Page 26 of Dark Reasons

My heart swells in my ribs. I can't breathe right—I'm getting dizzy. The springs rustle, confusing me at first, until...Oh god, I'm humping the air.My face is crimson and so is the rest of me. "You think I'm pathetic?" I accuse him. "That you're better than me? Show it."

He freezes in place. "What?"

"Show me you're not affected by this. Prove you're as in control as you say."

"You talk big for someone who will let me finger her if I push a little harder," he whispers darkly.

Fuck... I want him to be wrong. The way my muscles tingle, and my pussy flexes at the empty air, proves his point. But I won't go down quietly. The pride from earlier is as stubborn as ever. "Show me," I repeat, trying to sit up.

Jamison releases my hair. His hand leaves my thighs as he sits back on his knees on the floor beside me. I'm free of his capture—I can move, and yet I remain sprawled on the mattress. My chest rises and falls with my intense breathing.

He observes my limp, weak body. A predator hyper aware of his prey. "You're serious," he finally says.

I dart a look at the sheet wrapped around his lower half. I can't see anything beyond where his stomach muscles vanish deliciously into the fabric. "Yes."

"Then say it," he dares me crisply. "Ask directly, Selena."

Choking on the lump in my throat, I open my mouth, trying to summon the words.All I have to say is Show me your cock. Right?I think anxiously.Then he'll... he'll do it, and I'll win because I'll be right.

There's no way he isn't erect. It's impossible.

Isn't it?

"You're wondering now," he chuckles viciously. "If I'm not reacting to you, the wayyouare to me, then you'll know I'll always have the upper hand."

"I'm not scared," I bite through my teeth.

"Then justsay it."

This moment reminds me of the hotel. He had my life in his hands then, too. I've been at his mercy ever since he came in through that window.

I laugh, the sound startling us both—he frowns. "What's so funny?" he asks.

"I might as well still be in that hotel room," I whisper bitterly. "Leaving with you, signing that contract, it's all an illusion of control. Even right now, I can't do what I want. You're deciding what happens in my own fucking home. Nothing about me has changed."

"You're right," he replies. "Nothing has changed."

"Is this how you'll always see me?" I stretch out on the bed, releasing the blanket, my arms overhead on the pillow... as vulnerable as I can make myself. "Someone who's weak and pathetic, driven by raw emotion?"

"I only see the truth."

My heart twinges painfully. It shouldn't hurt, coming from him. But it does. "Is this how you treat all your clients?"

Jamison blinks—as if he's waking up from a daydream. "You're not like my other clients."

"I know," I snort, the noise hurting the back of my throat. "I saw your face, I know who you are. It's not like that's my fault, you showed up in the middle ofmyplan."

"You mean your mess."

I thrash upwards, ready to shove him away. The buildup of his sensual teasing combined with my shame is too much. Iamemotional, and he's to blame for all of it.

His face is stone as he captures both my wrists, pushing them back onto the pillow above my head. The movement brings his bare chest closer to me, his breath warm on my cheek. "Just do it," I seethe.

"Do what?"

"Kill me. That's what you want to do, yeah? Why you camped out here and went to all the fucking trouble to make sure there were no cameras, no way to proveyou'rethe one who slashed my throat."

He angles his chin, staring at me how a crow would eye a worm. "All this because you accused me of looking at your phone."

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