Page 317 of Coal Hearts

Walking away, whistling like an asshole, he left Henri and me alone again.

Henri didn’t move until Victor strolled out of listening distance. For a second, my heart leapt with hope that he was going to whisper this was all a massive, massive mistake. That there was still a script, still a stage, and a curtain, and a hidden director.

But as he sat down on the lounger and threw me a lazy smile, that hope died.

Once and for all.

In a blaze of burning cinders.

His fingers strayed to his boxers.

He fondled himself through the black material.

And then, with clenched teeth and elegant, monstrous hands, he shifted his hips, removed his underwear, and tossed them onto the grass.

Our eyes met.

My heart thundered.

For all my hatred, my body grew hot and heavy.

It wasn’t fair that he looked like a demigod on the outside and was a deviant on the inside. The muscles, the shadows, the piercing silver-shadow eyes.

Biting his bottom lip, he fisted himself and dragged his gaze down my t-shirt-clad body.

“Enlève-le.” (Take it off.) Pressing his thumb onto his crown, he cocked his head as if daring me to refuse.

Bare.

Dressed.

Made no difference.

Rising on my knees, I swiped the hem up and over my head, cursing the thick cuffs as they caught on the sleeves.

His eyes immediately landed on my breasts. “Christ, you’re gorgeous.”

A compliment.

A worship.

It made me feel seedy, dirty, and stained by every touch he’d given and every word he’d used to control me.

He squeezed himself. “Rampe jusqu’à moi.” (Crawl closer.)

“Fuck you.”

“I intend to fuck you. But only once you’ve sucked me.”

“I’d rather bite.”

He moved too fast, inhumanly fast.

One moment, he sat on the lounger with legs indecently spread. The next, he grabbed my hips, tossed me onto my hands and knees, and tipped me forward. “I’m warning you now, little nightmare. If I feel the merest graze of your sharp little teeth, I will hit you so hard you’ll end up in the moat outside the walls.”

“Do it,” I snarled. “Beat me so we can both stop pretending you’re any better than the other bastards. Prove to me that every sentence out of your mouth is bullshit.”

He stiffened.