Page 180 of Intense
There’s conflict there, a flicker that doesn’t match the coldness he wears like armor.
He sits across from me, deliberately further away this time.
“How do you feel?” he asks.
A smile tugs at my lips.
“Absolutely fine and no hornier than normal around you. So, I suppose my body just didn’t react to whatever it was.”
He runs his thumb across his lip.
“Hmm. I didn’t think it would take you long to see through that one.”
I grin.
“Placebo test. Very good.” I wink.
His fists clench at his sides, and I stiffen. He’s unamused.
“Do you play this game with other women?” My arms fold over my chest. My voice is steady, but my pulse ticks faster.
“Game? This is just a game for you?” he counters.
I chew on my lip.
“Well, that’s what you called it earlier? I just want to know if I’m just another woman to you.”
His eyes form slits and he sits upright.
“Oh, is that how this is going? You get to interrogate me?” His smirk is all teeth.
“What? Are you interrogating me?”
“Testing,” he corrects.
“Do you?” I press softer now.
He nods.
Something tugs in my chest.
I’m not special.
I always assumed he wasn’t the type for a string of women, especially with his strict rules about no looking, no touching.
I thought what I’d seen of him—the softer edges, the cracks—were mine alone.
I turn my head, letting my hair fall forward as I reset my expression.
Maybe to him, everything is a game.
“Does that hurt?” he asks.
My eyes snap back to his. “No.”
“Awful liar, love.” He looks pleased.
“The women who attend my trials,” he says, “are part of a competition me and my brothers host here at Decadence. Entered by their families or husbands. They compete… to survive.”
