Page 45 of His Haunted Desire

She sighs and snatches her hand away. “You’re just saying that because I won’t fuck you, I can’t be nice to you?”

“I don’t want you to make another mistake,” I tell her.

“You can be a real douchebag sometimes.”

“It’s a skill,” I mutter.

“You’ve clearly been practicing for a long time.”

She folds her arms, lips pursed. I almost reach out, wrap my arm around her, and tell her I’m sorry. I know she was just trying to help.

But I’m not the vulnerable type. I don’t talk about my feelings, my time in the Marines, or any of that.

With Aurora, however, keeping my defenses up is far tougher than it usually is. Far tougher than it should be.

CHAPTER 17

AURORA

We sit in steely silence for a few minutes. I almost open my mouth several times to say something, but what would be the point if he’s just going to snap at me? Plus, I’m under no obligation to be here for him emotionally.

My job is simple. It’s black and white in my contract. I need to makeotherpeople believe. Not him. Not myself.

“What now?” I ask, finding the silence uncomfortable.

“We’ve got no obligations until the ball later,” he says. “We could drink like others do, or use the bowling alley, or mingle with the others. We could do dares and participate in sex parties.”

I say nothing. None of that appeals to me.

“Whatever role you need me to play, I’ll play it,” I murmur. “You said you were down to your last one hundred thousand, and you’re paying me fifty.”

“Correct.”

“I thought that was a meaningless amount of cash to you. A throwaway amount.”

He shrugs. “It’s not. But you need it more than I do. You and your grandma.”

I move up on the couch and place my hand atop his. Heat burns through his body like he’s going to set his suit and mask on fire. “What doyouwant to do?” I ask.

“I don’t want to,” he growls. “But I should apologize for being such a grumpy ass.”

“Hey, don’t be silly.” I nudge him. “If you apologized every time you were grumpy, you would never finish saying sorry.”He chuckles. It feels good to help him let go of some of his rage.

“Does anything I’ve told you about sound appealing… the sex parties? Mingling with the other guests?”

I try to hide my natural reaction. “Uh… it could be?”

He laughs again, even more carefree this time. “You’re not a very good liar, Aurora.” He wraps his arms around me in a show of affection. “How about we hunker down and watch some scary movies until it’s time to perform again?”

Excitement bubbles up inside me. A whole day of watching movies, one more day until I get to go home with a bagful of cash and change Grandma’s life.

No, I tell myself stubbornly, I’m not excited at the prospect of watching movies with Raiden. It’s excitement at the prospect of getting this job done.

“If you want to?” I say neutrally.

He nods. “I’ll keep my mask on. Remind me this is just a role.”

He says this with a note of bitterness I choose to ignore. I slipped up last night, letting my lust get the better of me, but I can’t let it happen again. Get too close, and I’m bound to get burned.