I blink at his abrupt tone and take a step back. “You first,” I challenge him.
He raises an eyebrow in surprise as if he's not used to being questioned or denied anything, but then his lip twitches before he tells me, “Warren. Now yours, angel princess.”
My cheeks flame with the endearment and the way it comes out sounding like a caress.
“Faith.”
He repeats my name in a voice that’s contemplative as his eyes study my face again.
“Are you the devil?” I suddenly blurt out.
My face colors when I realize how ridiculous that sounded. What I meant to ask him waswhythey call him the devil. Why the hell it came out like that, I'll never know.
His lips stretch into a full smile, a wicked gleam lighting his eyes as he retorts back, “Are you an angel?”
My mouth falls open, and for once in my life, I'm rendered speechless. I let out a breathy laugh that sounds nothing like me as I stammer for something to say. This insanely gorgeous man has caught me completely off guard.
“Warren!” A man calls his name from behind us. Warren’s face dips into a scowl before he turns and glances over his shoulder.
And I don't know why, but I feel the sudden urge to hurry up and get out of here. I take the opportunity of Warren’s attention being fixated elsewhere to turn and push my way through the throng of people.
My entire body is shaking and feels like it’s on fire. It’s like I've been hit with an electric current, and while part of my instincts is telling me to get as far away from him as I can, another part is braying against me and telling me to turn around and go back and find out more about the tall, dark, handsome stranger.
I’ve never been a coward, but this man has me all tied up in knots and totally unlike myself. I'm usually so witty and outspoken, but he has me feeling tongue-tied, and that makes me extremely uncomfortable. I don't know what to do with it.
I don't know how to act, so I run, telling myself that it's for the best and that, thankfully, I'll never have to see him ever again.
Even as relief courses through me, I also feel a pang the more distance I put between us.
I'm not an angel, and I don't know why he called me that.
I'm a coward.
ChapterTwo
Warren
I scowland swipe my hand across the desk, knocking papers and everything on my desk to the floor. The crash does nothing to abate my aggravation. I've been in a piss-poor mood ever since the night of that fucking party.
The night that sweet little angel—Faith—ran from me. I guess I really must be the devil that they call me. All it took was one look and she was running the other way.
I don't know why it bothers me so much. I've never given a shit whether anyone liked me before or not. But something about turning around to find her gone and to see her slipping away through the crowd cut me.
It's for the best, really. I should just let it go. But fuck it, how can I whenever I see her every time I close my eyes? I see those hazel orbs. I see that honey-colored hair flowing down her back. I see her tight, young body in that strapless peach dress. I see those legs that are too long for such an impossibly short girl.
I dream of what her naked breasts and sweet pussy look like.
Oh, I already know everything about her. Faith Ellison. Twenty-one. Business major at NYU. I pulled every file I could find on her, from her medical records to her school history. There's nothing about Faith Ellison that I don't know, except for the knowledge that I can't get via third-party sources—like what she's thinking in that pretty little head of hers.
I know which apartment she rents with three other coeds. They all rent a quaint little house near the university together.
I know the girls’ names just because I wanted to know the names of everyone around my Faith, but I can't even recall them now. They're irrelevant.
My scowl deepens when I realize I just referred to her asmyFaith in my head. It's obvious by the way she ran from me like the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels that she's notmyanything and doesn't want to be.
A growl rumbles up out of me at the thought that she abhors me so much she would run from me after scarcely meeting me.
She's too fucking young for me anyway. I'm a decade older than her. Not exactly old enough to be her father but old enough to raise a few eyebrows—not that I give a flying fuck what anyone thinks.