Page 38 of Beast

Inside the clubhouse, music drifts down from the upper floor where the bar is situated. Tonight there is a party celebrating Viper’s birthday which is the perfect opportunity to let the club see me with Belle.

I lead us across the massive foyer and up the grand staircase to the first floor landing, and Belle follows me along the corridor toward the bedrooms.

“Are you ready?” I ask her.

“For what?” she asks, a sharp edge to her voice.

“It’s showtime.”

“What do you mean?”

“We need to convince a lot of people in a very short amount of time that we only have eyes for each other.”

“You mean we have to start right now?”

“No time like the present.”

We stop outside her bedroom.

She lifts her long lashes to look up at me with fire in her big eyes, and I’m struck with an overwhelming urge to take her sweet face in my hands and kiss the hate from her lips. To ruin the fury on them.

“So how does this work?” she asks, crossing her arms.

“Stay close. Touch me. Be affectionate.” I try not to look at her slightly parted lips but fail. I’m like a fly to the Venus flytrap. “And look at me like you can’t wait to get me alone.”

She lifts an eyebrow. “Exactly how convincing do I need to be?”

I lean closer. “Veryconvincing.”

I push open the bedroom door behind her, but when I reach past her, she hitches her breath with a soft gasp that has me thinking things I have no business thinking. Like throwing her over my shoulder and kicking the bedroom door closed behind us.

But making her writhe and moan on the bed until she cries out my name isn’t going to happen. Clear lines need to be drawn, for both our sakes.

“Do you expect me to kiss you?” she asks. And I hate the surge of longing I feel when I think about those pillowy lips on mine. Her tongue darts out to wet them, and it takes everything I’ve got to stop myself from crashing my mouth to hers. It’s been four years. Four goddamn years since I’ve felt a woman’s lips touch mine, and I’m this fucking close to ending the spell.

“If the moment calls for it,” I rasp. “Then yes, I do expect you to kiss me.”

She thinks for a moment, flames burning in her eyes but then she simply nods. “Fine. But that’s it. I draw the line at public displays of groping.”

My chuckle is humorless. “I wouldn’t dream of it, princess.”

“Good.”

“But let me reiterate. It must be realistic. Not some awkward fumble like a couple of virgin teenagers.”

Her eyebrow shoots up. “It sounds like you don’t think I can pull this off.”

“I don’t.”

Something flashes in her eyes.

More hate.

More scorn.

Then her body language suddenly changes and she melts her body against mine and flattens her hand against my chest.

She tilts her head back to gaze up at me with a dreamy expression on her beautiful face.

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