He splashes water on his face and runs his hand through his hair, slicking it back.
I’m practically salivating, watching the water drip down his pecs and biceps. He knows exactly what he’s doing, too—the same thing I did when I removed my own shirt. But it feels like he’s winning.
He turns and faces me. “You’re drooling.”
I snap my mouth shut and roll my eyes.
He lets out a wicked laugh that echoes off the walls. “You’re pathetic, you know that?”
“And you’re cruel.”
“Tell me something I don’t know, Corsi.”
I frown. “Corsi is my father; call me Rialta.”
His eyes thin into devilish slits, and his grin spreads. He likes to piss me off.
“But I rather like calling you Corsi—you and he both share the same ruthlessness.”
“I’m not as ruthless as you are, Corsi,” I throw the name at him as well.
He frowns. “I’m not…”
“You are a Corsi now.” I grin, liking to see his own medicine thrown back at him. I know if he was any other guy, I would be putting my effort toward flattering him, toward making him like me and feel good. But not with Lennox. He likes the bickering, the fighting. It’s the only way he and I connect.
“You don’t want me to fuck you, Rialta.”
My breath catches when he calls me by my name. I could get used to the seductive way he says it.
No, I couldn’t. I hate it.
He cocks his head as if he can hear my internal conflict. “I can see through you, Rialta. You think you still care about Kit. You still wish you could take him back, but if you fuck me, you know he’d never take you back. The decision would be made for you. And it would come with the added bonus of punishing him and getting back some of your pride. But I’m not going to help you do it.”
He starts to walk past me, but I move in front of him, blocking the door. “Why? You wanted to fuck me. You even bet me that I would beg you to fuck you. You would win that bet if we did. Kit would be out of our lives forever. You would be protecting the friends you say you care about.” I hesitate. “And you can hate fuck me like I know you want to.”
“Beg.”
“What?”
“The key word of our bet was that you wouldbegme. This pathetic pleading is far from begging.”
“Please, Lennox, will you fuck me? Pretty please?” my voice is dripping with sarcasm. I won’t beg.
Lennox takes a step toward me. I don’t move. Our chests are barely touching. Suddenly his hand tangles in my hair, his roughness sending shockwaves through my body. He already owns me. It’s only a matter of time until I’m on my knees begging for everything he can give me.
Everything stops as he tugs on my hair, tilting my head so our lips are almost brushing. “I don’t fuck women that don’t want me. As you learned the other night, when I protected your precious virginity.”
“I’m not a virgin.”
He scoffs. “Maybe not technically, but I heard the way that boy fucked you. That, my dear Rialta, is not fucking. When I fuck you, you will realize that you’ve never been fucked before.”
“Then do it and prove me wrong.”
He releases me. “No.”
He slides me to one side and walks past me, leaving me breathless in the doorway, still topless, still needing something, and no closer to actually getting it.
Beg, he said.