Page 35 of Bitter Arrangement

My mouth goes dry. My core spasms with the thought of his dirty lips against my throat. I hate how badly I want to have sex with this guy, even though he’s nothing but an ice-cold prick.

Only right now, under the covers, he’s deadly hot.

“It’s our first night together,” I whisper, cheeks pink. I’m thankful he can’t see me right now; otherwise, he’d know I’m mortified, and that my nipples are also rock hard with excitement.

There’s a short silence. Then a low, throaty chuckle. “That’s not what I meant, baby, but I’m happy to know where your head’s at.”

“What else could you mean bybusiness?” I say, annoyed and frustrated.

“The watch.”

I resist a groan. Right, of course, the watch. I’ve been so busy trying to transition to this new life that I keep forgetting the life-or-death trouble I dragged us both into.

“Look, you know I didn’t mean to cause all this, right?” I ask him.

“I know that,” he admits, which is actually kind of nice. “But we still need to figure out how we’re going to appease Mantis while also making sure they don’t want to kill either of us.”

I chew on a lip, considering, but I’m having trouble thinking. “What do you suggest? Since I’m guessing you have some ideas.”

He grunts slightly and shifts again. Getting closer to me?

“First, I want to find out what’s on the hard drive. Once I can figure out why they want it back, I can come up with a plan to deal with it.”

“Okay, great, that should be easy, right?”

“Wrong.” His voice is inches from my ear now. Definitely closer. “The drive is encrypted. It’s totally useless right now, at least until I can figure out how to decrypt it.”

“Good thing you’re a hacker genius.”

“Good thing,” he agrees. “In the meantime, I need you to keep a low profile. Don’t go out if you don’t have to.”

“You’re locking me up now?”

“No, I’m not, but I will if I have to.”

“Good luck with that.”

He laughs lightly. I feel his breath on my skin and smell mint and coriander. I close my eyes, trying not to shiver with excitement.

“You’re good at getting into places you don’t belong,” he whispers, and I feel a finger stroke up my bare thigh.

“Hey, easy with that,” I say, trembling as I gently swat him back.

He doesn’t seem fazed. “You’re right, I doubt I could keep you prisoner here even if I wanted. That’s why I’m asking. For the next month, try not to take any risks.”

Okay, that’s reasonable, even if it annoys me a little bit. “I’ll do my best.” I turn onto my side and look right into his face. Fuck, he’s handsome. “Why don’t we just steal the decryption key from Jeremy Fong?”

He licks his teeth again, and my mouth absolutely waters at the thought of that tongue invading my lips again, just like on our wedding day.

“That’s not an option. He might seem benign, but trust me, Iron Head is a serious player.”

“I wish you’d stop calling him that. It sounds like a bad gamer tag.”

He ignores me. “I’ll find a way to break it tomorrow. In the meantime, no trouble.” He pauses, and I think that’s the end of the conversation, but he doesn’t roll over. Instead, he asks, “Where’d you learn how to pickpocket, by the way?”

My eyebrows raise. “Are you trying to get to know me?”

“You’re my wife now. I might as well.”

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