Page 21 of On Edge

She inhales but doesn’t say anything else.

“Because I will…ifyou stay here.”

I let my gaze roam, slow and considered, taking my time to linger in places she’d find offensive, let her feel what it’s like to be seen by the monster everyone thinks I am.

They’re right, in that respect.

The demon inside me loves to hunt.

And just seeing her like this, beneath me, breathless and exposed…vulnerable. Looking up at me with those big Bambi eyes, uncertain about what I might do, makes me want to push her to the edge.

Seeing her in my bed last night brought it all back. My dreams have been taken over by visions of breaking her, destroying every soft part she thinks I can’t touch.

And now.

Her reaction to me is making me so damn hard.

That’s why she needs to leave.

If she believes any one of those sick rumors about me at all…

That I hunt women like prey, keep their bones as trophies.That I’m a goddam cannibal.

She’ll run screaming to get as far away from here as she can before the devil in me decides he’s had enough. I may be sick and twisted on the inside, but I can hold myself back.

Just.

But she hasn’t moved.

Only her jaw clenches, and she shifts in her seat under my scrutiny. She isn’t running away like she’s supposed to, as any sane woman would. But all that means is she’s bloody stupid, just like Nell was. Richard’s daughter obviously needs more convincing.

I lean forward and say softly in her ear. “I eat girls like you for breakfast.”

She shudders under me, as I draw back and allow the mask to slip, letting a cold smile creep onto my face, a dark promise of what I will do if she doesn’t take the damn hint. The horror in her eyes is almost satisfying…

Exactly what I wanted.Needed.

Really, I shouldn’t like it.

But, fuck, I do.

She squeezes her eyes shut and exhales. When she opens them, the fear is still there. Her eyes are wild with it. “Didn’t you do that already?”

Her whisper of a question throws me.

I narrow my eyes at her. And then it comes back to me, as my eyes stray to her lips, and her mouth parts.

I kissed her.

I shouldn’t have.

She stares back. And then she does something that nearly undoes me. She tilts her chin, just a little…defiant and familiar.Like Nell used to.

Okay, I’ve had enough. I’m done talking.

I grab her bythatchin, forcing her to look at me. “Just do as I say,” I grit out. “I want you gone by tonight.”

I sound so goddam pathetic, but I’m out of insults. With that empty threat, because that’s what it is, I get up and turn to walk away before the madness in me decides to slice Richard’s daughter apart, piece by piece.