Page 82 of Masked Sins
You guys are close?
Three dots appear and disappear several times.
LittleDancer
Not really.
My smile disappears.Fuck.
I’m always here if you need me.
I put the phone back in my pocket and sit down on my bed. She doesn’t think we’re close—why is that? I mean, we’re not best friends, but we’re definitely not strangers anymore. Not after the last couple of weeks.
He’s a pain in the ass most days.
I’ve been playing it safe. Being the nice guy—making sure she’s safe, looked after, cared for. But maybe I needed to turn it up a notch. She seems to hate whenever I talk about the supposed woman I’m dating. And I know she finds me attractive.
I also happen to know that she’s not allowed to relieve herself until I tell her that she can.
I also know she loves books… and my idea is too good to ignore.
Those are all things I can capitalize on.
Walking out of my bedroom, I decide to make her see what she’s missing—and perhaps make her fall for her dear stepbrother.
It’s a dangerous game to play, and I might lose everything.
She might think she’s immune to my charms, but I’ll prove her wrong.
She wants a villain?
Well, I’m the one who can give it to her—the guy who buys her flowersandburns the world for her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE SWIM
Layla
I waver in front of the mirror as I stare at my reflection. I’d grabbed a swimsuit without thinking, and it just so happened to be the one I’d worn to the beach with Zoe three weeks ago. The one I’d gotten a size too small because it was half off. It’s not my body that’s the problem, and it’s taken me years to heal from my adolescence of hating myself to be able to say that. I know that my workout routine means that I have abs and sculpted muscles shaping my legs. I’m not overweight, but I am curvy. I’mstrongand I’m proud of how hard I work.
No, it’s not that.
It’s the skimpy blue swimsuit that barely contains my breasts and barely covers my ass crack. I’d laughed when Zoe made me buy it, and it worked for sunbathing, but to wear it around Orion? I had major underboob, and I now regret taking the pads out of the top cups because my nipples areveryobviously ready to play.
Wonderful.
I pull my hair back into a loose bun, and then I mutterscrew itseveral times before pulling the door of the beautiful guest room open.
The whole apartment is beautiful. Marble floors that are so shiny I could eat off them, gorgeous, colorful art pieces, leather furniture, and things I would never really associate with Orion, like fresh flowers.Peonies,as a matter of fact.
Interesting choice. Maybe his housekeeper likes them.
Or his girlfriend,I think glumly.
Orion isn’t in the kitchen anymore, but I refill my water and walk over to the patio door, and when my eyes land on my stepbrother…
Holy—
