Page 7 of Beautiful Villain

“Do you like cats?”

“I…”

“Because Echo stays,” she says. “So if you want to stay, too, then you have to like cats. I mean, he was here first. It’s only fair,” she winks. Then she gets up and walks away.

“Where are you going?”

“Don’t you want to see the guest room?” She asks with a smile. “Come on, then.”

Chapter Three

Finley

Neil Coleman is in my house and he’s staying with me!

He’s in my house.

There’s a tall, dangerous, deadly felon in my house and he’s staying with me. He’s going to be sleeping in my guest room for awhile. Who knows how long? Maybe he’ll sleep naked. Definitely naked. Shit. I shouldn’t be thinking about him like that.

I mean, it’s bad enough that I kissed him. I didn’t even find out if he actually wanted it, and what does that say about my own understanding and acceptance of the idea of consent? It’s messed up, really. I don’t want him to think I’m trying to take advantage of him because I’m not, but…

But oh, it’s going to be hard not to take advantage of him.

I lead him upstairs to the bedrooms. We walk silently because I’m so scared that if I open my mouth to speak, I’m just going to grab him and start kissing him again. That’s definitely not something I need in my life.

Nope.

Don’t it.

Not at all.

The staircase is just a normal sized one, but it seems to drag on forever as we move upwards. We reach the top. There are three doors.

“My room,” I point to the left. “Bathroom,” I point straight ahead. “Your room.” I point to the right.

“Cozy,” he says.

I push the door open to the guest room and we walk inside. There’s a big wrought-iron bed in the center of the room.

“This is your guest room?” He asks, raising a brow. “It’s beautiful. What’s the other bedroom look like? I’m intrigued.”

Before I can stop him, he pushes past me to my own bedroom and opens the door. He walks inside to see a matching bed frame. This one is literally an exact copy of the other one. The bedspread is the same, too, but that’s where the similarities end.

I’ve been busy – like, really busy – and I haven’t exactly been cleaning my bedroom. This means that there are clothes on the floor and panties on the bed and…

A vibrator.

Yep.

There it sits in all its glory: right in the middle of my bed. It’s the tiny blue one that fits in my pocket and there is literally no chance that Neil didn’t just see it. My suspicions are confirmed when he turns around with a devilish grin on his face.

“Why, Finley,” he says in that devilishly-charming voice. “I’m surprised. A good girl like you?” He raises an eyebrow, and I blush. Then he steps toward me and reaches for my cheek. He strokes it softly and smiles at me.

Is my face turning red?

Because it kind of feels like I’m blushing.


Tags: Sophie Stern Fantasy