Page 14 of Pandora's Pleasure
He pulled away from me, his cigarette dangling from his mouth as he rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing muscled forearms that flexed. Moving to the sink, he washed his hands with his back to me.
I let my admiring gaze roam over his form. I could see the hint of a muscled back underneath his pristine white shirt and a tight ass beneath his pants. Closing my eyes, I imagined what it would be like to walk up and press myself against him, pretending we liked each other. Then again, his touch felt like sin; tainting the only good that was left in me.
He brought out several packets of crackers and chips and set them on the counter, then withdrew a cheeseboard from the fridge and set the dish beside them.
“You haven’t eaten anything tonight,” he said. “This will make you feel better.”
“I thought you didn’t care about me.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “Let’s agree to be polite.”
“I am hungry,” I admitted.
Damien beckoned me closer as he buttered a few crackers and then placed brie on top of them. A minute later, he slid the plate my way. It was the kindest thing he’d done for me in quite a long while.
I tentatively lifted a cracker and took a bite, tasting the tanginess of the cheese and savoring the crispness of the cracker.
“I’m more of a cheddar man myself.”
“I hate cheddar,” I lied.
He speared a slice of cheddar off the board and brought the knife to his mouth with the cheese impaled on the end, his tongue tasting it before devouring the delicacy. “That finishing school of yours would throw a fit at half the things I do.”
I finished chewing. “More than half, probably.”
“You don’t ever want to break the rules?”
“Why would I?”
“You’d probably enjoy rebelling.”
“I tried to escape tonight. That was rebelling.”
“Ah-ha!” He sounded triumphant at my confession.
“I wasn’t brought up that way.” Nor was I taught to eat off a knife like some kind of caveman.
“You have to feel some sense of rebellion to truly enjoy sex.” He set the knife down. “Or you’ll never be able to come.”
I blushed wildly. “If you’ve quite finished schooling me, I’m going to have a look around.”
He raised his champagne glass. “Enjoy.”
Asshole.
I turned back to face him before leaving the kitchen. “Want to know the whole truth?”
“Oh, good, schoolgirl games. As if I’m not being tortured enough.”
My jaw clenched. “Your mother told me you already have a lover put up in an expensive high-rise.”
“The fuck I do.”
Relief washed over me that he’d denied it. “That’s why I tried to leave.”
“I share a place with Theo Tamer in the city. No one lives there permanently. We had a mutual friend stay there because she was moving into a new place. That was months ago.”
“Did you date her?”
