Gleam (The Plated Prisoner 3)

He rubs at the black scruff on his chin, regarding me. “Not exactly that phrase, no. But with you, I have to hear what you’re not saying in order to read the whole page of your words.” His voice pitches lower, right along with my stomach. “I assure you, I’ve heard you loud and clear.”

I shake my head, dashing away his claim with a slash of my hand. “That’s not...no. Don’t be ridiculous. I said I wanted you. I don’t love you.”

He cocks his head, looking infuriatingly calm as he leans against the wall and crosses his arms again. “Are you sure about that?”

My expression is incredulous. “Yes, I’m sure!” I exclaim, cheeks gone feverish. “I admit I feel something for you, but not that, you arrogant ass. Love doesn’t happen this way.”

His brows hitch up. “Love happens in all kinds of ways. Fast. Slow. In bits and pieces, or immediate. Filled with lust, one-sided longing, a snap realization never noticed before. Deeply. Thoroughly. Love is a whisper we didn’t hear or a sound that drums in our ears and drowns out everything else.” Slade edges toward me, though I barely notice because I’m so hooked on his words that I’ve forgotten to blink. “You’re incredibly private. Closed-off. Conditioned to shut out your true feelings and deny yourself what you want. So you wouldn’t have said all of those things unless you were in love with me, Auren.”

Do I love him?

No. He’s delusional and pretty damn self-assured. There’s a pull between us, sure, an undeniable spark of something, but it’s not love…

Right?

My teeth grind as I take a step back. “You’re wrong, and you’re also a presumptuous jerk, and I no longer want you, so I’m leaving now.”

His grin widens. “And you’re a gorgeous little liar, but that’s okay,” he says with a shrug. “I’ve made you face your other truths, and I have no doubt I can make you face this one too.”

My stomach jumps with a thrill I don’t want to admit.

He thinks I’m gorgeous.

Okay, yeah, he thinks I’m a liar too, but the takeaway here is the gorgeous part.

I cross my arms and tip my chin up as if he didn’t just tilt my world on its axis. As if I’m not feeling exposed and terrified. “Don’t say love.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” I huff out, feeling overwhelmed. “That’s... I don’t have the best history with that particular word, so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say it.”

The bastard grins. “We’ll work on that.”

My eyes narrow, though my damn heart is pitter-pattering like a flock of feet. “Okay, goodbye.”

His lips twitch and he shakes his head. “As I said before, you’re not leaving, so you should know better than that.”

“I know that my ribbons are going to push you out of the way if you don’t stop teasing me.”

His eyes flick down, and I follow his gaze to see that my ribbons have once more started to slither up to his bed and wriggle around. “Great Divine,” I mutter.

Slade tries and fails to suppress his grin. “I’ll take my chances with them. So…since you’re staying, will you undress for me?”

My heart stops, eyes going wide. “Excuse me?”

“Soul, mind, and body, remember?” he says, a devilish spark in his eye. “I want all of you, and I’ll have you.”

A full-body flush streams

down my skin and pulses low in my stomach. “Now?” I squeak.

He lifts a shoulder. “We can play this push and pull game for a little bit longer if you prefer. I enjoy our verbal sparring. The challenge makes the reward that much sweeter. But we both know it’s just a matter of time before I have you under me, spread out and gloriously naked with your sunlit skin pressed against mine as I take you hard and slow.”

“Good goddess,” I breathe, pressing a hand to my hot cheek. “You’re a crass one, aren’t you?”

Carnal amusement crosses his expression. “Oh, Goldfinch, if you think that was crass, then you don’t want to know the things I’m thinking, because they’re positively filthy.”

The intensity that’s always between us flares from the pit of my stomach and pulses between my thighs. This heated temptation has been building with every interaction, and I can’t help but feel like all the moments between us have led us to this. That it was just a matter of time before we were going to collide.