Page 39 of Liars and Liaisons

Since I haven’t heard from him in a few days and haven’t gotten a cryptic phone call from one of the goons collecting their money, I have to assume that means he made the deadline.

Pressing the phone back to my ear, I reach for the doorknob as Cora drones on about the animal shelter she runs and how it’s less noisy there than where I’m at.

When I pull the door open, a masked face appears, as if from thin air, mere inches from mine. He tilts his chin downward as I stop in my tracks, unable to leave or even speak as shock ripples through my system.

“Violet?” Cora’s voice grows distant and more concerned with each passing second. “Are you still there?”

The figure wears a dark hood that droops partway over his forehead, and the mask is gold with devil horns and rhinestone accents, leaving the entire bottom half of his face visible, though it’s difficult to really see in the dim house.

I’m positive it’s Grayson, but there’s a seed of doubt sprouting in the back of my mind too. His mask from the fundraiser was leather and goat-shaped, and this one feels a bit too intricate for him.

Which means the figure could very well be a total stranger. Someone who’s wandered too far from the festivities below and no one is the wiser.

And even though I’m not supposed to be this kind of girl, not supposed to throw caution to the wind and shirk my responsibilities, I can’t help but indulge a bit in the fantasy. The titillating notion of being swept up by a stranger who could hurt me or give me pleasure and there’d be only one way to find out his preference.

The person steps closer, moonlight from my windows dancing across the papier-mâché. I have a flash of how it might feel beneath my fingertips, and a little jolt of anticipation shoots down my spine as I imagine kissing the stranger.

Silently, the masked figure reaches out, plucking the phone from me with a leather-gloved hand. Something thick and taut solidifies in my throat as he inches forward, lips parting on a single, strangled breath.

Mine part as well, echoing his movement, as if in some sort of trance.

My heart beats like a kettledrum, deafening as it tries to burst free from my chest.

Gloved fingers reach up, skimming my side. I clench my teeth so tight that my forehead aches, trying to ignore the liquid heat spreading through me.

What is it about a mask, about the darkness, that’s so fucking exciting?

Is it the anonymity or the fact that it’s so much easier to hide your shameful desires when no one can see them in the first place?

The figure drags his thumb across my nipple, and I suck in a gasp. Those lips curve, just slightly at the corners, and I have to wonder if the touch was on purpose or not since my breast is immediately abandoned.

If he wanted to ravage me, he wouldn’t just stop.

Right?

When he brushes my bottom lip, strumming my flesh like a guitar string, I lean into it. Even if my body screams and begs me not to, it seems powerless against the energetic current pulsating between us.

My skin feels like it’s on fire, and the flames in the green eyes before me have the potential to make it so much worse.

But maybe there’s something to be said about getting burned on purpose. A certain level of control afforded to you when decide how far into the flames you travel.

Then again, some fires, once stepped into, grow.

Some consume you.

I want to know what that feels like.

The fingers travel from my lip to my chin, and then the masked figure moves in, dipping his head. I let my eyes fall closed, bracing myself for the impact of his kiss.

It doesn’t come.

Instead, a large hand grips my shoulder while the other pinches my chin, and then I’m being shoved back over the threshold into my room.

The masked figure bolts forward as I catch my footing and pulls the door shut.

I leap toward it, turning the knob with every ounce of irritation I can muster. Embarrassment pounds through me like a river, muddying my thoughts.

“I told you to stay inside during parties,” Grayson says, his voice muffled through the door. “If you can’t behave, I’llmakeyou stay.”

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