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I sigh at the nickname. “How did you know I was here?”
“Apart from the fact that you’re the only other person in this house?” he asks, not turning his head toward me. He’s stirring something in a shallow pan, and I get a whiff of garlic. “I told you, I’ve got eyes on everyone all the time.”
Not everyone. Not Kane. At least, not right now. But there’s no point in me digging that knife in deeper. None of this was Phoenix’s fault.
“Are you hungry?” Phoenix asks as his fingers trail over the edges of the cabinet. He pauses at the third one down, then opens it and pulls out two plates.
I watch him for a moment, the grace in which he lays down noodles, then drizzles on a fragrant, buttery sauce and fat pieces of grilled shrimp.
My mouth waters more, and not just for the food. Watching him like this is making me want him, which fills me with guilt because the others are out there risking their lives, and we’re in here eating pasta and getting horny.
“Alice,” he snaps.
I realize I need to be better about my silence. “Sorry. I think I’m a little out of it. Um…but yeah, I’m hungry.”
“Good. I wasn’t going to give you a choice, but the illusion’s always nice.”
My mouth drops open, and my tongue starts to curl around a retort, but he turns and offers me a smirk that shuts me up. He’s unfairly attractive—they all are. But there’s something a little wild about Phoenix. It’s not the same as Ari—a man who flirts with true psychotic compulsions. With Phoenix, it’s primal. It’s deep and heady—like I could run and he’d chase me down and catch me and force me to take all of him.
And by the end, I’d be begging for more.
“I don’t feel like eating in the formal dining room,” Phoenix says after a beat. “Grab something from the wine rack, and meet me in my library.”
His library. Where it all started. Where I caught my first glimpse of him and nearly paid for it with something very dear. My mouth is a little dry as I step aside, and he passes me, clipping the doorframe just a little as he rounds the corner.
I don’t ask him if he’s okay. Instead, I hurry to grab the first bottle I can get my hands on and make my way up the stairs. Going into Phoenix’s library feels almost forbidden, and I have a thrill when I stop in the doorway and find Phoenix arranging a large tray on the table in front of the sofa. He puts everything in precise order, then settles himself against the arm, face tipped up toward me expectantly.
“Are you waiting for an invitation, princess?”
I scoff. “Seriously, I’m not anyone’s damn princess,” I grumble as I slide the book next to the tray and sit.
I tap the back of his hand with the edge of the bottle, and he turns it—palm out—and takes it from me. Digging into his pocket, he pulls out a little pocketknife with all the attachments, and in seconds, he has a corkscrew in, and he’s working the cork out with gentle twisting motions.
“Did you bring glasses?” he asks.
I flush. “Uh. You didn’t say to.”
He stills, and then his lips twitch. “So, you only do as you’re asked?”
“I…”
“You like being a good girl, don’t you?”
I hate how hot that makes me. The way he says it is entirely different than James—or the one time Kane used it on me. Phoenix makes it sound teasing and sardonic in a way that wants me to ask him to say it again. And again.
The cork pops free with a hissing click, and then he sets it on the tray before taking a long swig from the bottle. I realize it’s a red, which he doesn’t seem to mind, though I know with the shrimp I should have grabbed a white.
A small part of me is waiting to be berated, but instead, he holds out his hand and crooks it toward himself. “Come here, princess.”
“Seriously, I’m not…”
I lose my words when his hand curls around my chin, and he guides himself with his thumb against the edge of my lips, pressing the cold opening of the wine bottle against them. I open my mouth just a little and take the small sip he gives me.
“Say thank you,” he orders.
My voice is barely a whisper. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, youaresuch a fucking good girl,” he praises. He feels the tray with his hand until he finds an empty spot, then sets the bottle down. “Let’s eat. Then we can talk about whatever’s got you upset.”
