Page 54 of Pretty Little Lies

“Thought you’d interfere,” I solicit, pressing my spine lax against the smooth wall. “I’m meeting Reeve.”

His fixed stare skids upward to meet mine. “You look pretty today. I like you in blue.”

I know my face says it all. Slightly widened eyes, lips parting from shock that those words came fromhishead.

Honestly, I should’ve known.

Meet me in the men’s bathroom.

Reeve would’ve been in the women’s bathroom just out of pure comfort. Torin’s life mission is to shove me out of my security zone in any shape or way possible. To force me to comply or adjust.

“Didn’t think I had it in me, Wildfire?” He looks at me expectedly, but that ghost of a smirk only shows how proud of himself he is.

He would.

Torin breathes, eats, andisarrogant. The Prince of The Landings.

“Not really,” I reply candidly. “What can I do for you, Mr. Wildes?”

“Mr. Wildes?” he repeats with a scoff, stepping forward and causing me to press my spine more against the wall. “Are we gonna be like that now? Coated with formalities and fake bullshit.”

“Everything we have and had is fake and temporary.”

“Not if you keep showing up for shit like this.” His index finger runs down the length of me once. “That dress is an offense against God.”

And it would’ve been a sin not to wear it. The navy-blue material grips my skin in all the right places. The neckline dips dangerously between my breasts and it looks like I belong here. Sophisticated in a simple yet sexy way.

“And you’d only know that because you dabble with the devil,” I retort, but there’s no hostility behind either of our voices. We both share the same exhaustion of the back-and-forth. The push and the pull.

However, the attraction between us is still impenetrable, and I’m having a hell of a time fighting him off when he finds a way to make a hole through my composure.

“Baby, if I have dealings with the devil”—he saunters closer, that swagger and Pretty Boy vibe turning my insides into mush. I loathe that he can hold the body’s inner workings by just a movement, a stare, the way his eyes heat and slither down to transfer over to mine—“then you have that motherfucker in the palm of your hand. It’s taken everything in me to not rip Ramsey out of that seat next to you and, even then…I’m still thinking about it.”

“Don’t.” It’s me fighting with myself more than him. I guess, it’s always been that way with Reeve and Torin. I drive them back and it only makes them want to come back full throttle.

“Why?” He raises his arm, palm falling to the cool marble wall behind me as he leans forward. The smell of a forest, a warm day traipsing through the trees with the fresh air running through your hair, filling my nose. “All I want is to put my hand on one of your thick thighs and keep it there. Promise.”

Yeah, and I’ll starve tonight because I won’t be able to focus.

“The last thing I’d count on is a promise from you, Pretty Boy.”

“I’ve never broken one yet, have I?” His chest brushes against mine, and I involuntarily hold my next inhale. “I told you that if I kept finding you around that I was going to fuck you harder than Emilio and I have. That I’d be around. That I’ve got my eyes on you and I’ll be damned if I can’t pry them off you. The only thing I can be grateful for is that Ramsey wouldn’t touch your pussy with his dick from a football field away.”

“How romantic.”

“You don’t strike me as the type that does romance,” he replies, golden orbs falling to my lips. “I believe you’d rather want a cheeseburger and a good fuck to divulge how a man feels about you.”

My lips curl because—well, he’s not entirely wrong. “You got a cheeseburger laying around?”

“I’m not going to answer that question. However, the boys and I are going to a little get-together after this boring-as-fuck dinner. I was hoping you’d come with me.” I stare at him. because…is he asking me out on a half-ass date? “It’s a concert with a lotta weed and food.”

“Cheeseburgers?”

“If they don’t, I’ll find you one.”

I cock my head suspiciously to the side and can’t help but admire him. “What do you want, Pretty Boy?”

“Haven’t I made that known yet?”

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