Page 55 of Blood and Lies (A Twisted Duet 1)

“That’s another difficult question to answer.”

“No, it’s not. Your head is overcomplicating the answers.”

The warmth of her breath skidded across my neck, her chest starting to rapidly rise and fall—just like mine.

Her blue eyes studied my face. “Believe me, it’s not my head that’s complicating the answer.”

“Then what is?”

Her eyes searched my face, and I loved the way she looked at me with equal parts of lust and fear.

“It’s the fact that after what just happened, even if I survive the wrath of your family, I won’t survive you.”

I lifted my other hand and softly traced the outline of her jaw. “You have that so wrong, little mouse. I no longer think it’s your survival that’s at stake.”

A knock on the outside door pulled me back from a thousand thoughts of how completely fucked I was while staring into her eyes. I stepped back and glanced down. Her thighs glistened with the wetness slowly easing down from between her legs—the evidence of our lack of self-control. I also noticed blood dripping down the inside of her leg from the wound I inflicted on her thigh.

“We need to get that cleaned.”

She snorted. “You want to kill me, yet you worry a tiny wound will get infected?”

“Irony is a bitch, Miss Linscott.”

I tore my gaze from her then walked over to the trolley, reaching underneath.

“Here.” I tossed her a black silk nightgown.

She caught it then stared at me questioningly. “How did I go from a dirty rag to a silk nightgown?”

I grabbed the last items underneath the trolley. “How did I go from being the man who wanted to kill you to the man that could give you what you need?”

She bit her bottom lip in silence then dropped her gaze to the items in my hand. “What is that?”

I placed it on the bed. “Your reward.”

“My reward for what?”

I walked up to her and took her chin in my hand. Leaning in, I placed a chaste kiss on her cheek before pushing my lips against her ears, smelling the citrusy scent of my shampoo on her.

“For being such a good pet.”

She sucked in a wild breath, and I turned and walked out of the room. With every step I took, I fought the urge to turn around, to walk back to her. My body felt like it was being torn in two by walking away from her.

I’d done some wicked things with women before, things that were downright perverted and fucked up. But what just happened between Tatum and me, even though tame in comparison to what I was capable of, was the most intense and the best goddamn sexual experience of my fucking life. And as the door closed behind me, separating me from her, I knew that no matter what was to come, that wouldn’t be the last time I took Tatum Linscott. Thinking that one fuck would be enough to satisfy the hunger stirring inside me was so damn wrong. All it did was aggravate my need for her.

There was another knock on the door.

“Castello, are you in there?”

Fucking Vico.

I punched in the security code, and the door clicked open. When I saw Vico, I knew something was up.

“What?”

“It’s William Linscott. He got the package.”

I glanced at my wristwatch. How the fuck did I lose track of time? Oh, right, because I lost my cock inside the pussy of the one woman I couldn’t fucking have yet had to claim.

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