Page 44 of The Sinner: James

“Why does it have to be your bed? I can sleep somewhere else.”

“Nobody enters my bedroom. It’s safer that way,” he says firmly.

“Okay,” I murmur, visibly disappointed.

“I’m going to lock the door,” he says.

“Why?”

“To make sure you’re not roaming around.”

“I’m not... roaming around,” I comment, amused. “What if I need something?”

“My cell number is in your phone’s address book, and you can call me or text me. I’m one door over.”

Unexpectedly, he kisses my cheek, barely touching the corner of my mouth, and walks away, my blindfold still on.

* * *

JAMES

I leave my bedroom,lock the door, take a deep breath, and adjust my aching erection.

Half decent, I walk into the living room and head straight for the bar. I pour myself a double shot of whiskey and gulp it down.

Ed swivels his head to me.

“Is it that good? Or is it that bad?” he asks, grinning.

“Both, but she’s mostly good. I might need to go back to Red’s,” I say, fishing out a cigarette from the pack sitting on the table.

They laugh in response.

I grab my drink and join them on the terrace.

“The woman is a tease,” I mumble, crashing into a chair.

Their eyes flick at me.

A smirk pushes to my lips.

“And she’s so fucking stubborn,” I say.

“She’s got the itch,” Lex mutters as if harboring mixed feelings about Rain Morgan.

“This is more than the itch. It’s in her blood. She doesn’t know it right now, but just wait a couple of years, and she’ll have men blowing their brains out for her. A long line of suckers will be waiting to get their hearts broken. For now, I don’t want to give her what she wants. If I do, she’ll chase me down like a mad dog.”

The laughs around the table rip into the silence.

“I have no problem taking care of her,” Ed says, a smile creasing his lips.

“Me neither,” Lex chimes in.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. She came all the way here from her home in the middle of the night on a fucking bicycle. Can you imagine the kind of determination she’ll have if she gets what she wants?”

“I’m sure you’ve already taken care of that,” Ed says, lifting his glass to his lips.

“Taken care of what?”

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