Page 114 of Revenge & Ruin

The room is massive but feels surprisingly warm. The lights are dimmed to a soft glow, accentuating the rich, dark wood of the floors and the deep charcoal walls.

The bed dominates the room, king-sized with dark, plush bedding that looks soft enough to sink into. The pillows areperfectly arranged, though a few of them bear the faint creases of someone who’s often up late, lying awake, thinking.

A sliding glass door on the far side of the room opens to a small balcony with a view of the river, the city lights spilling in to cast faint patterns against the walls.

I take a step forward, mildly amused. “The thing you wanted to show me was your bedroom? Has the subtlety of romance been lost?”

He chuckles behind me as the door locks with a soft click. Then, another click. Then another.

I whirl around in alarm.

“This room is entirely soundproof,” he says as he casually stalks forward. “There’s nothing you can hack into to get the doors open. The glass is bulletproof, so you can’t scale the side of the building to make your escape.”

There’s something quite menacing about his approach, but I hold my ground. “Is that supposed to intimidate me?”

His midnight eyes graze over me lazily. “I suppose you think you could just stab me and make a run for it.”

My mouth opens in shock. “How did you?—”

But his hands are on me, shoving me firmly backward until I crash into the wall. The knife drops into my hand instinctively, and I press the blunt end into his neck.

We stand there for a moment, each breathing heavily.

“Any particular reason you have a knife in your hand, my love?”

“Old habits,” I breathe back. “Why did you lock us in here?”

“Because I’m not letting you go this time.”

A small gasp escapes my mouth before his lips crash into mine.

His hands cling to the sides of my waist as he hungrily draws out my tongue with his mouth, worshiping it between his lips and sending a feral sensation to my core.

I groan loudly—as loud as I would like—as he begins to plant kisses down my neck and throat.

“That it,” he growls below my ear. “It’s soundproof. No one but me gets to hear you scream.

I fight against the twitch of a smile as he continues to attack every inch of skin within his reach. It’s incredibly distracting. Too distracting.

Without warning, the knife is pulled from my hand entirely.

The metal of the sharp blade rests under my chin.

Teo leans in close. “Do you trust me?”

“Absolutely not.”

He grins, and then…

A whoosh of air and the sound of buttons and fabric dropping to the floor.

And I suddenly feel very, very exposed.

“Did you just?—”

But there’s no time to lament my sudden absence of clothes. The knife drops to the floor, and suddenly, Teo iseverywhere.

His tongue, his lips, his fingers, his mouth, his breath all brush my skin with enough reverence to brand it.

---