Page 47 of King Of Order

I crossed my hands over my torso. ‘I don’t do fake very well.’

‘You think this is easy for me?’ I snapped. ‘You’re making it harder than it needs to be.’

I didn’t respond, slipping into a brooding silence.

This was not how I’d envisioned getting close to Chiara.

An entanglement perhaps, but an engagement, no.

We were meant to be this madly in love couple, but all I could feel was the tension growing between us, thick and suffocating.

I was being boorish.

The more time we spent together, the more I withdrew into my shell, fighting hard not to get swamped by my churning emotions, my conflicted feelings for her coming at me.

When we returned to her home, she yawned and pushed a hand through her wild hair. Her face was lined, and she showed signs of exhaustion. Probably weary of my dark mood.

Inside her door, she kicked her shoes off, scattering them.

‘Can’t you keep your shit tidy?’ I grumbled, more resigned than angry.

She shrugged. ‘This is me.’

I shot her a look of pure frustration. ‘Are we done now?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘We need a few more photos. Of us lying in bed.’

‘What the fuck, Chiara?’ I growled.

‘We have to be realistic,’ she insisted.

I bristled, then gave in with a heavy exhale as we took the stairs into her beautifully appointed white, cream, and black bedroom, which was neat, with signs of messy, real living.

Soon, she had me strip to my vest while she shrugged on a robe, revealing her honey-toned shoulders and the swell of her tits.

Which only served to give me an annoying erection as my mind went wild with the scenes of unfettered sexwith her.

She made me lean against the headboard with my arm draped across her waist.

The camera angled to catch only our faces, smiles that masked the growing discomfort.

‘At least try to appear like you’re enjoying this,’ she muttered under my breath as she snapped another shot.

‘I’d enjoy it more if it were real,’ I retorted.

She flinched and canted her face from me.

A wave of instant guilt hit me. The comment had landed harder than I expected or wanted it to.

I was done here.

I said as much as I swiveled on my heel and tracked away.

‘When can I expect you?’ she called after me.

Powering on without a glance at her, I rasped. ‘Like Arni famously said, ‘I’ll be back.’

He’d also said, ‘what a pain in the neck,’ after strangling Sub-Zero with barbed wire inThe Running Man.

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