Page 66 of Property of Chaos

VANESSA

He can’t love me.That’s such a strong word. A statement that doesn’t fit what we’re doing here. The guy has barely touched me, for fuck’s sake. It just doesn’t— “No,” I snap. “You don’t get to say that and pretend you mean it. No way.”

He jerks back as though I’d fucking slapped him. The goddamn wounded look on his face almost undoes me.Almost. “I don’t pretend about shit like that.” Chaos scrambles away from me, shoving to his feet. “I don’t fuckingtellpeople shit like that.”

Oh, hell…I went and broke the sociopath. “How am I supposed to know that about you?” I slide my way up the wall behind me, rising to my feet also. “Tell me how I’m supposed to know if this is all some bullshit to manipulate me or if you really are a guy who can fall that fast and hard when I knownothingabout you.” I shove a hand toward my journal—abandoned on the nightstand. “You’ve read everything that matters about me. I know nothing about you other than your cut—which says you’re the president—and you have no qualms about letting yourself into strangers' houses.” I shake my head. “How am I supposed to make a judgment call based on those things alone?”

“Do I make you feel unsafe?” He swallows, brow twitching in and out of a frown.

“You make me feel…” I utter a sigh. What do I feel? “You challenge me.”Close enough.

“Good.” He strides to the bed and digs around in his cut for his phone, bringing it out to check the screen.

“Something more important you should be doing?”

“No.” His head whips up, that fucking scowl still furrowed deep. “I’ve got… family shit to deal with.”

He has a family.Of course, he does. But why does my brain shoot straight to a wife and child, not parents or brothers and sisters? I drop my gaze to his hand and search for a ring.

“Jealous, Vanessa?” The frustration melts off his stupidly handsome face, replaced by a cocky self-assuredness.There’s the Chaos I recognize.Not the man shedding his armor mere moments ago.

“Why would you say that?”

“You looked as though I’d eaten the last slice of cake when I said the word ‘family.’”

“Pardon?” I fold my arms across myself.

“You looked devastated,” he clarifies, sauntering toward me.

I could duck right and escape out the door right now. Get the fuck out of here before he reaches me. Yet the feeling that I’d miss out has my feet rooted to the floorboards. I want to know how this ends. I want to see where this goes.

He came here for something, and I don’t think he’s got it yet.

“Shocked, is all.” I shrug. “I hadn’t considered that you had a family. You’re just this… this…”

“Inhuman creature, to be feared?”

I snort.Fuck it.“No.”

“Find that funny?” He frowns, stalling when he gets within two feet of me.

“You’ve done nothing to make me want to fear you.”

“You reckon?” Chaos folds his arms, drawing my attention to the fact that he’s still very much naked on the top half. “I broke into your house.”

“You took advantage of a shitty lock.”

“I watched your every move.”

“So does my stepfather.” My smile fades.

He exhales heavily out his nose, glancing to the side. “I’ve got cameras in your house.”

Okay—back the fuck up.“The hell?”

“Nowhere I’d see you naked.” His gaze blazes as it roves the length of me. “Unless you walk through your house in the buff on the regular.”

“Why the fuck would you do that?” Are they in here? He said nowhere I get naked, so they must be elsewhere. The kitchen? Living room?

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