Page 6 of The Criminal's Custody

And I freeze up all over again.

But the voice in my head is screaming at me at the highest possible volume.

What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Damon? Letting this girl have this weird hold over you?

I need to remind myself of who I am. Fuck this girl and the bizarre spell she has seemingly conjured on me - I need to remember the reputation I’ve worked hard to forge for myself and the walls I’ve constructed through all these years of struggle to get to where I am today.

I need to remind myself that I am a man who doesn’tever,everget weak at the knees for a girl.

I am Damon fucking Penmayne.

Yet, look at me right now, going fuckingweakover a female.

Time to shake this shit off.

She storms in, readying for a fight even before Jim has a chance to squeeze past her out of the office. The girl’s shoulders are up. Her chest is heaving with quick sharp breaths, allowing me to notice her perky breasts under her shirt...

She’s clearly been anticipating this very moment for days.

Well, I’m going to give it to her, just not the way she expects.

“Why are you here?” I ask before she has a chance to open that pretty little mouth of hers. “Who are you, girl?”

I am merely playing: I knowpreciselywho she is. Jim has given me the low-down on her, after all, but I do want to see the expression on the girl’s face when my question hits her ears.

And,oh, the expression does not disappoint.

It. Is. Delicious.

Ava Matson stops dead in her tracks in the middle of the large office facing me and huffs like a child being denied a cookie as I growl at her. It’s very adorable.

“It’s pretty damn insulting that I have been waiting days to see you, Damon Penmayne” she starts, “And yet you don’t know a single freaking thing about me.”

Her entire sentence rambles on in one long, breathless word. She’s either terrified or she’s angry at me, I can’t tell for sure. But I’m going to take the assumption it’s a bit of both.

An uncharacteristic smile begins to form on my lips.

I am very much enjoying this.

“Oh, but I knowexactlywho you are, Ava Matson,” I reply.

She crosses her arms, her face subtly dropping with the mention of her full name. “Hm? You do?”

She’s being sarcastic. And I can be equally passive-aggressive back.

“You were born and raised in Crystal River,” I explain from the corners of my smirk. “You’re the only daughter of your father, who is a gambler and borderline alcoholic. You attended the only high school in town, where you held the position of head cheerleader and were the most popular girl in your grade. You’ve only had one serious relationship in your life, and that was with Luke Abbott, the star quarterback and captain of your high school football team. You enjoy listening to music; in fact, you already have tickets for the next tour of the band called Ravaged. Your dorm roommate goes by the name Olivia Weldon, and she’s from out of town. And you’ve just spent three days annoyingly squatting in my reception and being a general pain in the ass for my staff.”

She merely shakes her head at my cold summation of her entire life.

“You’re a pain in the ass,” she mutters.

“Is that everything, or shall I continue?” I ask, easily recalling the information that Jim has just passed on to me. “I could mention, for instance, that your first kiss with said Luke Abbott was on the football field immediately after the high school quarterback threw a game-winning touchdown. Or I could mention how you spent your entire weekend not three weeks ago consuming nothing but ice cream and coffee and reading online fanfiction smut in the darkness of your dorm room.”

“That’s enough,” she whispers in disbelief. “How the hell do you know those things about me?”

“I have my sources,” I reply.

“It’sstalking,” she retorts, her confident defenses already slipping away.

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