Page 97 of Pretty Poisoned

I keep quiet until we finish, and they head in the opposite direction, leaving me alone with Declan.

"Quiet doesn't bother me," he says. "You can go ahead and not talk to me if that's what you feel like you need to do. But if something is bothering you, you should say something."

"Quiet just doesn't bother me either," I tell him.

"Well, okay."

We pass a flower shop where an older woman sets up tulips and roses on a cart outside.

"Good afternoon," she says as we pass. "Pretty flower for a pretty girl?"

Declan stops in front of the cart and picks up a red tulip. "Maybe," he says. "What do you think, Teagan? You like tulips, don't you?"

I guess he's referring to my tattoo. He traces my jawline with the flower's soft petals.

"It's complicated," I say softly.

"Whether or not you like a flower is complicated?"

I shake my head. "Declan, why are you doing this?"

"I like you, Teagan," he says, running the petals over my lips. "Let me be nice to you."

My breath catches. If I were standing here on the street like this with any other man who looked like him, who could do the things he can do to me, but who wasn't a sadistic, manipulative murderer, I'd melt into him right now.

But he is what he is, and I am whatever I am, so I don't.

I take the flower from his hand and smell it before setting it back down on the cart.

"No, thanks," I tell the woman. "Besides, he's a lot prettier than me anyway. Maybe I should be the one buying him flowers."

The woman laughs as I step around Declan and continue down the street. "Oh, honey, I don't disagree with you there," she says.

"Teagan, what are you doing?" he asks, trailing behind me.

I don't have a good answer for that, though. I'm not sure what I'm doing.

"What areyoudoing?" I counter, walking through the front doors of the hotel. I stop in front of the elevator, pushing the button about a hundred times as if that will make it show up any faster. When I give up, I cross my arms in front of me and stare straight ahead.

"Would you relax? I just want to spend time with you, Teagan. I told you…I like you. I would have thought that after last night, you wouldn't be afraid of me anymore."

"You mean after you took me to another house with dead bodies?"

"Teagan, Jesus." He looks around the lobby. "Get a fucking filter. You can't just say shit like that." He reaches for me and snatches my sunglasses from my face. "And take the fucking shades off, Elton John. You're inside. Look at me."

I bite my bottom lip and shake my head.

He reaches for me, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "Who hurt you?" he asks.

I shrug. "Everyone."

Finally, the elevator doors open. I sidestep around Declan and make myself comfortable in the back corner.

But when the doors close, he leans down and kisses me hard, his tongue tangling with my own. I moan and return that samedesperation; I wrap my arms around his neck, and he backs me into the wall, lifting me by the back of my thighs until my legs are around his waist. He grinds his dick into me while his mouth devours mine until the elevator doors open.

I try to pull away from him, but he holds me tighter. "Don't," he says. "I'm not letting you go."

He carries me through the doors and sets me down outside his hotel room, digs out his room key, and pushes open the door.

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