Page 23 of Hate Me Like You Mean It

It made me sloppy. Clouded my judgment. Made me miss important details and substantially increased the chances I’d do something worth regretting.

But that wasn’t the case here, the blinding anger thrashing through my veins assured me as I tossed the dirt-covered garden shears to the side. This time would be different, it insisted as I texted my concierge, asking them to give Amber access to my apartment.

He deserved it.

Almost two hours later, the scorching bite of my bitterness and anger still hadn’t ebbed.

I burned the eggs before slapping them onto a plate, garnishing them with a fistful of my garden salad, three tablespoons of salt, and a touch of honey. The coffee was lukewarm and poured into the mug I’d been using all morning. And I made sure to round out the meal with a special little treat, eager to satisfy my beloved master’s sweet tooth.

It took four tries to find his bedroom.

It was the only door that was locked. I placed the tray on the floor, took out a diamond earring, and aligned the gold post with the small pinhole in the middle of the handle.

I pushed.

The emergency release triggered with a tellingclick.

I calmly put the earring back on. Rolled up the massive sleeves of my new uniform. And entered what might have been the only decently furnished room in the entire house. There was a four-poster bed, two nightstands, a desk riddled with electronics, and a large sectional facing a mounted TV.

Still, something about their layout was uncaring enough to scream “temporary.”

The soft, steady sound of Dominic’s breathing made my eyes roll to the back of my head. It was past 9:00 a.m. on a workday; all of his curtains were wide open, sunlight was blaring into theroom, and an entire flock of birds was chirping just outside his arched windows.

I crept closer, my socks sliding quietly over the marble tiles. He was splayed out on his bare chest, his lower half covered by pristine white sheets, his expression smooth, calm, and utterly peaceful.

Toopeaceful, if you asked me.

I plucked the special little treat Amber had very helpfully picked up for me this morning off the breakfast tray and placed it on his pillow, right in front of his nose.

Then I slammed the tray down on the bedside table.

Dominic’s eyes flew open, and he bolted upright, slightly panicked and wholly disoriented.

“Morning, sunshine,” I cooed with a sweet smile. “Guess who went above and beyond their assigned duties to bring you breakfast in bed.”

He blinked. First, at me. Then, at the tray.

And, finally, at his pillow.

Three. Two.Annnnd…

“JESUSFUCKWHATTHEFUCK!”

He flailed backward with the clumsy grace of a newborn gazelle, his hand smacking loudly against the headboard as he attempted to untangle from the sheets and scamper off the bed. A lamp was knocked over. His fork clattered to the floor.

And by the time he’d finally managed to free himself from the twisted snares of Egyptian cotton and tumble onto his feet, he was huffing, puffing, red in the face… and fully naked.

His biceps were bulging, abs flexed underneath the ragged sawing of his broad, perfectly defined chest. And standing at full attention, grazing the flat of his stomach, was Dominic Crawford’s sublimely crafted, slightly curved dick.

My gaze snapped back up to his face, determined to stay there as an unsettling tingle swept down my torso and thickened my blood to sludge.

Good god. Adonis would look like a naked mole rat next to this man. It was very, very,veryinconvenient.

Dom, who was too busy scanning the bed with wide, terror-stricken eyes to notice my sudden lack of breathing, shoved a hand through his hair. “Where the fuck did it go! Do you see it?”

I swallowed, a dense fog settling over my thoughts as the temperature in the room continued to climb. My tongue felt bulky and stiff in my mouth, and it took a few seconds before I could coax it into functioning again.

“What are you talking about?” I stepped closer to the bed, itching to rip the sweatshirt off, dive headfirst into an ice bath, and stay there until my body became permanently incapable of doing the things it was doing right now. “Oh, this little thing?”