Page 13 of Pandora's Pleasure
“You should know I can’t stand smoking.”
He tilted his head with an arrogance I was accustomed to and then lit the end of his cigarette, blowing out another stream of smoke. “Why did you run out on me at the party, Miss Bardot?” he asked, making my last name sound like a curse.
“Your mother doesn’t like me.”
“That’s not what I asked.” He rounded the counter to get closer.
Raising my head high, I stayed silent.
“Okay, then.” Damien towered over me. “What did she say? She’s entertaining when in full bitch-mode.”
“Maybe it was the champagne that made her say those things.”
“What things?”
“Your mother hinted you might take a lover. Is it true?”
The tip of his tongue moistened his upper lip. “When did she say that?”
“Tonight.”
She, too, could be a spinner of words that cut to the bone.
“You insulted her by walking out on us. I imagine she was waiting for an apology.”
“She’s had a long wait.”
He buried his tongue in his cheek, finding my anger amusing.
“Your mother upset me,” I said. “The thought of us not having a proper marriage was too much. I went out to get some air.”
“In my BMW?”
“I needed to sit somewhere quiet to think.”
He reached around and cupped my ass, dragging my body against his. “I adore your feistiness. You know that, right?”
“The way you treat me…”
“Think you can change me?”
The sensual pressure from his fingers and the bulge in his pants that rubbed against my belly sent an erotic shiver through me.
“The rumors about you are true, then?” I asked, sounding breathless.
“Keep going. I feed off your hate, Pandora.”
Actually, the rumors of him had been favorable. He wasthebachelor to bag, apparently. I wasn’t going to tell him that and bolster his already inflated ego.
My lips pressed together, defiantly refusing a kiss.
His eyes lit up. “Seeing you like this arouses me.”
I turned my head, refusing to look at him. “I don’t like it here.”
“Want to go back to my father’s place?”
“When hell freezes over, maybe.”
