Page 10 of A Lethal Game of Trust

When I didn’t respond, he looked at me with a smirk. “Come on now, you would have regretted getting back with him for one night.”

“You think I’m above a one-night stand?” I snapped. “It would be better than a stranger. He’d know how to make me come.”

That damn eyebrow raised again. Over the last six months,I’d forgotten the effect he could have on me. For Mia’s sake, I’d pushed it down for the last year, avoiding him the best I could. But now with the wine, with him so close…

I couldn’t risk Issy. I couldn’t risk the Belovs.

“Many men could make you come,” he chuckled, watching his fingers twirl the strand of hair. His mouth was inches from mine. “But you and all of your feelings would get in the way of it being just one night.”

The Belovs are your only family left.

I threw the cushion at his face. He lifted it off with his finger and thumb and a casual grace that shouldn’t be possible.

“You don’t know me. You’ve tried your hardest to not know me over the last ten years.”

“You’re easy to know. Predictable.Typical.”

The next thing I would throw at him would be my wine.

“Tell me,” he started and lifted my chin with one finger. His touch was warm and cast a shiver down my spine. I tried to keep my face as nonchalant as possible. “Were you really reading ‘Erotic Intelligence: How to Pleasure Yourself’ or was it just a quick grab so you looked like you weren’t waiting for me to walk through the door?”

When I didn’t answer, his finger traced my jawline. “Do you need help in that department? Is that why you were considering going to him?”

Pushing away his finger, I exclaimed, “I wasn’t considering going to him!”

But maybe I was. It would be an easy fuck. One he’d put work into to gain me back, which would undoubtedly be enjoyable.

Dom always left an electric current in my veins. One I needed to unleash withsomeone else.

“Hmm.” He sat back again, looking up at the ceiling.

“Even if I was, it’s not your business. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t go and have break-up sex with Mia.”

He rolled his head on the back of the sofa to face me, considering. “I might. But it would only be to get some frustration out.”

“Because she broke you?”

He snorted. “No woman could break me.”

“You’ve sure drank like a broken man.”

His smile was soft as he reached for that strand of hair again. Tired and a bit drunk, I let him. “She never had the power to break me. That’s mine to give. I’m here,tipsy, because I’m fucked off that she didn’t just end it with me, but decided to be a coward and now I look weak. I didn’t give her the power to break me, but I gave her the power to impact my reputation. I misjudged her.”

Issy and I had clearly done the same.

“That’s what we do when we’re in love,” I mumbled and let my head fall back, trapping his hand under my neck. For a moment he was still, then his thumb stroked my skin.

“Love,” he scoffed. “Did you love Jared?”

Now it was my time to consider. I focused on his touch, knowing once we were both sober in the morning, this would never be addressed again. It couldn’t be. “I think I did. But the last couple of months have brought a… a clarity to my mind.”

“A clarity,” he repeated. “Also known as frustrated chastity?”

“Not everything is about sex, you know.”

“Most things are.”

My phone rang and there was a split second where I considered staying, his touch relaxing, arousing. But already knowing who it was, I stood and ran to my room withoutlooking back. I picked up the call as I closed the door behind me. “Yes?” I asked shortly.