Page 7 of Temptation

“You are such a dick.”

“No arguments from me.” He jerked his chin at the house. “Isn’t your boyfriend going to miss you?”

“Your mom and grandma put him to work.”

Which meant he was running the gauntlet. Orlando couldn’t help but grin.

“And you just couldn’t stay away from me, huh?” Even though he was teasing as he said it, he couldn’t help but want it to be true. “Looking for something London isn’t giving you? Is he not spanking you hard enough?”

She snorted.

“He doesn’t spank me at all.” As soon as the words came out of her mouth, her eyes widened and she lifted her hand slapping it over her lips, but it was too late. She’d said it and he’d heard her.

“He’s not kinky?”

Something in the pit of Orlando’s stomach dropped. Did he want Juliet for himself? He did. He couldn’t deny that. But he really had come to get a look at the boyfriend, make sure the man was good enough for her. He really was going to try.

But if London wasn’t kinky… fuck.

“It’s none of your business.” Juliet spun on her heel and Orlando practically dropped the casserole dish back into the trunk, freeing himself to spring forward and grab her arm.

“Juliet, you can’t be serious.” She was submissive, through and through, and the kinks she liked were edgier than a lot of peoples’. No one signed up for Roulette Night when all they wanted was a spanking or bit of rope play. They’d gone through several rough kinks that would have had quite a few subs safe-wording. “You’re a sub, you need a Dom.”

And now she was with a guy who wasn’t kinky at all? She was completely denying herself? Going without satisfying her needs?

It didn’t matter how good a guy London was if he wasn’t giving her what she needed.

Fury filled her expression as she stepped back, jerking her arm away from him.

“I just said, it’s none of your business. Because it’s not any of your business who I’m with or whether or not he’s a Dom. You had a chance to make it your business, and you decided you didn’t want to. So you can fuck right off, Orlando Romeo.”

Standing and watching her storm off, fury vibrating in every line of her being, Orlando came to a decision.

CHAPTER THREE

JULIET

How fucking dare he.

That was the thought that fumed through her over and over and over again throughout the entire Thanksgiving meal. Worse, she could feel his eyes on her the whole time. Watching her. Judging her. Thinking he knew what was best for her.

“Girl, you need to chill,” Brooke murmured, passing Juliet the platter of cornbread. With Brooke on one side and London on the other, Juliet should have felt shielded. Bolstered.

She was with her people after all.

Instead, all she could think about was the man at the end of the table who was laughing and talking as if he didn’t have a care in the world. The urge to throw a square of cornbread at him was nearly overwhelming, but if she did, then he would know she cared. And she was pretty sure he already knew that after the way she’d reacted earlier by her grandmother’s car.

Once she’d gotten back inside, she’d gone straight to London and basically glued herself to his side until Brooke had gotten there, then she’d alternated between using her boyfriend and her bestie as shields. But she was aware of him the whole time. Of every move he made, everything he said, and especially every time he looked at her even though she pretended to ignore him.

By the time everyone was spreading out to hang out in post dinner bliss, giving them some time to digest before dessert, she felt like she was going to crawl out of her own skin. Since the men were expected to clear the table and do the dishes, she made a beeline for the bathroom.

It should have been safe.

She’d seen him picking up plates before she went.

But her Aunt Renita was already in the downstairs bathroom and so she went to use the upstairs one, and when she came out he was standing there.

Waiting.