Page 27 of Pretty Little Trigger

CHAPTER 26

Hunter

She looks like sin wrapped in sequins.

Every inch of her is a dare.

Red heels, red lip and that fucking leopard print dress.

And I know that I won’t survive her tonight.

I can’t touch her the way I want to.

So I touch her the way I’m allowed to.

A hand over hers. Brushing a honey blonde hair behind her ear.

Wiping food from the corner of her mouth with a cloth napkin like it’s nothing.

It’s not nothing.

Every touch feels like claiming.

Every graze of skin feels like a warning.

And the worst part? I’m good at it.

Too good. I can perform intimacy like a goddamn masterclass.

And tonight? I’m performing for an audience of one.

Jenyx watches us like we’re her next sculpture.

“Do you ever worry,” she says, fork twirling something delicate and expensive, “that your own mind might be your worst enemy?”

Alana tenses slightly beside me.

I answer before she can.

“Every day,” I say calmly.

“But I’ve made peace with the war upstairs.”

That earns me a smile.

A real one. She’s intrigued.

“And what does the soldier-turned-shadow-thinker believe about dreams?” she asks, tilting her head.

“Real or metaphor?”

“Both,” I say.

“Dreams reveal the parts of us that don’t survive the daylight. Sometimes they warn. Sometimes they beg. Most times… they lie.”

She taps her glass, considering me.

“You’re surprisingly articulate for a man with hands like yours.”

I don’t break eye contact.

“I’ve found the best weapons are the ones no one sees coming.”

Her grin sharpens.

“You are full of surprises.”

“Only the good kind,” I say, then slide a forkful of crème br?lée onto my spoon and lift it to Alana’s lips.

“Open.”

She does. Eyes wide.

Lips parted. Tongue flicking against the silver just slightly before it disappears into her mouth.

My jaw tightens.

I lean in, low enough that only she can hear me.

“You good, Little Diamond?”

She’s quiet for a beat too long.

Which tells me more than any yes ever could.

She nods. Barely. Her breath shudders on the exhale.

Her thighs shift.

Yeah.

She’s unravelling. Good. So am I.