Page 45 of While She Sleeps

It’s safe to say I’m not exactly familiar with fine dining, and even if I were, I think I’d opt for a cheeseburger at a greasy diner than this overpriced piece of ravioli sitting in front of me.

Yep. One solitary piece in the center of a huge plate.

What a waste of dishes.

Orion watches from beside me as I survey the food in front of me, the same way I have the last three courses.

Who the hell classifies this as a course, anyway?

“Something wrong with your pasta, Little Flame?” he asks with a smirk.

The sound of the nickname on his lips sends a shiver over my flushed skin. That’s the other thing about this meal, the man hasn’t taken his hands off me. Between courses, he has his hand so far up my thigh it’s bordering on inappropriate each time the server takes our plates away. And while we eat, his hand will occasionally disappear to cut something, only to come back with soothing strokes to my bare skin that send me wild.

Fuck. I’m so in over my head right now.

“It’s just…” I try to figure out how to put this nicely. I appreciate him taking me out for a nice meal. Really, I do. But Ialso don’t want this to become a habit, if by some miracle, this makes it past a single date. “There’s not much of it.”

His laugh catches me off guard, the sound deep, and the way the corners of his eyes crinkle just slightly shouldn’t take my breath away, but it does. I finally got up the nerve to Google him and found out he’s nine years my senior, not that it bothers me at all. I was never interested in men my own age, anyway. “You’re not wrong about that.”

“It’s lovely though,” I tell him, taking a small bite of the pasta, not wanting to have it all at once, an issue I shouldn’t have when this is considered a course. Fuck me. These rich fuckers are weird as hell.

Orion reaches for his glass of wine and brings it to his lips, and I can’t help but track every movement. The way his lip rests on the edge of the rim. How the red liquid disappears into his mouth, giving me all kinds of dirty thoughts. I’m like one big raging hormone tonight, and it’s all his fault.

“I’ll admit, these courses are especially small. Most of these kinds of places at least give you two or three pieces of ravioli.”

I stare at him for a long moment, trying to figure out if he’s fucking with me, but something tells me he’s not. Three pieces maximum? Pasta is my favorite food, and I could eat at least thirty of these tasty pillows of goodness.

“How about for our next date, you choose the place?”

“The next date?” I raise a brow. “Getting a little ahead of yourself there, Orion.”

His cocky smirk only seems to make my core clench harder with need for him. I’ve never met a man that could seem so confident without being a cocky asshole about it. “I don’t think I am, Ember. I think I’m going to make you feel so fucking good tonight that you’ll be begging for another date.”

My cheeks heat, but I force myself to hold his gaze. He needs to learn that I’m not going to back down, even if the idea ofhim showing me just how good things can be has my panties becoming uncomfortably wet.

As if to punctuate his point, his hand slips up the skirt of my dress. His fingers brush over my scars, but he doesn’t pause to investigate the slightly raised skin, almost as if he already knew it was there. But that’s impossible, right? I don’t get a chance to think too much about it as he uses his free hand to drag my chair closer.

He wraps that same arm around my shoulders and drops his head until his lips are at my ear. “How about I give you a little taste right now?” he murmurs softly. His fingers brush along my panty clad sex, and I gasp when they find my pulsing clit. “Mmm, you’re already wet, Little Flame. Is this for me?”

I drag my bottom lip between my teeth to stop myself from moaning but manage to give him a nod that has his smirk growing. Cocky son of a bitch knows what he’s doing.

“I thought so.” He chuckles as he pushes my panties to the side and runs his fingers through my folds. A soft groan escapes his throat, and I flick my eyes up to see his burning with need. “All I want to do right now is eat your pretty little cunt until you’ve come so many times you’ve forgotten your own name. And my serving would bemuchbigger than the ones they serve here.”

Oh my god.

If it were possible to dissolve into a puddle at words alone, that’s what I would be right now. Orion Henderson has a dirty as fuck mouth, and if my body heats much more, I’m pretty sure I’m going to combust.

“You like the sound of that, don’t you, sweet Ember?” he murmurs as he trails kisses down my throat. “I do too. Believe me, if it wouldn’t mean killing every motherfucker in this restaurant, I’d already have you bent over the table with my face buried between your perfect thighs.” He presses a thick fingerinto my pussy, and my hips lift of their own accord. Somehow, his threat of mass murder is only getting me hotter, and that right there is what’s fundamentally wrong with me as a human. “But alas, even a man as well connected as me can’t get away with such a thing.”

I pull back and stare at him for a moment, assessing how much of what he’s said is a joke, but there’s not a hint of humor staring back at me.

His thumb circles my clit, and I bite down on the inside of my cheek to stop from crying out as he drags pleasure I wasn’t even sure my body was capable of from me.

Sure, I’ve gotten myself off from time to time, but it’s never been like this. It’s never felt this…life altering.

“Mmm, my Little Flame doesn’t mind I’m a little blood thirsty when it comes to her, does she?” He quirks a brow up at me at the same time he slips a second finger into my pussy.

The stretch borders on painful but quickly morphs into white hot pleasure that takes my breath away. Fuck, does this man know what he’s doing. Every move, every ministration, makes me think he’s been playing my body for as long as I have.

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