Page 16 of Euphoria
“But?” he pressed.
“I fear I’m no match for you.”
“She answers plainly, yet everything about it is evasive,” he said to himself, his voice lowering to a husky rasp. “You hide, Miss Doe.”
Yes, I suppose I did hide on occasion, but only when I was out of my depth as I was now. Here was a man of the world with no hindrance to his exploration. He had the looks and the wealth to do as he pleased, and I had all sorts of barriers forbidding me from taking what I desired. In all honestly, I wasn’t sure exactly what it was I wanted in the grand scheme of things.
I hid lest I drown.
“You forget you pay me to be here,” I said.
“Most people would submit to anything for money,” he returned.
“Then they are not decent people, for anything comes with a terrible price. Money is not everything.”
“Don’t people have the right to get pleasure out of life?” he asked, looming over me. “I will get it, cost what it may.”
“Then the cost is too great,” I said sharply. “I could not be bought.”
“How moral of you. Do you have the right to preach to me?”
“You were the one who said you did not want to treat me as a mere employee, sir,” I said, turning his words back onto him. “I may not have the same wealth or experience as you, but I’m entitled to my free opinion. It is my truth, and as an equal, I’m allowed to give it.”
Edward glowered, his power and tantalization seeming to grow the more I stirred his anger.
“Then, equal, what shall we speak of?”
“My name is Jane,” I said, taking his words and using them for my own. “Ask me a question, and I will do my best to answer it, but I don’t like talking in riddles. You say I’m fond of my mask, yet yours is stuck to your face with no sign of removing itself. Speak plainly, sir.”
He returned to his seat, and upon settling, he poured himself another glass of whiskey, which he devoured just as quickly.
“Yours is the most stimulating presence I have felt for a long time, Jane,” he said mysteriously. “You anger me, yet you calm me. How am I to take that?”
I watched him pour another glass. “I don’t know, sir.”
“And you? How do you take me?”
I glanced at him, feeling confident enough to match his gaze. “Truthfully?”
“Yes, truthfully. I won’t hold it against you or your employment here.”
Very well.
“I don’t understand you at all,” I replied. “You speak in riddles and are very arrogant, and I should, by all means, find you extremely unlikable.”
He sipped at his liquor, his eyes shining. “You do not tell me much of what I don’t already know, Jane. But if I’m not unlikeable to you, then what am I?”
I was struck dumb once more, the conversation back to paving the road to hell with erotic suggestions, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I’d asked him to speak plainly, but it seemed plain was beyond his grasp.
“I’m trying to draw you out,” he explained. “To decide on your intentions.”
“What intentions would I have?”
“Pleasurable ones.”
My heart leapt, and my body began to hum in a way I’d never felt before. I was experienced. I was far from a virgin, but at this moment, I was renewed. I was drawn to his anger and his arrogance, knowing it was a mask for some past pain, and he’d not yet allowed himself to heal. I imagined his touch, his lips, mouth, and body consuming mine, and I felt as if I would melt under the intensity of his stare.
“You think I come here to…” I was aghast because it had not crossed my mind once.
