Page 55 of Vicious Seduction

Looking at Oran’s hand in the morning light, I could see busted skin on his knuckles. I hadn’t noticed the scabbing before and could have sworn it hadn’t been there. He’d made Gaetz suffer, and he’d done it all for me. Why? The whole thing was hard for me to comprehend. Was I so jaded that I couldn’t imagine someone putting themselves at risk for me? Absolutely.

Yet he hadn’t given up on me.

Before I consciously decided to do it, I took his hand, heavy with sleep, and brought it to my lips to place a delicate kiss on the scarred flesh. He didn’t wake, but I still felt a wave of embarrassment when I reminded myself that Oran might have done a good thing, but that didn’t make him a good man.

He’s dangling a prison sentence over your head, remember?

Uninterested in having that argument with myself, I slid from the bed as quietly as possible so as not to disturb him. I made a quick trip to the toilet, and when I exited the restroom back into the main bathroom, I noticed a shopping bag on the vanity. It was a white sack with black paper, the shop name printed on the side just like the one he’d set on fire.

He had to have placed it there before bringing me to his room in the night. Was it for me? I hadn’t even considered whether Oran might have anyone else in his life.

The thought pressed down on me like a cold wet blanket.

Too curious not to look, I went to the bag and peeked inside. When I saw red with black lace, I pulled out the contents to find the underwear set I’d loved so much along with two others. All were in my size.

Movement in the mirror drew my attention to Oran as he joined me in the bathroom wearing nothing but the boxer brief’s he’d worn to bed. His body was even more spectacular in the soft morning light, though there was nothing soft abouthim—especially his impressive morning wood. The sight made my thoughts fuzzy and disjointed.

I cleared my throat and tore my gaze from his reflection. “Sorry if I woke you.”

“Don’t be. I would have stayed in bed if I’d wanted to.” His sleep-heavy voice scraped across my skin like a warm wool blanket, bringing on an army of goose bumps.

“You have good taste in lingerie.”

“They’re yours. The sizes should be right. I went that same day to make sure the clerk remembered you.”

I spun around. “You’ve had these this whole time?”

“Told you I didn’t want anyone else to see you in it.” He flipped on the light, then hooked a finger in the waistband of his briefs and slung them off in one swift motion.

I whipped back around like a spastic weathervane, only to be confronted with his smirking face reflected in the mirror.

“I have somewhere to be this morning.” He walked to the glass shower door, his perfect ass on display. “You’re welcome to join me in the shower.” He peered over his shoulder, smirking when he caught me gnawing on my bottom lip, eyes glued to his backside.

“I’m … my toiletries are in the other bathroom. If I used yours, I’d smell all wrong,” I blathered with my two functioning brain cells.

“We couldn’t have that, now could we?” he rasped, amusement coating his words like honey.

He closed the shower door and stepped into the spray. His hands lifted to smooth back his hair, and the movement drew my eyes to his flexing abdomen—water rivulets running down the carved dips and peaks of his chiseled muscles. The sight was mesmerizing, which was why he caught me staring when his eyes reopened. His darkening irises sparked with challenge as he held my gaze while spreading bodywash across his chest, arms, then down…

I couldn’t resist. I was a weak, weak woman.

I tore my eyes from his and stared raptly as his hand encircled his engorged cock. The delicious Adonis V pointing down at the main attraction flexed more prominently as Oran began to leisurely stroke himself.

My fingers twitched with the desperate need to do the same—to touch between my legs and relieve some of the intense pressure he’d created. Instead, I spun around to flee so quickly that I bounced off the doorframe on my way out, a rumble of amused laughter chasing me back to my room.

I wasn’t sure what sort of voodoo magic this man wielded, but it was strong. He had me so turned around, I didn’t know which way was up or down. Even worse, Iwasn’t sure I cared. The temptation to follow him inside the steaming stone enclosure had been almost too overwhelming to resist. For a hazy second in that bathroom, I couldn’t recall why showering with him would be so bad. We were both adults, right?

Oran was a raging river, and fighting the current was wearing me down. I was starting to wonder if the rippling torrent of water might take me exactly where I wanted to be. It was that, or I’d end up drowning. Either way, I had a feeling my course was set.

CHAPTER 29

ORAN

I’d thoughtI was dreaming when I first woke. The bed was empty, yet I was engulfed in a hazy memory of lips pressing tenderly to the back of my hand. The touch was so light, so angelic, I’d assumed it had to be a figment of my imagination. But as I lay there, doubts set in. My dreams were rarely so chaste.

Lina would sooner chop off my hand than kiss it, wouldn’t she?

I wasn’t so sure anymore—about her or anything related to her—except that what I was about to do was necessary, no matter how seemingly repulsive. I had to find out more about Wellington and the Olympus Club. Somethingshady was going on behind the scenes, but I could only speculate what exactly that might be.

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