Page 111 of Problematic

“That is the most criminal sentence anyone has ever said on my couch.”

“If my enemies learn you can identify me, they will take you. They will cut answers out of you. The mask delays that.”

Cold moved through me. “Delays?”

“No lie would make you safer.”

His hand released my wrist slowly, like it cost him something.

“You should want the door,” he said.

“What?”

“Me gone. Locks changed. Guard called, the cameras smashed, and a sane man on your couch.”

Kalon was the first person to come to mind. Somehow, he knew. The mask angled slightly toward me.

“He would be better for you,” he said.

My temper snapped. “You don’t get to do that.”

“Do what?”

“Break into my apartment, give me the best night of my life, disappear for four days, bleed on my furniture, then noble-monster me about the better man.”

He grinned—not a nice one, either, nope, this was an “I’m-a-crazy-motherfucker” grin. “Best night of your life. Little Flower, I’m just getting started with you.”

My face went hot. “You are medically forbidden from being smug.”

His hand lifted, slower this time. He reached for my hip, then stopped before touching. Waiting. The pause ruined me more than the touch would have.

“If I say stop,” I whispered.

His fingers curled once, still suspended in the air. “Then I stop.”

I stepped into his hand. His breath caught. The second his palm settled against my hip, the fever under my skin went quiet and loud all at once. My head cleared. My body did not.

Then, someone knocked. I jolted so hard his hand slipped away. My entire soul left my body, circled the ceiling, saw the masked man shirtless on my couch, and plunged right back into my body.

“What was that?”

His head tipped back against the couch. “Probably for me.”

I cracked the door with the chain still on. A box sat on the floor. I shut the door, slid the chain back, and grabbed it.

“What the fuck is this?”

He had the audacity to look pleased. “That came fast.”

“Did you order something?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Who delivers stuff in the middle of the night?”

“I get what I want when I want.”

I stared at him.