Page 23 of Her Every Fantasy

‘Wow, you’re really in a foul mood, aren’t you?’

‘You’re attracting attention with those sounds you’re making. You sound like you’re auditioning for a food porn hotline.’ He punctuated that observationby redirecting his glare to the man on the next table whose head had snapped my way at my groan.

Another shiver raked through me as I carefully cut my steak. ‘I’ll bow to your superior expertise on what a food porn hotline worker sounds like. And I was wrong. You’re not angry. You’re jealous.’ Why that realisation sent a thrill through my blood was a shameful joy I intended to hug to myself all night long.

His nostrils flared. ‘You can attempt not to look so infinitely smug while saying that,’ he said.

Clearly my poker face needed work. ‘You got me, Bryce. I have my first concrete evidence that you still care about me. Forgive me for wanting to celebrate a little.’

He sighed. ‘What are you talking about now?’

‘You only go crazy over the things you care about. Remember Darcy Livingston? You threw a guy into a wall because he groped her in the lecture hall at uni. Three days later, you were dating her.’

His eyes widened a touch before his eyebrows clamped together. ‘You’re misremembering. It wasn’t the lecture hall, it was the cinema, and it was the same guy she told me had been harassing her for the better part of a semester. Maybe if you hadn’t been so busy enjoying Levi What’s-His-Face shoving his tongue down your throat after just one date, instead of watching the filmyoupicked, you’d remember correctly.’

‘His name was Neville. And we’d been on three datesby then.’

A muscle rippled in his jaw. ‘Remind me again why we’re talking about our exes?’ he griped.

‘We’re talking about the things you care about. The only handy examples are exes from the past.’

A dark shadow passed over his face. ‘You think exes are the only ways I’ve shown you I cared?’

My heart lurched a little and I gripped my fork hard. ‘I said they werehandyexamples. A way to make my point without dragging up other...deeper stuff.’ Like when he’d broken his arm after tripping downstairs the month before I turned eighteen and spent three days in hospital without a visit from any member of his family, not even his own parents. His siblings had been in boarding school and the only one who’d turned up eventually had been his Aunt Flo, who’d cut short her trip to New Zealand to be at his side.

He stared at me for an age before he sat back farther, placing even more distance between us. ‘I’m not sure this new...path works for me. Here’s an idea. Let’s simplify things.’

My heart dipped. ‘How?’

‘Truth or dare,’ Bryce murmured, narrow-eyed.

Truth, always.Those two words were my usual stock answer. But seeing the myriad expressions shadowing his gorgeous features, knowing he thought he had me completely figured out, I did something I’d never done before. ‘Dare.’

‘Forget the one dare. I dare you to spend every minute of free time you have while you’re in Singapore with me.’

My heart dropped into my stomach.

‘Why?’

He shook his head. ‘Did I say you were bad at this game, rosebud? You’re beyond bad. Number one rule, you don’t ask why a dare is a dare. It just is.’

‘That’s not going to work for me, Bryce.’

‘Why do the details matter? You say I’m important to you. That you want things to be different. I’m giving you a chance to prove it.’

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. ‘You want me to prove myself to you? Are you serious?’

He shrugged. ‘It’s my dare. I can frame it any which way I want. And I’m not done.’

‘Aren’t you?’

‘Oh, no, rosebud. A significant amount of that free time will be spent in my bed, building up to that naughty little thing you want me to do to you.’

My fork clattered onto the table. It was a good thing I’d already consumed half of the impressive steak and was full, otherwise I’d have been seriously pissed off at my sudden loss of appetite and the wasted food on my plate. Although another appetite had swiftly taken its place. ‘Sorry, you getting to call all the shots doesn’t work for me either.’

‘Fine. You get to callsomeshots along the way, but not all of them. I won’t risk you running off the moment you get what you crave so first I get a taste of that tight pussy, then we’ll work our way to the...what did you call it? The back door? Deal?’

I set my knife down next to the fork and picked up my wine glass. I took my time to savour the Chilean Pinot before I swallowed, revelling in the heated gaze that moved over my throat. If he was going to torture me, I intended payback in equal measures. ‘No.’

---