Venom And Vice

5

Was that reluctance I detected in his voice? He wasn’t giving off the slightest vibe of acknowledgment that we’d had s*x the night before. Casek wasn’t the most amiable person on a good day, but he seemed stiff, even for him. Did he regret having s*x with me? Was he worried I would expect some kind of commitment from him? He could be simply having a bad morning, Ash. Not everything is about you. In theory, that was true. And I could have given him more slack if his response wasn’t so freaking typical. The alpha stud acting aloof and indifferent after s*x to discourage us sentimental females from becoming attached. As if. I wasn’t the simpering lovestruck type. If he thought I would cling to him in some desperate need for validation, he had another thing coming. “Becca woke me up to let me know she was heading to Faery,” I said nonchalantly. Casek’s full lips thinned. “Lochlan told me.” “He say why they were going?” “Not exactly.” “I take it you aren’t thrilled with them going?” “Guinevere’s a powerful woman.” “Let me guess. You tried to go with them, and Lochlan refused?” He only scowled in response. “I suppose as the boss, that’s his prerogative.” I accented the word boss, a somewhat immature jab at the fact that Casek was an underling, even if he was Lochlan’s right hand. Judging from the way his eyes snapped to mine, he didn’t miss the veiled slight. “And what about the threat she poses to your best friend? You seem awfully indifferent.” He gave the steaming cup in my hand a quick glance. “Rebecca’s tough. I trust she knows what she’s doing. Women aren’t all delicate flowers in need of protection, you know.” He took a small step closer, a move calculated to intimidate. “What’s with the attitude?” My eyes widened innocently. “Attitude? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Yes, I was being a little bitchy, but he was being an ass. Why did women always have to take the high road and be accommodating to grumpy men? I would never be so weak as to grovel for scraps of attention. His only response was a blistering stare that I met head-on. “Look,” I continued, “I’m just doing my thing, making sure you don’t get any wrong ideas about last night. Yes, we had s*x, but that doesn’t change anything. I think that’s something we can both agree upon.” Casek didn’t move a muscle. Not a twitch or a blink. He didn’t even breathe. His stillness was disconcerting, but just before I began to wonder if he would argue, he confirmed my suspicions. “What a relief,” he said tonelessly. “I’m glad we both agree last night was a mistake.” I kept my features perfectly schooled, but I hadn’t been able to control my lungs from rapidly expanding with air. I’d thought Casek was worried about sending me the wrong message, but calling our night together a mistake was a whole other level of insulting. The insinuation reeked of regret, and that was downright hurtful. “I think you mean epic,” I ground out, anger lacing each word. “It was an epic mistake.” OceanofPDF.com Chapter Two OceanofPDF.com CASEK I got the distinct impression, had Ashley possessed the ability, I would have been reduced to a pile of ash and cinder at her feet. Normally, I didn’t give a f**k when I pissed off the people around me. Their anger was their problem, not mine. But something about the ire burning in Ashley’s eyes sparked my own temper. I prowled forward and invaded her space, towering over her curvy little frame. “Why the f**k are you so pissed?” She didn’t give the slightest sign of intimidation. If anything, my actions only fueled her fire. Ashley leaned forward, jabbing her manicured finger into my chest. “Me? I’m not the one getting into people’s faces and acting like a Neanderthal.” I’d never met someone who crawled beneath my skin the way Ashley did. The second I saw her on the other side of those elevator doors, my hands itched with the need to yank her inside with me and f**k her again. What was it about the woman that drove me so f*****g insane? She was beautiful, but so were all the other women who wandered in and out of the club on a nightly basis. None of them tested me the way Ashley did. She was the only one who had ever successfully tempted me past the point of restraint. I hadn’t kissed a woman in hundreds of years. I hadn’t wanted to. It was too personal. Intimate. And it sent a message I wasn’t interested in conveying. Until her. When Ashley’s lips pressed against mine in that conference room, I responded on instinct, a starving man at a feast. Then I’d gone and f****d her as if my life depended upon it. She crushed my control under her red stiletto heels. I’d kept my distance from her for months for that very reason. I could sense the volatility of my reactions to her and knew she was more dangerous to me than any of the monsters I hunted. Even now, I knew I should be relieved at her anger and use it to reconstruct the wall between us, but I couldn’t. It was impossible to ignore her. The need to push back was too overwhelming. I lowered my face close to hers and whispered. “You weren’t complaining about my Neanderthal tendencies last night.” Ashley was livid, though she tried to hide it beneath a mask of impassivity. Like a hungry crocodile lurking beneath the glassy surface of a riverbank, she was poised for attack. Why did that give me so much damn satisfaction? Because I wanted her just as f*****g off-balance as I was. It was only fair we suffered equally.