Page 29 of Lady Killer

The scent of rain and fresh earth hung in the air, and my eyelids dipped as I breathed in him.

The left side of his mouth twitched.

I stepped again, stopping a hair’s breadth away.

A harsh, brutish sound wound out from deep inside him.

He didn’t move.

Raising my hand, I looked at him and then placed it ever so carefully on his chest, doing my best to pretend I wasn’t fighting back the tremor that threatened to spill out of me if I hesitated for even a moment.

My palm had barely settled on him when Alister snatched me by my wrist again.

He roughly tugged me along with him, and I nearly tripped over the rug lining the corridor as we marched to the front of the townhouse.

He practically held me up as we climbed one flight of stairs, then another. At the end of the hall we came to, Alister pushed open a door and yanked me in behind him.

Pulling me into the center of the room, he growled a single command, “Stay.”

We were in a guest room of sorts.

Plain, gray, modern, and utterly impersonal . . .

Before I could file away any more information, Alister stood in front of me again.

His dark blond hair had fallen onto his face, and I fought the temptation to stand on my tiptoes and brush it out of his eyes.

He inspected me from top to bottom, his expression betraying nothing of his plans for me. When his eyes met my own, I did my best to mirror the expressionless mask he wore so well.

He may have promised punishment, but I never promised satisfaction.

His nostrils flared, and some of the ice in his gaze started to crack. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him clench and then relax his hand, and I was filled with a sense of victory

Then he went for his belt, and my smugness vanished, my lips parting before I could stop myself.

He smirked.

What right did a simple smile have to be sodevasting?

Alister undid the clasp of his belt, the sharpclickof it releasing causing my eyes to dart down.

His elegantly tattooed fingers wrapped deftly around the buckle, and then in a single, swift motion, he pulled his belt free.

The cracking noise it made vibrated through the small space and stole the breath from my lungs.

“Hands behind you.”

I nibbled on my lip, an unfamiliar urge to comply building inside me. Still, I had read enough to know that he was expecting me to obey. And if I didn’t, then he would . . .

“Don’t make this any worse for yourself, little demon.”Alister stepped forward to loom over me, snapping the belt in his hands.

I staggered backward, bumping against the raised platform of the bed.

Alister pressed forward, using his height to lean over me, forcing me to sit on the bed, hands behind me to prop myself up.

Keeping ahold of the belt with both hands, he lifted it over and behind my head, pulling it down to rest on my neck. “Did you let the Croft bastard touch that pretty little cunt of yours?”

“No,” I whispered before I could stop myself.

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