"Why did you ask me that question?"
"I wanted to take you by surprise." I firm my lips. "That's all."
"You expect me to believe that?" He searches my features. "That you'd ask me a riddle for the hell of it?"
"Why? Does it scare you?"
The wind blows, and a tuft of his hair falls over his forehead. I raise my hand toward it. He grabs my wrist, wrenches tit behind my back, then lowers his head until his nose bumps mine. "Be afraid, Victoria. Be very afraid."
"Of you?"
"Of this game you are playing." He releases me and I slump back on my heels. My chest heaves. My heart pounds so hard I am sure it's going to tear out of my rib cage.
"Or what?" I purse my lips.
"Or get ready to get hurt." He straightens the cuff of his shirt. "For I never lose, and when you do—" He straightens, fixes me with that penetrating gaze, "No one can save you."
1
Saint
"And what if I don't?" Her low voice slices through my guts. "What if I don’t want to be saved?" she whispers. Her lips tremble and her chin wobbles. Her beautiful green eyes grow impossibly large in her face. An act, all an act. She's married, for fuck's sake.
"Is that how you trapped your husband?"
She pales. Her breath catches.
A sharp pain stabs at my chest. Shit, now I am upset because I hurt her feelings. Bloody fuck, do I have my balls or what?
She turns to leave, my rib cage tightens. My lungs burn. I swoop down, grab her wrist, and pinpricks of heat crawl up my arm from the touch. What the fuck?
She shivers, did she feel that too? Nah. Surely, it's a figment of my imagination.
I tug at her; she angles her body half toward me, half away, her handbag a red slash of color against the brown of her dress. "People are watching." she hisses.
"The fuck I care?"
She glances at me, "What if I do?"
"Do you?" So I'm attracted to her. Shit happens. She's another man's wife, the kind of complication I've preferred to steer clear of. What is it about her that insists I stay, tug at her wrist until she turns to face me?
She shakes her head. One side of her beautiful mouth twists. "But I'm afraid my husband does."
"And you care about his feelings?" I glower.
"I care about mine." She tips up her chin. Her eyes blaze with an inner fire. "If I were looking for an affair, it wouldn't be with the likes of you."
"Oh?" I peruse her features, "And are you looking for one?"
"What?"
"A lover. Someone who could arouse you with a glance, who would kiss you until you moan, someone who would pull you aside and take you while your husband mingles with the guests." I lean in close enough for her sweet sugary scent to lace my nostrils. Damn, but she's aroused. "Is that what you want?"
"No." Her eyebrows twist.
"Good." I release her so suddenly that she stumbles. "For when I take you, there will be no space for sweettalk, no emotions involved, no reason for hesitation. I'll treat your body like it were mine."
She draws in a sharp breath.
"You scared, yet?" I drawl.
"No," she mumbles.
"You should be."
A gust of wind blows her hair across her face. I reach up to tuck it behind her ear.
She shivers.
I unbutton my jacket, shrug it off.
She frowns. "What are you doing?"
I place it about her shoulders, position my mouth next to her ear, "When I finally drive into you, you'll weep not because I'm hurting you, but because you are empty without me."
Her breath hitches.
"Because you ache for me and will do anything for my fingers in you, my tongue on yours, the squeeze of my hand on your hips, the burn between your thighs as I drink from your wetness." I lower my voice.
Her breasts heave.
"When you plead with me to hurt you, to hold you down and claim you, to put you out of your agony even as you ask to be tormented further; when you beg for me with your pretty mouth, when you yearn to be filled in any way I deem fit... Then, and only then, I might let you come..." I pause, "Or not."
She swallows.
"And when I finally take you, it will be unexpected, life-altering, mind-blowing, intense. Everything else before will fade in comparison. "
Her breathing grows more ragged. Good. I step back, pull the lapels of my jacket together. My knuckles brush against her breasts and she shivers.
My groin tightens and my balls hurt. Fuck me, but this might be the first time I've talked myself into a hard-on—thanks to her.
"You want that, hmm?"
She shakes her head.
I chuckle. "If I touched you between your legs, you and I both know you'd be wet. And you are soaking, aren't you?"
She bites down on her lower lip, spots of color burning high on her cheekbones.
I lower my voice to a hush, "Answer me."
She trembles, "Yes."
"Do you want me?"
She tips up her chin, "What if I do?"
"All you have to do is ask."
"And you'll give me what I want?" Her eyebrows knit.
"I'll make sure you get everything you deserve." I look her up and down, "The time you spend with me will be the single most pleasurable time of your life."
Her lips part.
Her pupils dilate.
"You feel me?"
She nods.
"Say it."
"I... I feel you," she whispers.
"Good."
I turn to leave. Take one step, another.
"Wait," she calls out.
Bingo, I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. Give it another second, then turn to glance at her.
"Your jacket." She begins to shrug out of it.
I hold up my hand, "Keep it." I pivot and leave.
What the hell happened there?
Why did she ask me a riddle? How did she know about the ghosts that have haunted my worst nightmares since the incident when six of my friends and I had been kidnapped? And why the hell had I allowed myself to be drawn into further conversation? I'd seen the
