Page 17 of Her Wicked Plan

The darkness in his eyes has my heart pounding abruptly; I’m afraid it will shoot right out of my chest and fall onto the coffee table.

I’m six feet under the ground, buried beneath the earth, as he stares at me like I asked something unbelievably ridiculous.

“Why do you want to know my name?”

“My doctors and I have always been on a first-name basis. It makes me more comfortable talking with them, like talking to a friend, not a therapist.”

He slowly taps end of the pen on the paper, debating whether he wants to tell me.

“Makes sense,” He finally answers. “Leo.”

“Dr. Leo Madden.” My lips curl upwards as I purr his name. “Rolls right off the tongue.”

He clears his throat, bending his head to the side to stretch out the muscles in his neck. A sign of discomfort. That’s more like it.

“Back to my previous question. You said you killed someone because he looked at you wrong?”

“Okay, okay! You caught me.” My hands fly up in defeat before I tell him the truth. “He was a terrible person.”

“Bad enough to be killed?” His hand flows across the paper, and I attempt to peek but can’t make out his handwriting. It's awful, just like the man installing all those keypads. Typical men.

“If a person does an awful, unspeakable thing, Dr. Madden, I believe they deserve to be punished, and if that punishment happens to be death, then so be it.” My head dips slightly, tongue poking the inside of my cheek. “You don’t think people who do that type of shit deserve death?”

He avoids my question. “What did he do that was so terrible?”

“He hurt someone that I love.” I shift in my chair.

“Your sister.” He blatantly says, glancing up at me.

My jaw tightens, teeth pressing hard together at the mention of her. Everything I did was to protect her, even though she didn’t see it that way. I would do anything to protect the most important people in my life.

I’m not doing this right now. There is no way our first session, which I did not know would happen, will be about my sister. I take a page from his book and avoid the question.

“Are you married?” I turn the spotlight on him, throwing him for a loop.

“What?” He gives me the same look as before, like I asked a question I shouldn’t have. There is something about his stare that is dominating, so fucking sexy, and it turns me on.

“You aren’t wearing a ring on your finger.” I gesture toward the ringless finger. “Now, that could be because they asked you not to wear it since we aren’t allowed jewelry in this wonderful place.”

I tuck a curl behind my ear. “But if you did have one that they asked you to take off, then I would assume there would be some sort of color difference between the skin that sits under the wedding band versus the skin that is exposed to the sun.”

His eyes glance down at his ring finger, and his face twists in confusion. “Why are you even asking me this?”

“I thought we were playing 21 questions,” I answer sarcastically.

“We aren’t.” He shakes his head in disapproval. “Now, can you tell me about your sister?”

“Can you tell me if you’re married?” I spit back.

“Why do you even want to know?” He sets his pen down, holding it against the pad of paper with the palm of his hand.

Leo’s back leaves the comfort of the cushion as he leans forward, awarding me with another dominating stare. This time, as he awaits my answer, he wets his lips. He isn’t even aware that he is even doing it.

“Because Dr. Madden,” my voice turns seductive, my eyes trained on his as I continue. “I want to know if I should feel guilty for the things my body feels when you look at me like that.”

And there... it... is!

His cheeks turn a delicious shade of red, like an apple I want to take a bite of. His eyes widen, and his jaw drops slightly at my response, making me smile with satisfaction.