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When he lifted a finger to silence me, I stopped talking abruptly, and I’m not sure why I did. He was kind of pissing me off too much for me to want to actuallyfollowhis rules. But there was something about the look in his eyes that compelled me to go silent. He seemed so confused, and yet utterly intrigued while completely suspicious.
He stared at me that way for another overly long moment before snorting in disbelief and shaking his head. “Look, I don’t know who you are, what your game is, orhowyou got that key, but you are squatting on this property, and you need to go. Now.”
“As if!” I cried, marching toward him to get in his face. “I paid the first month’s deposit already, buddy. So I’m here until at least October twelfth. But if you think the room should’ve gone to you instead, then you need to take that up withThalia. Until then, it’s mine.”
“That’s not—” he started, growing irritable, only to pause and blink at me. “Wait. You paid rent? Towhom?”
I let out an impatient sigh. “To Thalia. Duh,” Then, I winced. “Er…to her little brother…or something. I don’t know! She said the money went into his account. But it’s paid, alright? The room is mine.”
He blinked dumbly, squinting a moment before he shook his head outright. “No fucking way,” he breathed before scrambling to dive his hand into his pocket and pull out a phone.
I shook my head, confused. “What’re you doing?”
His fingers fumbled to open an app before he found what he was looking for. Then his mouth dropped open, and he croaked, “Son of a bitch.” After taking a few more moments to blink at the screen of his phone, he looked up at me with wide eyes. “Are you…Oaklynn…?” He checked the screen again before adding, “Vargas?”
He turned the phone to show me the line deposit of four hundred dollars into his account.
This time, it was my turn to gape stupidly.
Lifting my finger, I pointed at the deposit. “That’s my…” I shook my head. “Yes, sir, that’s me, but…” Trying to make sense of what was happening here, I looked up into his eyes. They were extremely potent from this range, an intoxicating honey hue, equal parts yellow, green, and brown. Like a glass of rich, high-proof whiskey.
I swallowed thickly. “But that would make you…” I still couldn’t quite believe it, so I had to cringe when I guessed, “Damien?”
His eyebrows shifted, telling me I’d guessed correctly.
I blurted out a harsh laugh. “You’reDamien Archer?”
When he nodded, I fell back a step. “Holy shit. But…” Shaking my head to clear it, I looked him over from head to toe. Then I lifted my hands to frame him in my vision. “This wasnotwhat I pictured when Thalia mentioned her little brother.”
She seriously needed to revisit her meaning oflittle.
Andcute.
Because the creature before me could grabcuteby the hair, spank its ass, and then make it call him daddy.
I mean, wow.
A shot of pure arousal zapped through me, and I visibly shuddered as I pictured him spanking…well…me.
I swallowed thickly.
Thalia had even called him a sweetheart, hadn’t she? And said he hadadorablecheeks.
His cheeks were the furthest thing from adorable there was. They were like granite, shaped as if some god owned them. There were even these hard-edged, manly scars along them, little chips of flesh taken from the corner of one eye and just above the corner of his mouth on the other side. They made him sexy and lickable and completely hot but in no wayadorable.
Wondering if he had any more of those alluring little scars elsewhere, my gaze dropped back to his bare chest, only for him to snap his fingers to get my attention and growl, “Excuse me.”
I jerked my gaze up and cleared my throat guiltily before scowling. “What? You looked first.”
He exhaled impatiently and grabbed the shirt from his back pocket before jerking it on. “Alright,” he said, lifting his hands as if to create some order in the universe as soon as he was a lot more dressed than I was. “I don’t know who you rented the room from, but it wasn’t Thalia.”
“Yes,” I told him steadily. “It was.”
Damien growled in his throat. “No. It wasn’t.”
“Look,” I countered. “I know she said she wouldn’t be around much, but she washerewhen I knocked on the door to ask about the sign in the window. We had nearly an hour-long conversation before she told me the key was in the cookie jar and the rent information was on the fridge. She also told me the money was being deposited intoyouraccount, and that the house had belonged to your aunt before she left it to the two of you. I mean, who else would know that shit?”
Scowling irritably, Damien seemed forced to admit, “No one.”
