Page 72 of The Owner's Temptation

My heels are high, my lipstick matches my nails, and I’m ready for a night of…what exactly, I'm not sure.

Harper bursts into my apartment without knocking, Adriano and another guy trailing behind her. She whistles appreciatively.

“Damn, Sienna. Planning to break hearts or laws tonight?”

I smirk, grabbing my clutch. “Why choose? Let’s do both.”

Harper laughs and nudges Adriano, who wraps an arm around her waist possessively. "This is Roman," she announces, indicating the friend who's currently eyeing me up and down.

Roman is handsome, I'll give Harper that—tall, sharp jaw, striking features—but the way he looks at me screams he only wants one thing, and for some reason, it doesn't appeal to me at all tonight.

The club is bustling when we arrive.

Harper and Adriano immediately snag white masks, heading into level 2, Lust, eager for their night ahead. I slip on my black rabbit mask, feeling powerful and anonymous.

Roman chooses a white mask as well, sticking close to me near the entrance. The safe zone—where the rules of looking without touching are more my speed right now.

“So,” Roman begins, leaning slightly toward me. “Have you been here before?”

I nod, my gaze roaming lazily around the room, taking in the glances sliding over me. The allure of my black mask—the woman who wears the Devil’s invitation—is thrilling, intoxicating.

“Once,” I reply casually.

He steps closer, his voice dropping. “You know, Harper's talked you up a lot. Says you're something special.”

I smile politely, deliberately not looking at him, maintaining control. “Harper’s known to exaggerate.” Making him want what I’m not giving him.

My attention.

Roman chuckles softly, undeterred. “Maybe, but looking at you tonight, I don't think she's wrong.”

I glance up at him coyly through my lashes, letting a teasing smirk curl my lips. It's amusing, really—he thinks he's seducing me, yet he's completely unaware I'm guiding this interaction. My Ledger training is coming in handy already.

"Careful," I say, tilting my head slightly, voice playful but authoritative. "Flattery will get you everywhere and nowhere at the same time."

Roman’s flirting is not selling me. I know he only wants to use cheesy lines to try and get me in the sack.

He probably says a lot of the same stuff to girls, leading them on with the promise he’s actually interested but really, he just wants to fuck and doesn’t really have many standards on who it is.

As I think of these things, I surprise myself.

The old me, the one that pined after Boring-Ben would have been all over this. Craving any kind of attention and believing it instantly.

These words would have likely worked before.

But not now.

There is not a single cell in my body aroused by Roman, the bedroom eyes he’s giving me or the prospect of fucking him.

Because I’m in the Devil’s territory.

And knowing he’s probably just a few floors above gives me chills. Wondering if he has a toy to play with yet.

If his tongue would feel as amazing on me in person as it does in my fantasies.

That is what sends a rush of heat across my chest and up my throat.

What flutters my pulse and makes me clinch my thighs together as my panties grow wetter.

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