Page 57 of Vicious Kingdom

“When your secretary sent the survey about my favorite things, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” I greeted the businessman. “It certainly wasn’t this.”

Leo was silent, watching me as I closed the distance. For a man who swore we were over, this was a tremendous effort.

I gave him a blistering smile.

Instead of returning it, his gaze hardened.

I refused to falter.

“Normally, this place is busy in the summertime,” I added, grasping for a topic of small talk. “Yet here we are, alone.”

He finally spoke. “Don’t you think that was by design?”

My heart did a ridiculous little flip. “You cleared the park? For us?”

Baldwin gestured to the blanket, and as I knelt, he joined me, plucking items from the wicker basket. There was a bottle of red. A cheeseboard and water crackers. And at the bottom….

“A torte,” I moaned. “Will you think badly of me if we start with that?”

His hands stilled. “So eager.”

I grinned. “When chocolate torte is involved, who wouldn’t be?”

Slowly, he lifted his hand before reaching out with determination to brush the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. The sensation sent a shock through my system.

We stared at one another, his touch warm, and the basket lay forgotten beside us. The wine. The food. The grand romantic gesture. They fell away as he continued to touch, his fingers tentative at first but gaining boldness, dancing lower with a featherlight caress. Inches of space shrank to nothingness as he leaned forward.

Was this it? It seemed too easy, the distance closed, the intangible pull acknowledged.

Birds chirped in the distance, ominously cheerful and unaware of the tension between us. As they sang their song, I wondered if I was the only one feeling the electric spark in the intimate setting. It went straight to my head, dizzying me with disbelief.

He seemed to want this as much as I did.

The sensation sent a rush of liquid heat between my legs. It had been too long, and I dared to hope he would offer me the relief I craved.

But with him, it was more than the physical.

I could wait a little longer, if only he saw that.

His lips parted as if he might speak, but then they closed again, and he looked at me with a softness that was both familiar and unfamiliar all at once. I waited breathlessly for the kiss. Was it possible? It was more than I expected. I had planned to kiss him, to close the gap, and if the night went well, if all went according to my frantic hopes, I was prepared for much more to follow. But was it truly happening this soon? I had to recalibrate my expectations, my heartbeat racing ahead of reason.

“Oh, Anna,” he murmured, almost wistfully. His thumb pressed against my rapidly beating pulse.

He wants me.

It was there, dark and glittering in his black eyes.

And then his fingers moved, spreading with a precision that seemed almost calculated, wrapping around my throat with a suddenness and violent force that was wholly unexpected.

The world lurched, and I gasped, but the air was cut off. My thoughts whirled in confusion, and Baldwin leaned forward until our noses nearly touched.

“You thought you were in charge. That you could charm me?” His voice dripped with cruel amusement, and I couldn’t breathe.

It felt impossible, this was happening, like waking into a nightmare.

I jerked, but he held tight.

“You stink of desperation,” he continued, words razor-sharp and merciless, slashing through the intimacy of the moment that had been so much softer just seconds before.