling into a half-grin. “Is that why you said no to Sebastian?”

Even though he asked the question she’d first brought up, she refused to answer him with words. Instead, she used her silence to speak for her. The heat settled low inside her, seeping into her gaze.

Those tanzanite eyes burned her, stripped her of everything from the inside out. His gaze darkened as he tipped his glass to his mouth, downing what was left of his whiskey in one smooth motion. Setting the glass behind him, he pushed himself off the table, his movement fluid.

“I remember when I caught you in the library last week with that romance novel. What asurprisethat was. You were so full of fake innocence, so genuinely shocked by what you’d found. Tell me,nio—who were you thinking of to make your cheeks flush like that from reading just a few words on a page?”

The immediate warmth in her face and neck told her that same flush was back, an instant and wordless answer to his question. The smirk he wore grew even wider, more dangerous, his eyes gleaming with triumph.

Andthatpissed her off.

She forced her face into a twisted scowl, downing the rest of her own whiskey before slamming the glass on the island beside her, making a move to push from the counter.

“I don’t know why I wanted you to bring me here. Why I said no to Sebastian. Obviously, aseverelapse in judgment. You are the most frustrating, annoying,despicable—”

“No. I’m not.”

His voice interrupted her, stronger and louder than before, freezing her in place. She brought her gaze back to him just as he moved, his pace somehow both quick and unhurried, the movement of a jungle cat stalking his prey.

No, that wasn’t quite right. It was the movement of a jungle cat who’d already caught his prey, and was now toying with his meal, taking joy in the fact that she could not—wouldnot—run.

It made her fuckingangry… but it also made her skin prickle in burning anticipation.

He pushed her whiskey glass farther away before moving into her space, pushing her hips back onto the island, forcing his body between her thighs as he stepped close.

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