Something about the way he said it made my heart free-fall straight through my ribs.
My jaw tightened so hard it hurt.
My problem.
He’d said it like it amused him. Like it thrilled him. Like every flinch I made was entertainment served on a silver platter.
And the worst part, the part that made my stomach twist, was that heknewI’d blush. He knew I’d react. He’d counted on it.
Heat crawled across my face, and I hated that he caused it.
I hated that he could pull a reaction out of me with a few lazy sentences and a smirk.
I hated that he could make me feel small and furious and flustered all at the same time.
But under all that, under the embarrassment and the shock and the little sting of humiliation, something else sharpened.
A slow, cold, electric determination.
He thought he had me pinned.
He thought I was predictable.
He thought he could toss a few words into the firelight and watch me burn.
No.
Not anymore.
I straightened, lifting my chin just a fraction, enough for him to see, not enough for the group to notice. And when Riley’s eyes flicked back to me, something changed in them.
He saw it.
That tiny shift in me.
That quiet refusal. And he smiled, almost imperceptibly, like he’d just found the beginning of a challenge he actually wanted.
Fine.
Good.
Because I was done letting him drag reactions out of me like he owned my nerves and my pulse and every stupid spark under my skin.
He was playing with me?
Then I’d learn the rules.
I’d learn how to knock him off-balance the same way he constantly knocked me.
I forced the blush down, buried it, locked it behind my teeth.
I even managed a small, sharp smile, directed at him, not the group.
A silent message.
Try me again.
I dare you.
