Page 133 of Dangerous Men

Alec doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t even smile. He moves closer to me, reaching out to graze my bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. His touch is too gentle to hurt.

“Did he hurt you?” His voice is softer now. He cups my chin gently, like I’m something precious.

I give a small shake of my head. “No. No, not… not really. He scared me, but…”

I swallow hard and go quiet, pulling away from Alec’s touch. Because what could I possibly tell him?

He scared me, but I’d liked it. He’d scared me, but I’d wanted more. He’d scared me, but I’d been so wet, so desperate for what he could give me, I would have gladly let him do whatever he wanted to me.

I look away before Alec can see those thoughts in my eyes.

“And Sebastian?” Alec asks. “Did he hurt you?”

That question jars me, surprising me.

“Sebastian?” I repeat, sure I misheard him. “No. Why?”

Alec gives me a long, searching look. “He seemed to think he did, darling. He says you were… upset.”

Right. I shift a little on my feet. Of course he’d said something to them. About how we…

“So he told you what happened, then?” I wrap my arms around myself, staring at a patch of rust on my stairs’ railing. Staring at anything but him. “After Viper?”

“A little,” Alec says. “But I need to hear your side of it. Did he…” He pauses like he can’t bring himself to say it. “Darling, if he touched you without your permission?—”

I do look at him, then, and I hold my hand out to stop him before he says anything more.

“He had my consent, Alec.” My voice is steady, and I hope he can hear the surety in it. I’d wanted it. Wantedhim. Wanted every dirty thing Sebastian did to me.

Needed it, in a way that scared me.

“What happened to your hand?” Alec asks.

I look down at the cloth wrapped around my knuckles. The dull throb of pain echoes my pulse, aching with every beat of my heart.

“I cut it on some glass,” I tell him, delicately peeling the washcloth away. There’s a patch of blood, a deep red against the clean white of the terry cloth. But there are really only two small cuts, across my knuckles. I flex my fingers, savoring the hurt. A fresh spot of blood wells to the surface.

Alec takes my hand in his, staring down at the wounds. Then he brings it to his lips and presses a soft kiss just above my knuckles.

A man used to the sight of blood. Unafraid of it.

“He scared you,” Alec murmurs, lips against my skin.

He did more than scare me. That’s the problem.

“You told me Viper wascomplicated,” I accuse him. But I don’t pull my hand away. “He’s not complicated. He’s…”

A monster, I almost say.

Like you, that voice in my head coos.

I keep those thoughts to myself. “Were you ever really planning to introduce him to me? Or was that a lie?” I ask.

There’s a flash of something in his eyes before he answers.

“I’d never lie to you.” His voice is husky when he says it, and his fingers caress mine, carefully avoiding the cuts on my knuckles.

“I don’t believe you, Alec,” I admit.