Tempted by Deception (Deception Trilogy #2) by Rina Kent

“I don’t know.”

“Just you and me.”

“Just you and me. I like that.”

My head lifts at the satisfaction in his tone. He really does sound like he likes it, but why?

A rare gleam passes over his ashen gaze as he nibbles on my pinkie again. “If I tell you, do I get something in return?”

A shudder goes through me and I hesitate.

“I don’t tell things about myself without getting something in return, Lia.”

“Okay.”

“What did I say about that word?”

“I can’t just get rid of it.”

“You will learn to. In time. Or there will be consequences.”

I stare up at him, my mouth agape. “What type of consequences?”

“You’ll see.”

“Ok—I mean, fine. So?”

“So what?”

“You said you want something. What is it?”

“I’ll let you know later.”

I don’t like the sound of that. “Why don’t you tell me now?”

“Because I don’t want to.”

Ugh. This asshole.

Before I can allow my tongue to curse him and possibly ruin any chance of getting what I want, he says, “I was born outside of marriage. My mother was my father’s mistress before she killed my stepmother and married him.”

My lips part, not only at the load of information, but also at the apathetic way he says it. As if it’s normal, everyday life.

Is he really a sociopath?

“But how…?” I sound as bemused as I feel.

“You asked for one thing, Lia.” He pulls me to his side. “Now, it’s my turn.”

Tendrils of both anticipation and fear coil inside me as I murmur, “Your turn…for what?”

“You’ll find out once we’re in your apartment.”





12





Lia





Adrian doesn’t speak as we walk down the hall to my apartment. He doesn’t speak when I put in the code, trying to hide it from him after I changed it a few days ago.

He also didn’t speak on the ride here, and neither did his guards, who were the same solemn-faced ones from the last time.

To say I’m nervous would be an understatement.

I’m the one who came up with this plan to lure him in so he’d leave me sooner rather than later, but I never thought that the actual moment would be this nerve-wracking.

It doesn’t help that he looks as lethal and as handsome as ever. His physique is really impressive, whether it’s his straight nose or his chiseled cheekbones or the black clothes that add a dangerous edge to his muscular frame.

He’s the type of beauty one should only admire from afar. Whenever anyone gets close, he’ll snuff them out like a deadly exotic animal.

I step into my apartment and don’t turn around to make sure he followed since hushed footsteps fall behind me. I stop in front of the long, narrow table that I usually use for my keys if I haven’t left my car at the theater.

Releasing a shaky breath, I shrug off my coat and hang it above the table. It takes me a few seconds of inhaling deeply before I gather my courage. “We’re inside my apartment. You said you’d let me know when— Ohhh.”

My words end in a gasp mixed with a moan when he grabs a fistful of my hair and bends me over the table. My cheek meets the cold surface and my heart clenches in my chest as my eyes widen. I have no freaking clue why the sound I just released was a moan. It should’ve been a squeal, a scream, a call for help.

Anything but a moan.

His nose touches my hair from where his fingers are imprisoning me in place, then trails down to the soft flesh of my throat. Shudders and goosebumps break out on my skin, covering each other and allowing new ones to form.

His hot lips meet the shell of my ear and he nibbles down before he whispers in tight words, “You think I haven’t figured out what you’re doing, Lia?”

My eyes must double in size as I try to look at him, but his unyielding grip prohibits me the slightest movement. “W-what?”

“You’ve been waiting for this moment all night. Or…let’s say for part of the night. Did that busy brain of yours think you could get rid of me by being an obedient slut?”

My molars grind together as I snap, “I’m not a slut.”

“Then don’t fucking act like one.” His words are as scathing as his rare cursing.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Do you want to be treated like a slut, Lia? Is that it?”

My words catch at the back of my throat when he lifts my dress to my waist. Cold air covers my backside despite the heat that’s on in my apartment.

Adrian cups me through my plain cotton panties and I gasp. Him touching me isn’t a novelty but more like meeting an old lover. And not just any lover, the only skilled lover who’s ever known how to twist my body in all the right ways possible.

But I’ve never had such a lover before. I’ve never been caught in an erotic maze by a mere touch as I am with Adrian.

Why did it have to be him, of all people?

“Mmm. You’re soaking wet. Is it because of being called a slut or being forced into this position?”

Either. Both. I don’t know.