Page 91 of Sinful Curses
He had no idea, but his heart raced, his palms were sweaty, and he suddenly felt like he was back on a dragon, soaring over the land and about to fall off. He’d despised riding that dragon.
This was worse.
“I’m not here to have sex with you; I’m just here to talk,” he told her.
He turned on the light as he shut the door behind him. Sahira retreated a few steps into the room, where she stood with her arms crossed over her chest. “About what?”
He opened his mouth to speak, but the words stuck in his throat as they had so many times before. She deserved to know the truth, but the revelation would make him so vulnerable to her. He was more terrified of that than a field full of wendigos and berserkers.
What am I opening myself up to here? How is she going to react to this?
Not good.
He didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that, but he also refused to be a coward who continued to hide this from her. He took a deep breath as she gazed at him with warmth and curiosity in her beautiful, amber eyes. The unexpected warmth in her eyes was about to vanish.
“There’s been no one else,” he stated.
He’d expected the words to come out in a rush, but they were calm and controlled. And once they were out, a weight lifted from his chest. He hadn’t known he was carrying that weight until it vanished.
Confusion replaced the tenderness in her gaze. “No one else for what?”
“I haven’t been with any other women since you entered the Cursed Realm.”
Her brow furrowed as her confusion grew. “I don’t understand.”
He wasn’t surprised by this. “You’re the only woman I’ve had sex with since you arrived here.”
She lowered her head and rubbed her temples as she spoke. “I saw you with that nymph, and a parade of other women, after we had sex.”
“I didn’t fuck them.”
“You licked beer off her chest!”
When he shrugged, her nostrils flared. She looked ready to skin him alive, but that wouldn’t stop him from making this clear to her.
“And that was all I did with her,” he said.
“What are you telling me?”
“I wanted to see how you’d react to seeing me with her; it didn’t seem to bother you.”
“How I’dreact?” she sputtered as red flashed through her eyes. “How I’d react!”
He realized he’d said the wrong thing but didn’t know what words would make it better. In all his many years and countless experiences, opening up likethiswas a first for him.
He was good at getting women into his bed and making themveryhappy there; what to do with them after wasn’t something he’d ever cared about or experienced. That was clear here as he did all the wrong things.
CHAPTERSEVENTY-NINE
“What wasI supposed to do, charge across the room and pull her off you? Fight her? Or maybe I should have punchedyouin the face like you deserved! Tell me, Orin”—she stomped toward him and thrust her finger into his chest—“what was I supposed to do? Make a fool of myself in front of everyone?
“What would have been the purpose of that? To prove something toyou? When you, withyouractions, proved tomethat you had moved on. When you’dprovedto me you were exactly what you’d always claimed to be… a dark fae who doesn’t care about anyone except himself and his family.”
He grasped her finger in the hopes that connecting with her would calm her; it only inflamed her further as she ripped her hand away. “I’m so sick of you and your games! Are you even telling me the truth now?”
“Why would I lie about this?”
“Why! Why? Because that’s all you do! Why would you try to make me think you were screwing all those other women? Because you like fucking with me, and this could be another one of yourstupidgames. Who knows how your brain works!”
