Page 47 of Twisted Temptation

"No."

“More—”

“It’s not going to work,” I say.

She sets down her fork, and I set down mine. Across the table, our gazes remain locked in battle.

“Exactly what isn’t going to work?” she asks.

“You cooking for me. Wearing my shirt. Trying to make me crazy with moans.”

“I don’t have to try to make you crazy, Dante. You clearly already are.”

I smile and sit back in my chair. “Maybe, maybe not.”

“There is no maybe about it. You’re unhinged.”

Keeping eye contact, I stand, walk around the table, and stop beside her chair. I place one hand on the back of her chair and lean down, my mouth at her ear.

"Fake those sounds again," I say. "And I'll drag the real ones out of you right here on this table."

Her soft gasp falls between us.

I turn and walk toward the hallway, my cock straining against my zipper so hard that every step is a punishment.

23

SUNNY

Fake those sounds again, and I'll drag the real ones out of you right here on this table.

I lie in bed for hours with his voice on repeat in my head.

Turning on my side, I force my eyes closed. But he’s right there, whispering his dark promise in my ear.

Jesus, why is it so hot in here?

I kick off the sheets because I’m sure someone has turned the heat up.

The nerve of him saying those things to me.

I punch my pillow into six different shapes, but sleep still eludes me. The problem isn’t the pillow or the room temperature. It’s the six-foot-four man sleeping on the other side of the wall.

Frustrated, I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling. He called my bluff, and now he thinks he’s won.

But I’m going to show him he’s only stoked the fire.

Thankfully, sometime after midnight I fall asleep. When I wake, the penthouse is silent and still, and Dante is nowhere to be seen.

Which is fine because I don’t want to face him without coffee.

I need to somehow drown out the salacious words I can still feel whispered against my ear, so when he comes home I can play the dutiful wife and kill him with kindness.

But he doesn’t come home.

The hours tick by with excruciating slowness as I wait. Thankfully, Dante has every streaming service available, which is odd for a man who says he is rarely home. I binge-watch the first two seasons of Yellowstone while emptying his pantry of chocolate chip cookies and a bag of popcorn.

By seven p.m. I’ve already drunk two glasses of wine, and I’m bored out of my mind.