Page 42 of Look What You Made Me Do

There’s a guy sitting at the foot of my bed, his muscular forearms braced on his thighs. I can’t see his face, because he’slooking down at his phone, but the shock of blond hair escaping from the edges of his backward ball cap immediately gives him away.

Lucas.

“Shit,” I say under my breath, my heart still thumping like a jackrabbit against my ribcage.

He hears my whispered curse and glances up. And I swear to God, when his electric blue eyes meet mine, I die real quick. Like, I can’t feel my limbs and I’m not sure I’m breathing. The only evidence that I’m not actually dead is my heart. It’s flopping around in my chest like a landed fish jumping around on a slab of cement.

And then he does something I didn’t think was even possible. Hesmilesat me. It’s just a split second suspended in time, like a reflex, and then it’s gone again, replaced by that familiar scowl. But in that brief little moment, I saw something—a glimpse behind the mask that Lucas presents to the world. He was at ease, and there was a softness in his eyes that I’d never seen in him before.

Maybe Lucas West is actually human after all.

But none of that changes the fact that he just waltzed into my apartment without even giving me a heads-up. The audacity of this guy is unbelievable.

I pull the towel tighter around my body. “What theactualfuck, Lucas? I didn’t give you the key to my apartment so you could just waltz in here whenever!”

He purses his lips and allows his gaze to wander over me slowly like he’s eating up the sight of my barely clothed body. When finally replies, that familiar smirk is hovering on his lips. “Just forget I’m even here.”

That’s impossible and he knows it. Lucas fills up every square inch of my apartment with his presence. He’s like that. When he walks into a room,everyoneis aware of him. And I’m justsupposed to ignore that somehow? It’s like trying to ignore a snarling lion that’s taken up residence in my bedroom.

I narrow my gaze at him. “Maybe I should just find a hotel, and we can forget this whole thing.”

Never mind that I have zero dollars for a hotel.

With a heavy sigh, he leans back on my mattress and covers his eyes with the crook of his arm. “I’m not looking. Happy?”

He sneaks in here while I’m showering, then has the nerve to ask me if I’mhappy?Jezus. This dude is unreal.

I’m still dripping wet, but I tip-toe over to my dresser, grab everything I need, and then scramble back to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind me. I dress quickly, put on deodorant, and then do my wavy hair routine, which is a whole thing. I throw some light makeup on, and some perfume, then I’m done.

When I emerge from the bathroom twenty minutes later, Lucas is still exactly where I left him, leaning back and propped up on one elbow, watching me. “You done, finally?”

I shake my head and walk over to the small kitchen to make myself a cup of green tea. “Can we justnottalk, hmmm? Can we do that?”

“You’re not wearing that,” he says from behind me.

I glance down at the short sundress I’d grabbed from my dresser. It’s a pretty blue-green color with spaghetti straps and a floppy tie in the middle of my back. Maybe it’s a little wrinkly, but I’ll be wearing a robe over it, so who cares? “Why? What’s wrong with my dress?”

Rising to his feet, he walks over to me, and without a word, he reaches under my dress easily and grabs a handful of my ass. His warm hand squeezes my cheek. I have panties on, but they’re already riding up. “This is why,” he says, practically growling the words.

I should be offended. Iamoffended. For sure. But even as I shove his hand away and take a step back, liquid fire is twisting through my veins. “You don’t get to dictate what I wear.”

“Changenow,” he replies, almost bored.

“Um, how aboutno?” I say. My God.

Without even skipping a beat, he grabs my arm and yanks me forward. Our bodies collide—my soft breasts against his rock-hard torso—and I gasp, because I’m not expecting it.

His lips hover enticingly over mine. “Either you change this fucking dress or I’ll strip you down and do it for you.”

I narrow my eyes and set my jaw, even as a seed of excitement blooms in my chest. What is it about his anger that makes me all kinds of horny? Shamefully, my clit is already sturring to life under that unforgiving glare.

Goddamn him. I know he’d follow through with his threat and God only knows where that would lead. I don’t trust him and Idefinitelydon’t trust myself.

Glaring at him, I yank my arm out of his tight grip, back away, then turn and storm over to my tiny closet. I grab a black long-sleeved dress that falls to my ankles but shows a fair amount of cleavage. It’s conservative, but still kinda sexy.

Taking the dress into the bathroom, I shut and lock the door, remove my cute sundress, and replace it with the drab evening dress that makes me look like a nun. A slutty nun with amazing tits, but still.

When I emerge from the bathroom, Lucas’ gaze immediately falls to my cleavage. My breasts are front and center in this dress, but too fucking bad. It’s the only dress I have that’s even remotely modest.

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