Page 72 of The Scandal You Started
“You left at half past five, Rayna.”
“What’s your point? It’s not as if I left you by yourself while I was out. And I had stuff to get from my house, so that took time too.”
Scorching hot blood curled over the curves of his ears, making them sting. “Was it necessary to clothe yourself in the smallest scrap of fabric you could find?”
Her eyes flashed bright with anger. “What has that got to do with anything?”
His own wrath latched on to the fact she knew she was wearing little to no clothing, and he lurched towards her. “Because you dressed in this manner to see Jake!”
Silence. Ringing, harsh, and long.
Rayna swallowed, shifting slightly on her feet. “Did River tell you?”
He huffed a sardonic sound. “I’m not the fool you think I am. Neither did it take much effort to figure out. It is abundantly clear from the way you have behaved—from the way you are bloody dressed—that he is the‘friend’you met with.”
“There’s nothing wrong with what I’m wearing, Dominic.”
“You are naked, Rayna!”
“No, I’m not.” She jerked forward, squaring up to him. “This isn’t your fucking time. Don’t start imposing your ideas of clothing on me again.”
“I am not imposing anything, and you know that.” He jabbed a hand past her. “My complaint lies in the fact you wore next to nothing for him.”
“Stop acting like I’m in my bloody underwear. I’m wearing a dress. But I sure as fuck didn’t wear it for Jake.”
“Do you truly expect me to believe that?”
“I do, you fucking bastard, because that’s what I’m telling you!”
Her furious roar leapt off the four walls of the room before it went deadly quiet.
“I didn’t wear this dressforJake,” she hissed. “I wore it because I wanted to, because I like it. Because I wanted to look and feel my best while I was out—”
“Why must you have looked your best in his company?”
“Because that’s normally how people want to feel when they go out with someone; it doesn’t matter who, you fucking asshole!”
Phantom echoes of their voices darted around as Dominic’s jaw and temple ticked, and Rayna’s chest lifted and fell with her rapid breaths.
“Why did you hide that it washimyou were meeting?” he then growled.
“Don’t you think that’s pretty self-explanatory from the way you’re acting?”
“Well, how else am I to react?” He ducked his head. “I forbade you from seeing him, and yet you went behind my back and did so anyway.”
“You can’t forbid me from doing anything, Dominic.” She slammed her palms against his chest with the last irate syllable of his name, swaying him on the spot.
He caught her wrists in either hand, refusing to let her retreat as she tried to tug free. “Then why did you lie about it?”
“I didn’t lie.”
“Yes, you did. You said you were to see a friend—”
“Heismy friend.”
“No, he is not. He longs for you, and you went to see him knowing that. Why?” He tugged her hands towards his shoulders, forcing her to arch closer. “What were you hoping for?” His fingers tightened around her delicate skin. “Did you wish to continue where you had left off on your holiday?”
She kept twisting her wrists, the colour in her cheeks deepening past the pink rouge she already wore. “Is that really what you think?”
