Page 37 of Ruthless Reign

We finally got to my house, and I pulled the truck into the driveway to park. She climbed out before I could help her, and by the time I circled around, she’d already climbed up the stairs tothe porch and stood expectantly at the front door. I used my key to unlock it and went to turn off the security system.

“There will be more sessions later this week,” I said. “I saw you talking to Wheels and Hollister. It’s good if you get on better terms with the brothers.”

She pursed her lips and set her purse on the table by the door. “Hmm.”

There was that sound again, that noise that raised the hair on the back of my neck and set off alarm bells in my mind.

“What?” I turned to face her as she slipped out of her heels and bent over to pick them up.

“Nothing,” she said. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”

She walked toward the stairs and climbed them to the second floor. I waited only a moment before following quickly behind her.

“You might as well be out with it,” I continued. “You’ve never had a problem telling me exactly what you think. No reason to start now.”

“I will do as you suggest,” she said, glancing at me before heading down the hallway toward her room. “Get on…better terms…with the brothers.”

“Why do you say it like that?” I asked. Her suggestive tone did nothing to alleviate my anxiety. “What? Do you think they didn’t buy it? Do we need to do something different?”

“No, I’m sure our pretense was perfectly acceptable.” She stopped and turned to face me, crossing her arms and pushing her amazing tits higher over the top of her dress. I couldn’t help my stare, remembering the way they’d puckered and how she moaned when I pinched them.

Pretense.

Right. We were still pretending. None of that was real, and now that we were alone again, we could drop the act.

Unless…

“Do you think we need more practice?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

She laughed, but not in a happy way. It came out in deep, mocking guffaws that both confused and enraged me. That was certainly not the reaction I’d wanted or expected.

“Perhaps you should go practice with Amber.” She sneered before moving away from me again.

Amber? What?

I grabbed her upper arm to stop her, spinning her around. “What the hell does that mean?”

“I saw the way you looked at her,” she hissed. “The way she pressed up against you. Very familiar. I’m sure she’dloveto be bent over your table.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Now, now, little wife. Don’t tell me you’re jealous of a hang-around.”

She scoffed and yanked her arm away, taking a step back. “I would have to like you to be envious of any woman you put your hands on.”

“Are you saying you don’t like me?” I pretended to be offended and clutched at my heart, closing in on her, forcing her up against the wall outside my bedroom. “That’s not the impression I got while you were moaning on my cock last night.”

She jutted her chin out, her cinnamon eyes burning into mine as she straightened against the plaster. She took long, slow breaths, the tips of her breasts colliding with my lower chest as I closed the space between us. She smelled amazing, like woman and perfume, and the blush in her cheeks made me want to see if I could turn her ass that same rosy pink.

“You misunderstood,” she said. “But of course you would. The Roses have always thought with their dicks first and their brains second. Not enough sense to operate both at the same time.”

“Is that so?” The fire in her taunts turned me on and lit the fuse in my temper. I tilted my head to the side and raised my hand to run it over the soft, fleshy mounds of her tits, teasing the skin until it goosed. She shivered, and I chuckled, knowing I had her. “And if I were to—” I ran my other hand along the inside of her legs, dancing my fingertips over one thigh and up under her skirt, pausing when I got to the garter where she hid her knife.

I paused. Our eyes met. She reacted first.

She grabbed the handle of the weapon before I could stop her and held it to my throat, causing me to straighten as the kiss of cold metal hit my windpipe.

“Last night was an anomaly,” she said. “You move that hand any higher and I’ll bleed you out on your hallway floor.”

The threat sent tingles through my body, twisting around my poor, pathetic heart. No woman had ever talked to me like this, and it made me so fucking hard, I could barely stand it.

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