My stomach dips. Opening my eyes, I ask seriously, "Why do you watch me? I need to know.”
My stomach dips a second time when he inhales, looks over my face as if it were a work of art, then leans forward and kisses the tip of my nose. And he does this so gently, so sweetly, that my heart aches. “All in good time. You don’t know me. Yet.”
That almost sounds like a promise. My heart kick-starts again. I can live with that. A small promise is good for now. I wasn’t expecting much, so I guess I’m getting exactly what I expected.
Taking in a deep breath, I look at his soot-stained face and change the subject. “You’re going to get me dirty.”
His eyes darken a shade. “Already have, baby.” And I know what he just said has nothing to do with soot.
Reaching by my left side, the squeak of a doorknob sounds and he pushes the door open. We stare at each other a second longer before he takes my elbow and leads me into a huge bedroom. My core clenches in excitement at the sight of the king-sized sleigh bed against the right side of the room, but I do an excellent job holding myself together.
Twitch stands by my side playing with his cufflinks which, upon closer inspection, tonight are black onyx skulls and crossbones. He states, “This is your room whenever you’re here. You’ll get a key and your own set of entry codes. You’ll have access to the entire house, and I’d prefer it if you were here at least three nights a week.”
As soon as I hear the words your room, my mind leans over and whisper-hisses, “This boy has lost his mind. We best be leavin’ now.”
Unable to process what exactly we’re discussing here, I take this opportunity to walk around the room. Reaching a solid antique dresser, I lift the lids on the two glass decorative pieces that sit atop it, making myself at home in what is apparently my freaking room. One is filled to the brim with colorful milk chocolate buttons, and the other has cuff links of all sorts inside.
My brow furrows. “But this is your room.”
A tattooed hand reaches around me to take a handful of chocolate. Without turning, I hear him shove the lot into his mouth. He says sarcastically, “And she’s smart too.”
Spinning around, my face bunches in annoyance. “I really don’t understand why I would be spending three nights a week here.”
Chewing the chocolate, he reaches for another handful while looking lost in thought. Finally, he shrugs, “Why not?”
Leaning back into the dresser, I lift my hand and point to my index finger. “Number one, I don’t even know you, Twitch.” Pointing to my middle finger, “Number two, this place is really far from where I work, as you know.” Pointing back to my index finger, “And number three, I have absolutely nothing here that is mine. So, it’s weird for me.”
Shoving the second handful of candy into his mouth, he chews, takes my hand, and leads me to a door by the bathroom. When he opens it, my mouth gapes.
This is ridiculous!
I’m panicked. And sweaty. I don’t feel good. I think I’m going to be ill.
Bending forward at the waist, I reach back with shaky hands to hold my hair out of the way as I begin to hyperventilate. I really wish I had a paper bag to breathe into right now. This is where Twitch asks in dead calm, “Too much?”
Standing straight, I blink at him for half a minute before I point to the open walk-in closet filled to the brim with women’s clothes, which all look to be in my size and screech, “Oh, because that isn’t weird! Not at all, Twitch!”
His smirk is so delicious that I want to lick him. But when he says, “Babe,” as if I’m the one being ridiculous, I lose my cool.
“No! Don’t you even do that, mister! Don’t babe me! I have heels on and I will use them as a weapon if I have to. You’re going to answer some of my questions right now.” Feeling a little too brave, I add with little to no steam at all, “If you don’t, I’ll leave. And I won’t come back.”
Popping a piece of candy into his mouth, he sucks on the button and utters, “Yeah, about that. I don’t do well with being threatened. And I definitely don’t take orders. But you’ll learn all this. Eventually. I get that I know you better than you know yourself, but there’s a few things you should know about me. And I’ll make it easy for you.” Mimicking my pointing to my fingers, he points to his index finger. “Number one, you’ll be here because you want to be here, not because I forced you. Ever.” Pointing to his middle finger, “Number two, this closet is yours, and I expect you to use whatever is in there, down to your drawers.” Pointing back to his index finger, “Number three, you’re so fucking hot when you get worked up that I would really like for you to suck my cock. And when I say I would really like that, I mean suck my cock, Lexi. Now.”
Pressing my legs together tightly, my core clenches.