Page 122 of Carnal Games

I was wondering when she’d show up. When we were arguing yesterday about who was taking Iris home, I didn’t tell her that I would bring her to my apartment. No surprise she somehow found out I was lying.

Wrenching the door open, I instinctively take a step back when an aggressive growl greets me. My eyes snap to the vicious-looking pit bull, being held back by a leash in Rosalie’s hand.

“Who takes this long to answer?” she asks suspiciously.

“He could’ve been sleeping or eating, Ro,” suggests Bianca before smiling at me. “Hi, Kian.”

I nod at her. The last time we met, she was selling her shares in her father’s company in exchange for mine in Dash’s company.

“Or he could be taking people’s best friends as hostages.” Narrowing her gaze, Rosalie demands, “Where’s Iris?”

“Is there a reason you brought your dog?” I eye the beast glaring at me with his teeth bared.

“To sniff where you hid Iris’s body and then make him eat you alive.”

“So now I’ve gone from a kidnapper to a murderer.”

“We just want to make sure Iris is okay and if she needs anything,” Bianca says, trying to diffuse the tension with her politeness.

“Come in.” I step aside. “She’s in the second room down the hall.”

“Thanks.”

I stay in the living room while they go in search of Iris. But her feminine scent lingers in my clothes while the feel of her skin burns my palms. Clenching my hand, I stalk towardmy bedroom, which is right beside hers, to wash away the memories.

As I pass by the guest room, my eyes automatically glance inside.

My heart skips a beat when hers flick to mine as though an invisible thread binds us together, the yearning in them all but bringing me to my knees.

It’s me who severs the connection, wondering how I’ll survive the coming weeks.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Iris

“Iris?”

I drag my gaze away from the doorway where Kian stood a second ago. The intense look on his face and his clenched fists haunting me.

Kian Singhania wants me back.

My heart gallops at the surreal revelation.

The attraction isn’t one-sided.

All this time, I thought he was being cruel and not letting me in. When the reality is that he was trying to bury his feelings for me. Every look, the stolen glances, the blaze in his gray orbs, the rigidness in his square jaw, those were all signs of resistance. One I mistook for annoyance.

Today, he let his mask slip.

What I saw reflecting at me will dominate my soul for eternity. The savage need, the heat of his breath fanning my lips, his vicious grip around my waist—it’s imprinted into my mind.

Yet instead of being over the moon, I’m devastated and angry beyond words. Kian may desire me, but he won’t act on it as long as I’m tied to Nathan. If I wasn’t wearing the stupid ring on my finger, I’d know what being kissed by the object of my obsession feels like, how soft his lips are. I’d have his flavor on my tongue.

All I have clinging to my skin is the aftertaste of his longing.

How do I show him I’m his for the taking?

That possessing him, being owned by him, has become my religion.