She swung round, letting out a shocked gasp as she clasped the towel to her chest.
‘Leo? How long have you been standing there?’
Rage rose up his torso as he strode across the bathroom, positively shaking now. He’d been taken for a fool. Tricked, exploited and humiliated.
‘Long enough,’ he ground out, the rage all but choking him as he grasped her wrist and tugged her towards him, so he could re-examine the evidence up close.
> He swore, furious that the sight of her bottom—and the saucy mythical creature etched into her skin in faded colours—caused the inevitable rush of desire.
‘Leo, stop.’ She wrestled her arm free and scrambled to cover her backside from his inspection. But she couldn’t disguise the guilty flush burning across her collarbone and spreading up her neck. Or the panic darkening those emerald eyes. Panic he’d been so desperate to soothe five minutes ago, after they’d made love. Panic that suddenly made sense now too.
He fisted his fingers, stuffed them into his pockets, to resist the urge to throw her over his knee and give her the spanking she deserved.
Breathe, damn it.
‘Why?’ The one word came out on a broken breath, only humiliating him more. He fought off the twist of pain in his gut, forced the fury to the fore, to cover it. He’d told her things he should never have told anyone. She’d tricked him, manipulated him, lied to him, but he’d let her. ‘Why did you do it? Why did you lie to me for seven days straight? Is this some kind of sick joke?’
Kiss me, Leo. You know you want to.
The memory came flooding back, and with it the hurt that had shadowed her eyes when he’d told her he didn’t want her. And suddenly he knew. His fury became huge and all-consuming, but it still couldn’t cover the ache in his belly.
‘It was payback, wasn’t it? Because I refused to kiss you all those years ago. Well, congratulations, Princess Juno, you got me.’
The horrified guilt in her eyes gave him a grim sense of satisfaction, but did nothing to ease the pain in his gut.
It had all been a lie. Every damn thing. He’d been captivated, enchanted, overwhelmed... And she’d been laughing at him all along.
‘I... I’m sorry,’ Juno sputtered, but the apology felt weak at best. And no defence against his fury.
Her mind raced to catch up with her accelerating pulse and the anxiety threatening to close off her air supply.
His eyes narrowed. ‘You’re sorry?’ The scathing look burned into her skin. ‘You were always a spoilt, wilful brat, but this... This is something else.’
The insult cut through all her tough-girl bravado to the child she’d been, branded the Problem Princess and kicked out of the palace by her father.
‘I know I should have said something sooner.’ She wrapped the towel around herself, but how could she shield herself from his judgement, and how could she protect her heart from the great big black hole forming in her chest and threatening to suck away the last of her confidence and self-respect?
She deserved this. She knew that. She’d been a liar and a coward, he was right. But hadn’t any of it been real? Not one thing? Where was the man who had looked at her with such approval, such hunger, such tenderness?
‘I wanted to tell you, but I was scared you wouldn’t... That you wouldn’t...’
‘That I wouldn’t what?’ He sank his fists deeper into his pants pockets, making his pecs bulge and tense.
She could feel his fury pumping off him in waves. Unfortunately it wasn’t the only heat she could feel.
Fire flared through her oversensitised body, tightening her nipples into hard peaks and sinking like a heavy weight deep into her abdomen.
She edged back a step, her butt bumping into the vanity, disgusted and humiliated by her body’s response.
‘What?’ he barked, making her jump.
‘That you wouldn’t want me...’ she said, the broken sob of need impossible to disguise. ‘The way I wanted you.’
They were both breathing too fast, the vicious arousal darkening his gaze as real and vivid as the melting sensation going molten at her core. But she knew, even though she’d only just acknowledged it, this had never been just a physical need.
Why hadn’t she had the courage to admit that to herself until now?
‘It was never you I wanted though, was it?’ he ground out, stepping away as if she were contaminated. ‘It was your sister.’