Page 6 of Married to the Devil

Again, he doesn’t answer, only gets himself something dark brown and goes to stand near the windows.

The view is incredible. Philadelphia glitters at his feet. I linger back, afraid to get too close. It’s not the height that bothers me, but the man. I half expect him not to have a reflection, but he’s still there in the glass, only a man.

A perfect man. Gorgeous beyond reckoning.

“Your dancer,” Rafe says without looking back. “Was he acceptable?”

“Uh, he was okay. I mean, not what I expected, but⁠—“

Rafe glances at me in the window. “Did you expect someone more like me?”

Another of those ghostly smiles.

I shiver and take a long drink. “No, not at all.”

“That’s a shame.” He swirls his glass, ice clinking.

“Do you dance?”

“I don’t think I ever have.”

“Come on, that can’t be true.” I say it with a smile, but that quickly fades. Looking him over, I start to think it might be. “I’m not much of a dancer either, to be honest.”

“You look good, though. When you let yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your shoulders are tense, June.”

I laugh, but he’s not kidding. I make myself relax them. “I guess I’m not used to following strange men back to their rooms.”

“That’s a good rule of thumb.” He turns his back to the city. “I’m going to make you an offer. I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m being too forward, but I’m not the kind of man who does this often, and I prefer not to waste time with uncertainty.”

“Uh…” I finish the remainder of my glass. “What kind of offer?”

“There are three bedrooms upstairs. You may have your pick. If you want, you can go up there now, brush your teeth, go to sleep, and in the morning I’ll be gone. You won’t see me again. But if you like, I’ll come with you, and we’ll share the bed together. You and me, June, just for tonight. I’ll be gone before you wake. But if I’m right—“ He steps closer and takes the glass from my unsteady fingers. He pours some of his drink into it, tips the glass to my lips, and pours it into my mouth. It’s whisky, or bourbon, or something like that, and it’s very, very good. I’m trembling with desire, excitement coursing down my skin. “If I’m right, you won’t stop thinking about me for a very, very long time.”

I bend my knees and put my glass on the floor. I’m breathing fast, shaking, wondering if I’m really doing this. Why can’t I misbehave? Why can’t I meet beautiful, handsome, scary strangers and do something stupid for once? I watched Marnie and her friends go wild, and why not me?

I take Rafe’s hand, the one holding his drink, and I raise it to my lips.

I kiss his tattooed knuckle. Then I take a sip from his glass.

The sound he makes.

My god.

It’s ecstasy. The softest grunt. Barely the whisper of a moan. Like this man’s holding himself back, a spring twisted to nearly breaking.

“Will you beg?” I ask, not sure what’s coming over me, but thinking, I can be this girl, just once, for one single night, and never, ever again. I meet his gaze and it’s hard for me to hold it. Those stormy gray eyes, filled with hate, desire, blood. “If I ask you to?”

His hand presses against the small of my back and he pulls me against him, crushing his mouth down to mine in a blistering, possessive kiss.

The only answer I need.

No, he won’t beg.

And frankly, I don’t need him to.