Page 62 of King of Envy

I tuned everyone out until the turn landed on Ayana.

“What’s it going to be?” Kim’s eyes sparkled. “Truth or Dare?”

“Truth.”

“What’s the wildest place you’ve ever had sex?”

My glass paused halfway to my mouth. I set it down without taking a sip and leaned back, my eyes trained on Ayana.

She froze. Her eyes darted to mine for a fraction of a second before she cleared her throat. “The wildest place I’ve ever had sex, was, um…it was…”

Anticipation hung in the air. Jordan shifted, looking wildly uncomfortable while my pulse drummed to a steady, dangerous rhythm.

“It was a department store dressing room,” Ayana said. “Bergdorf’s. The, um, eveningwear department.”

“Oooh.” Kim perked up. “Sexandcouture. I love it. Good job.” She winked at Jordan, who responded with a tight smile.

The rhythm of my pulse took a decidedly violent turn.

Whoever invented this game should die. If they were already dead, they should die again. Horribly.

Ayana dared Indira to share her phone’s search history with the group—Jesus, that was a lot of shopping—and then I was up.

“Vuk.” Indira turned to me. “Truth or Dare.” She emphasized her question with her hands to indicate which was which.

I swallowed my irritation and nodded at her left hand. Dare.

Her grin suggested she’d been hoping for that answer. “I dare you to kiss someone at this table.”

She was the only other single person here. It was a clever ploy, considering the game’s no-pass rule.

“Damn.” Jordan laughed. “She got you.”

Beside him, Ayana stiffened, her neck and shoulders lined with tension.

I regarded Indira coolly. She was attractive enough from an objective standpoint, but I had more interest in kissing a slug than in kissing her—and I hated when people tried to trap me into doing something I didn’t want to do.

I kept my eyes locked on hers while I reached over and slowly, deliberately, took Ayana’s hand.

A noticeable hush fell over the table.

I lifted her hand to my mouth, brushed my lips across her knuckles…and lingered. The faint scent of sweet almond filled my senses.

I’d imagined kissing her for so long that even the brief touch of my lips on her hand was enough to make my heart pound. Blood rushed in my ears, and every cell in my body ignited.

I wanted to pull her to me and give her a real kiss—my tongue in her mouth, her hair in my fist, her moans in my ears.

I wanted to lay her out on the table and feast on her until she was begging for more. Until she was crying outmyname and it was clear to every single fucking person at this table, in this city, in thisworldthat she was mine and mine alone.

I wanted everything I couldn’t have, and every moment I couldn’t steal, but for the space of a heartbeat, I almost believed she wanted it too.

Ayana’s fingers curled. Their slight tremble accompanied a ragged breath so soft it could be mistaken for a ghost.

It was only then that I dropped her hand and sat back, my eyes still on Indira’s. I didn’t glance in Ayana’s direction.

Indira’s lips parted. She wore a glazed expression, cobbled from equal parts disappointment and desire.

A thick, underwater silence blossomed in the wake of my audacity before Xavier’s laugh broke it.

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