Page 29 of Cruel Pawn
“It was one orgasm,” I whisper-hissed at myself.
“It was more than one,” Arden disagreed.
I whipped around to stare at the closed door, my eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. “You have the bathroom bugged.”
“Well, duh. I’m not going to miss a single moment of my future wife’s existence. There are cameras too, but you’ll never find them.”
I turned on the spot, glaring at all corners of the room. The impulse to destroy every last bit of the bathroom struck me, tainting my heart. But I hesitated. It was too pretty to destroy.
What the hell had happened to me? I killed people for a living, for Christ’s sake.
Speaking of… “You cost me a lot of money, Arden,” I grumbled, giving my middle finger to every last inch of space.
“Cute,” he said with a rolling laugh. “How much? I’ll make it up to you.”
“Fifty thousand,” I grumbled, giving up on my illusion of privacy because it never really existed and twisting the lock. I scorned him by grabbing a big, fluffy red towel and wrapping it around myself, though.
“One second, my opera,” he said when the door groaned open, his attention on the phone in his hand. “Then I’ll kill you senseless.”
“That phone hasn’t even released yet,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest. “And no need for kisses, I’m all good.”
“There isalwaysa need for kisses. And my cousin Damien has a tech hook-up who gets us all new shit before it’s dropped. I saved one for you, but you can only have it when I’m sure you’re not going to run away.”
“So, never.”
Arden’s eyes flicked up to mine, wicked with amusement. “You have everything you could possibly need—orgasms, your favourite food, sheets with as high thread count as physically possible, and a man who adores the very ground you walk upon.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I saw that. Don’t dismiss my love. You’re all I’ve been able to think about for months. You burrowed yourself into my brain and now I’ll never get out, and I don’t want to. You’re in my bloodstream, my opera. You’re imprinted on my skin, on my throat, and I’ll proudly wear your mark for the rest of my—”
“I didn’t mark you.”
He narrowed his eyes, lowering his phone. “And what, exactly, do you call this?” He tilted his head back to bare his throat.
“Attempted murder.”
He scoffed. “You wanted to keep me forever, but you were afraid, so you stabbed me. That’s a declaration of love in my eyes.”
“I wanted you dead because I was paid to kill you,” I countered, glaring at the chains that rustled as I stepped forward, a dark look on my face that usually warned people to stay very, very far from me.
“So pretty,” he sighed wistfully, his brown eyes bewilderingly soft.
My anger missed a rung and I faltered. “You… are extremely abnormal.”
“Yup.” He ducked forward to kiss the tip of my nose. “And you’re the proud new owner of fifty thousand pounds. What do you need all this money for anyway? You hoard it like a dragon hoards gold—”
I snatched the phone from his hand when he turned it to show my own fucking bank account. “How the hell are you in my account?”
“You might be skilled, my pretty opera, but I’m better. I know everything about you.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to suspect that,” I grumbled, staring at the new transaction. It had a little note attached that saidFOR MY WIFEY.I rolled my eyes and angled the phone closer to my face, swiping the banking app closed so I could get to his phone book and— “Hey!”
He snatched it out of my hand and locked it. My most murderous glare had absolutely no effect. I lunged, throwing a punch at his gut, and a shudder went through me, both ice and fire, when he caught my wrist with fluid ease and pinned me against the wall beside the door.
I had a half second to panic thathisfist would ram into my stomach, the fear of a beating instinctual and automatic, butthen he was kissing me like a man starved. Against my better instincts I relaxed, sagging against the wall.
As promised, he kissed me senseless. I truly lost all my common sense as he tasted me with long, greedy sucks and undulating licks that turned me to a mess of need.
