Page 44 of Daughter of a Monster

Ette’s question rips me back to reality and I tear my eyes away from Jericho. “Sure.” I blink, shaking myself back to the present.

What sort of a person am I for having these kinds of thoughts in front of Ette? Am I really that desperate?

“I’d love to.”

“I will too,” Jericho adds.

“Really?” Ette’s eyes go wide. “And what about you, Gideon? Will you play too?”

He reaches across the table to bop her nose. “I’ve got plans tonight munchkin. Another time, okay?”

“And where are you off to?” Jericho says, his voice a dark warning.

“If I wanted you to know, I would have told you, wouldn’t I?” Gideon gets up from the table and pushes in his chair.

“You’re not even staying for dessert?” Ette is aghast.

“Sorry. Places to go. People to do,” Gideon says in a sing-song voice. He throws me a wink.

“Well, I’m going to tell everyone that you played but you lost,” Ette declares.

Gideon clutches his heart. “You can’t do that. It will ruin my reputation as a ruthless Monopoly businessman!”

Once Gideon has left and the dessert dishes are cleared away, Ette runs out of the room to grab the board game. Jericho lowers himself to the ground, lounging on his side, propped on his elbow. My heart does this little somersault thing at the sight of him. He looks up at me through long dark eyelashes and pats the floor.

“Pull up a pew.”

Lowering myself to the ground, I suddenly feel self-conscious. I sit cross-legged, drawing my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly and trying to cover as much of myself as I can. It was a stupid idea that someone like me could tempt someone like Jericho Priest. No doubt he has women throwing themselves at him all the time. I literally saw one crawling across the ground to reach him. I’m nothing more than a girl to him, a dance instructor.

Ette runs back into the room, clutching the board game tightly and kneels beside me. She starts pulling the game apart, dictating which of us will play with which token, and hands all the money to Jericho, stating that he must be the banker.

It turns out that I’m shockingly bad at Monopoly and Jericho is unsurprisingly good. And an unyielding stickler for the rules. At the start, I try to brush close to Jericho, lean a little too far over when moving my piece around the board, but with his lack of response, I soon give up and just enjoy the game, even though I come last. Maybe flirtation just isn’t my thing.

“Right.” Jericho gets to his feet and musses Ette’s hair. “It’s past your bedtime, young lady. Say goodnight and then go find Mrs Bellamy to tuck you in.”

“Can’t Berkley put me to bed? She is the best at reading stories. She does all these silly voices and stuff.”

“I thought I was the best at telling stories?” Jericho pretends to pout. It’s adorable and sweet and makes me think there’s more beneath the gruff exterior than what appears.

Ette screws up her face. “You’re pretty good but you sound funny when you try to do the girl voices. You just do it wrong.”

I smile at Ette as she looks at me hopefully. “Sure, I can read to you.”

“Not tonight,” Jericho says.

“But—” she starts.

“Not tonight. Now be a good girl and go find Mrs Bellamy.”

“But—”

Jericho gives her a warning glare and even I shiver. Once Ette skips away, he leans down to start tidying up the board game. I help, stacking all the money and handing it to him in neat piles. Our fingers brush and I swear I feel the touch deep down in my core.

“Thank you.” Jericho catches my eye, his voice holding a severity that belies his words.

Again, my heart starts to race. My mouth goes dry. The world disappears and I’m aware of nothing but being caught in his gaze. I feel powerless, like a fly caught in a web, or a moth attracted to a flame. I know I’m about to get consumed, get burned, but I don’t care.

He holds my gaze without saying a word. The tension mounts between us to the point where I feel as though I could shatter at any moment.

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