All of them were shit reasons said out loud. Her threat was vapid and empty, and she had nothing to back it up.
Her words were raspy and breathless. “If I agree to play along, will you agree to leave her alone?” It was a stupid gambit. He could just do whatever he wanted. But she had to hope that above all else, he wanted her to play his stupid game for his own amusement.
That seemed to intrigue him. Tilting his head to the side slightly, he hummed, his gaze still on her lips as he pondered it for a moment. “You’ll stay in character, stay onmyside, no longer act against me? If I agree not to specifically target or otherwise act against your sister? Now, we have to make it very clear that if I, in the fiction, would do so logically, I have to be allowed to do so. I can’t very well pretend she doesn’t exist.”
“But you can’t go out of your way—break character or logic—just to hurt her. If I make you angry.”
He leaned down a little closer to her, resting his weight on his elbow. She could feel the warm length of his thigh pressing against hers. The tendrils around her tightened ever so slightly.
The anger between them fell away instantly like the planks underneath a hangman’s block into something else. Something far more treacherous. Something far more dangerous.
The memory of him as Captain Hook flashed through her mind. The press of the tip of that metal spike underneath her chin as he threatened her. The way that?—
He can read minds here.
Remember?
She slammed the door on those thoughts.
“Damn,” he murmured. Lowering his head just a little farther, he brushed his lips against her cheek close to her ear. “It’s a very tempting deal. Very tempting, indeed.”
She turned her head away from him, feeling her cheeks go warm in response to his nearness. Her skin felt electric. With everything she had, she tried to blot out all thoughts of him. Tried to block out every reaction she was having. Screaming silently in her mind at herself for being a fool and an idiot and a moron, she tried to latch onto that as a raft to take her away from the situation.
Don’t think about this don’t think about this don’t think about this don’t think about this don’t think about this don’t think about?—
The air felt too close as he whispered to her, his breath pooling against her skin. It sent a shiver down her spine. “Don’t think about what, Sasha?”
He sounded so damn pleased with himself that she wanted to fucking punch him in the goddamn smug-ass, gorgeous face.
That was when she felt it.
One of the tendrils around her ankles had started to move. It had begun to wander, ever so slightly, up her calf. Only an inch. Maybe two.
But the insinuation was enough.
She whipped her head back to him, eyes wide in shock. “V?—”
The rest of his name didn’t make it past her lips.
Because his own lips caught it instead.
He kissed her without warning, capturing the sound, as she wentto shout at him. His hand caught her chin and held her in place as he tilted his head to deepen the embrace.
Sasha had been kissed before. She’d had boyfriends. She wasn’t a virgin.
But she’d never, in herlife,ever been kissed like that. She never even dreamt it was possible. All the tendrils holding her in place, and the one around her throat, released her. Which was good, because she needed every ounce of air she could get.
Instinctually, she grasped the front of his lapels, clinging to him for dear life as he seemed to try to devour her through a kiss alone.
The noise that escaped her throat wasn’t exactly a sound of protest. Neither was the deep growl that came from him in response.
“What thefuck?—”
“Brother!”
Vile grinned against her lips before stepping away.
“Deal accepted, Sasha darling.” Vile laughed. “And sealed with a kiss.”
