Page 34 of Reckless Temptation

Jealousy raged within me that someone else would benefit from the painting. I’d given Daniela the okay to share it as a way to strike back at Sabrina, and it had really fucking backfired.

I texted Daniela right then and there to take it all down.

Daniela:It’s viral.

Daniela:I’ll delete the posts but it will still be out there.

I didn’t need her to explain how social media worked. I was just glad she deleted her posts. It was a step toward rectifying my stupidity in letting her share my fantasies of Sabrina.

Hearing Sabrina respond to her professor irked me even more. Only she would be able to turn this thing around into a cry for women’s rights and some debate about censorship. That was how fucking good she was.

That was how much of a badass she was.

No tears.

No shouts.

Not a single damn reply online.

She wouldn’t let me see her lips tremble any more than she’d let me think this would drag her down.

As I went about the rest of my day, I hated how much she could resist my best efforts to ruin her.

No one could be that damn strong and good. She had to have a weak spot somewhere. Normally, calling any girl or woman a slut was a surefire route to earning their hatred and loathing. Not her, though. As I tried and failed to pay attention in my classes and do the bare minimum for my instructors, I surrendered to the fact that I wanted to find her weakness. I wanted to know how to get another rise out of her. I wanted to exploit it and see her crumble beneath me.

She’d snapped when I called her a slut at the food bank. She’d given in a little then to slap me. But it was almost as though thataction had prompted her to be even cooler toward me and look more unaffected.

Never before had I wanted to mess up something good like I did with her. Not once in my life did I let myself get so dark and twisted with this need to inflict damage on something so seemingly perfect and flawless.

And that was why I stayed on campus all day and evening, following her around my classes. Later, when I waited near the bus stop where she’d show up for a ride home, I raised my brows as another student passed me, frowning.

“Bus isn’t running this week,” he said as he went by.

Goddammit.

I hated the thought that I could’ve missed her. It wasn’t just because I had to ruin her per Tiffany’s request, but also because it was my obsession to see her and be near.

After a jog toward the law buildings, I spotted her walking. Just to mess with her, liking how she always seemed aware of when I had her in view, I followed behind her for a while. If letting me stalk her was a secret little fantasy of hers…

Yeah, right. I doubt it.

Once she got off campus and walked through part of the city, I closed the distance between us until we walked side by side.

She didn’t acknowledge me. Not with a glance, a wave, a word. Nothing.

Minutes passed. They blurred and blended together for so long that I wondered if and when she’d crack under the pressure. She had to have tons to say. She had to have a lot on her mind afterI’d painted her so naughty like that. But when it seemed she wouldn’t speak up, sticking with this persistence to ignore me, I gritted my teeth and gave in.

She won.

This round.

“Did you like my painting of you?” I asked, figuring I could be direct.

“That wasn’t me,” she replied. “I’ve never modeled or posed for you.”

I chuckled softly, letting the thrill of her arguing with me light me up from the inside out.

“That’s not what I asked.”

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