"B-because I don’t like you?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?" He smirks.
"N-neither. I am stating a fact."
"Liar." He leans in and drags his nose up the side of my cheek. A shiver runs down my spine. He closes his lips around my earlobe, then bites down.
My entire body jolts. "Oh…hell," I whisper, "what are you doing?"
”Trying to stop your stuttering."
He drags his nose down my cheek then licks my lips.
My nipples tighten and my belly clenches. "Don’t do that," I whisper. "Please don’t."
14
Axel
"It worked though, didn’t it?’
"What?" She blinks.
"You stopped stuttering," I point out.
"Oh," her gaze widens, "that’s true. But I still don’t want you to kiss me," she says in a small voice.
I lean back and peer into her face. There’s genuine distress and conflict in her eyes.
"What’s the problem?" I murmur. "You want me, and I have made it very clear just how much you turn me on, so why can’t we make each other happy?"
"It’s not that simple," she replies.
"Is it because you’re a virgin?"
She reddens. "I never said I was."
"You never denied it either."
"That’s because, unlike you, I don’t lie."
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
"I was there when you lied to Christian about Aurora’s 'bargain,'" she makes air quotes around the word, "with you."
"Did I?" I ask in a casual voice.
"Really, you’re going to make me rehash what happened?"
I release her, then fold my hands behind my neck. "Go ahead, please enlighten me about my misdeeds."
She pushes away from me, then climbs off the bed as if wanting to put distance between us. I scowl. I don’t want her to be wary of me. No…hold on, that doesn’t sound right. I don’t care what she thinks of me, just as long as she submits to me.
"Well," I drawl, "what do you have to say?"
"Didn’t you lie to Christian and tell him that Aurora had asked you to kill him?"
"She told me to distract Christian."