Page 25 of Fierce Sinner

Aurora

Shutting my bedroom door behind me, all I can think about is getting undressed and heading for a cold shower. I need to cool my head after everything that happened tonight. My father, Bella, the encounter with Alonso… Not to mention what went down in the back of the car with Lev on the way back from the party.

Whatever climatic moment we had, it felt…real.

Getting my head around the intensity of this relationship is clearly no walk in the park.

Relationship?

Is that what you want to call it?

I can only imagine what could be going on in Lev’s head right now. It is something I can almost never figure out. Except, of course, when we’re… Once again, my mind races back to those frantic moments in the back of the car. There’d been no doubt about what was on his mind then.

Or yours, Aurora.

God, I’d almost been begging him to take me. Just the flashes of memory are enough to have my nipples tightening again.

I wonder how Alonso dared to test Lev like that. I’m sure he knows how ruthless he can be. The man was either crazy or drunk… or he had a death wish, that’s for sure.

Throwing my dress across the bed, I walk to the chair in front of the dresser. I sit, bend down, and unbuckle my sandals, then realize I’m smiling as I think of how gently Lev helped me put them on.

My smile drops when I see my reflection in the mirror.

“Shit,” I mutter.

I look exactly like a person who just got done having wild sex in the back of a limousine. I wonder what Lev’s men must have thought when I got out of the car looking like this. My lips are puffy, my hair is a complete mess, and my skin is flushed. There’s no hiding what happened.

And I don’t regret any of it. I glance at the diamond necklace still circling my throat and gently caress it. My skin tingles at the memory of Lev’s fingers brushing my skin as he fastened it around my neck.

I remove the necklace and gently place it at the top of the dresser, then reach for my clutch and start emptying it. I’m surprised to see my phone flashing several message notifications. I tap the screen to open them and I almost can’t believe what I’m seeing. There are a string of missed calls from my father.

“What the…?” I say out loud as I stare at the phone’s screen. “Why would he…?”

He was clearly not interested in having a conversation with me at the party. Humiliating me seemed like a much more intriguing idea to him.

But these calls were only about half an hour ago… while Lev and I were blowing each other’s minds. My cheeks go warm again, but the calls from my father have me unsettled too.

Was he calling to apologize again?

I scoff at the thought. Clearly, that’s wishful thinking. The man hasn’t even called me since I got married. He’s never cared about me. Why would that change now?

I decide to ignore him, just the way he has been ignoring me pretty much all my life. The last time he called me, I ended up being locked up in his house until he married me off. I’m not about to make that mistake again.

I throw the phone across the bed and decide to head for the shower. But just before I’d enter the bathroom, I hear a buzz coming from the direction of my bed.

For fuck’s sake.

I stop for a moment, trying to fight the urge to pick up the phone and find out why he’s looking for me. It’s not like he can screw with me anymore. I’m a married woman and I’m no longer under his supervision. Perhaps heiscalling to apologize for how he behaved tonight.

Before I could convince myself of how stupid the thought is, I reach for my phone and hit answer. I hold it to my ear and wait patiently.

“Hello, dear.” My father’s seemingly friendly tone has me staring at the phone screen in disbelief. Dear? Am I really talking to my father or is this some kind of a prank? “Aurora?” he says, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Hello, Father,” I mutter. “How can I help?” I try not to sound surly, but it’s not easy when my suspicions are swirling.

Wait, did he really call me “dear,” or what?

What the hell??

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