Page 39 of 10 Days to Ruin

She isn’t just trying to be difficult. She isn’t turning her nose up at the food because she doesn’t like it.

On the contrary… she’s ready for dessert.

And so am I.

I catch her wrist as she reaches for another glass of wine. Her pulse flutters against my fingertips like a trapped bird.

“I want to show you something.” The words come out rougher than intended.

“What kind of something?” she squeaks.

“The view from my penthouse. It’s spectacular.”

She hesitates just long enough to maintain her little charade of virtue. Just long enough to make me want to shred it to pieces.

“I’d like that.” Her voice trembles. With desire or fear—at this point, I don’t fucking care which. Both will get me what I want.

I rise and extend my hand. When she places her delicate fingers in my palm, they’re shaking.

We cross the lobby and go to the elevator doors of the attached hotel. The doors slide shut with a softding. In here, shut close together, that smell of peaches is stronger than ever.

Something primitive unfurls in my chest. Something that wants to pin her against these walls and fuck her until she forgets every man who came before me.

But there’s something else, too. Something that makes me wonder if I’m still the hunter here. If I ever was.

Then I dismiss it. She’s a rabbit and I’m a wolf. What happens next will be messy, brutal, and brief. But it will get the job done—that’s for fucking certain.

“Ten days” ends tonight.

14

ARIEL

Shit.

I do my best to keep my poker face on and shove my panic deep down. Because I am, in fact, panicking.

Going up to his penthouse was not part of the plan. I’ve been acting like a total brat all night. Why isn’t Sasha running for the hills yet?

I was picky. I was annoying. I was snobby. I was rude.

So why does Sasha seem to think I’m DTF? And why isheDTF?

Where did I go wrong?

It’d be a lot easier to think if I actuallywasn’tDTF. As it is, all the blood is rushing south. I feel giddy, insane, flushed in a way I haven’t felt in a long, long time. Haven’t felt since?—

Since a blue-eyed stranger fucked my brains out in a bathroom.

It’s like we’re picking up right where we left off.

I tried to wear this red dress like armor, like a mask, but the moment I saw him waiting outside the restaurant for me, five-alarm fire bells started ringing in every single cell of my body.

It’s the hands.

No, it’s the eyes.

Maybe the cologne.

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