Page 87 of House of Lilith

“No,” I hear her say.

And the Elevator starts moving up, but then she presses something that makes it stop entirely.

I just keep standing there, wondering what the fuck is going on and feeling breathless with a heady kind of excitement. “I’m starting to feel interrogated here,” I say.

And I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to look at her right now, but I sense her get closer so I turn to face her. She’s standing right in front of me, looking up at me with those eyes of hers.

“So?” she insists. “How does it work?”

And I don’t know why she’s doing this, but it’s starting to piss me off, that she’s making me talk about these things with her.

So I decide to put an end to it, to scare her off by intentionally misinterpreting the question. I take a step closer, watching her eyebrows shoot up. Then I lean in a little, throwing her a smirk as I drop my voice to say, “Oh it’s pretty simple. It starts with me taking my sweet time, and ends with them begging for more.”

I see her cheeks flush, and that gives me some satisfaction at least, but she doesn’t let it deter her. “Taking your sweet time, you say?” she asks. “But these are one-night stands you’re talking about?”

“Sometimes,” I start as I get even closer, my voice now barely above a whisper, “it’s more of an ongoing situation. Why?” I narrow my eyes at her. “Considering applying for the position?”

“What if I am?” she asks in a voice that’s a little defiant, but at the same time low and silky smooth.

And she moves to brush my arm.

The voice and the anticipation of touch all send a wave of heat all over my body, but I shake my head at her and I grab her wrist in my hand, my eyes darting to the finger where the ring used to be.

“What’s going on?” I demand, making my voice soft but flat. And it takes effort to say a certain word without gritting my teeth, but I still ask, “Did you and your fiance get into a fight?”

At that, she shoots me such a cold look, it makes shivers run down my body. I see her grit her teeth as she breaks her wrist free of my grip. For a second, we just look at each other.

“We broke up and that’s the end of the story,” she says flatly, making my mind go blank.

Then, as quickly as if she didn’t just admit to something major, she rolls her eyes, her lips curling into a smile. “But this ongoing-situation type of thing you’re talking about… I think that’s exactly what I need.”

And she’s never given me a smile likethat, so soft and downright hot, and I have to force myself to take a step back and say, in a much flatter voice, “I don’t think it is.”

“Why not?” she asks. And she gets a little closer again.

I grit my teeth, my mind buzzing in search of excuses. “You wouldn’t be able to keep it casual.”

“What’sthatsupposed to mean?” she demands as she gets so close, all I can see are her eyes.

I look deeper into them, my own eyes narrowing as I snap, “It means I know you’d fall for me, Romanov.”

And I see her cheeks flush again. But then she just throws me a deadpan stare before she drawls, “Well, the arrogance is a turn off, so I think I’ll be fine.”

It makes me blow a laugh through my nose.

“And now thatthat’ssettled…” It makes a jolt of electricity shoot through me when I feel her fingers lightly pull at my shirt as she gets on the tips of her toes to whisper in my ear, “Why don’t you take me somewhere?”

The words make me swallow roughly. And her breath strokes my neck and I feel a rush of hunger for more of her touch, a deep, heady hunger. I fail to stop my gaze from flitting down and getting drawn to her cleavage, but then I force myself to snap out of it.

“No, you don’t want that,” I tell her as I pull away, my fox giving resistance.

Almost instantly, she takes a step back, her eyes narrowing at me. “You mean,youdon’t want that.”

I frown. “What’re you talking about?”

She motions in the direction of the Main Hall. “I’ve seen the kind of girls eyeing you.”

How am I supposed to answer that? I’m not even registering them because I can’t stop thinking aboutyou? So I just choose to say, “Don’t know whatkindthey are, but they’ve got nothing to do with it.”

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