10

Once our eyes had locked for several seconds, I turned away and kept nursing my drink. When the waitress came by, I would close my tab and head home. Esme was gonna score with a handsome guy, and the last man I’d had an erotic encounter with in Florence was just feet away from me, another woman about to give him a hand job under the table. I should just call it quits and head home.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Hades have a brief conversation with his date then slide out of the booth. When he stood, the air in the room changed, a spark had been ignited. He moved down the stairs and came toward me.

I took a long drink from my glass and ignored him.

He invited himself into my leather booth, sliding in until he was close beside me.

I couldn’t help but take a peek at the woman he’d been with just seconds ago. She watched him turn his attention on me with fire in her gaze. She looked equally enraged and hurt.

He sat beside me, his body pivoted toward me with one arm on the table. His silver watch was visible just underneath the sleeve of his collared shirt. He smelled like sandalwood and smoke, like he was a man who spent his time outdoors in the forest. Silence passed between us, the music from the speakers not loud enough to fill the void in conversation.

I refused to speak first, so I continued to drink like he wasn’t there.

Hades wasn’t unnerved by my indifference. He continued to stare at me, comfortable with the unspoken feud raging between us. His brown eyes watched my movements, watched me sip from my glass then return it to the table. Every movement I made was observed.

Now, I started to become uncomfortable, started to break under that formidable stare. But I refuse to give any indication that I was tense, that I was the same shy girl he’d met four years ago.

To break the ice, I pushed my glass toward him.

He lifted the glass, shook the ice, and then took a drink. He set it down and slid it back toward me. “Piss.”

“Better than what you’re drinking.”

“I’m not drinking anything.”

I held up my glass. “Exactly.” I took another drink and watched Esme get lost in her conversation with her new friend. She didn’t seem to notice that I’d disappeared. She was probably so smitten with the guy that everything else ceased to matter.

The corner of his mouth rose in a smile, just slightly. Then he subtly raised his hand and immediately got the attention of the waiter. Without looking at him, he ordered. “Scotch, neat, double.”

The waiter ran off, fetched the drink, and then set it on the table.

Hades slid it toward me then gave a slight nod.

Just to prove a point, I took a drink without making a sour face, and then slid it back to him. “Piss.”

This time, both corners of his mouth rose in a smile.

I drank from my glass a little more often than usual, feeling the nerves getting to me. I assumed he would say a couple of words then return to his date, but he continued to linger like his agenda hadn’t been fulfilled.

“My assumption was incorrect.” He swirled his glass and took another drink. “You are far more beautiful than I ever could have predicted.” This man was confident enough to speak his mind without fear of the consequences, to tell a woman she was beautiful without being afraid of her response. The sting of rejection had never pierced his skin, so he didn’t carry scars like the rest of us.

I shouldn’t be flattered by that comment, but in all honesty, I was. “Am I still too young for you?” I could still smell the nighttime air on my nose, feel the bumps on my arms, the taste of smoke in my mouth. It was a lifetime ago, when I was a completely different person, but it all came rushing back to me. At the time, our age difference didn’t matter. He was a gorgeous man that I’d wanted to sink my claws into. I’d assumed I was an adult that could handle anything. But now that I was older, I knew he’d made the right call when he walked away. He gave in to a moment of weakness and kissed me, but he didn’t let it grow into something else. He really was too old for me… We both knew it.

He set his glass down and let his deep-brown eyes look into mine, piercing my gaze as if he could see everything underneath my skin. He could see my heartbeat, my damaged soul. He could see the curves of my body through my tight dress, notice the sharpness of my tits. He slowly brought his hand to his mouth and dragged his fingers across his lips, as if he were catching a drop of scotch that somehow had missed his tongue. He was clearly uncomfortable in the tense silence between words. It was as if he fed off the heat. “Definitely not.” His eyes lowered slightly, giving me a quick glance-over before he lifted his eyes to meet my gaze again. One hand grasped his glass while the other stayed on his thigh.

The lock between our gazes started to make me sweat. He was better at this game than I was, so I took a drink to wash away the tension in the cords of my neck. All my muscles tightened painfully, making me rigid. I vowed I would never let a man affect my confidence, but Hades was an opponent I could never beat.

“Following in your father’s footsteps?”

“Trying to.”

“Still ambitious, I see.” He glanced around the bar, his eyes gently scanning his surroundings for nothing in particular. “That’s sexy in a woman.”

“Sexy in a man, too.”

He turned back to me. “Then you won’t be able to keep your hands off me.”

“I’m doing it right now.”

He grinned slightly. “Give it time.”

I wanted to destroy his confidence, but I couldn’t because he was right. Just like with every other woman in the world, this man had me. He’d already watched me yank him into my arms and kiss him while my family could catch us at any moment. My cards were already on the table.

“Take my advice?” He rubbed his thumb against his glass, wiping away the condensation.

“About getting fucked?” I asked bluntly.

He gave a slight nod.

“That’s a personal question, and it’s none of your business.”

“It is my business.” He turned to me, freezing me in place with that serious look. His brown eyes were beautiful in that masculine face, his dark hair around his jaw, the beautiful structure of his countenance… Everything made him perfect. “Because I’m going to fuck you.”

The second he said the last word, my heart spiked and started to pulse like I was about to sprint a marathon. Sweat formed at the back of my neck when I imagined his perfect body on top of mine, making good on his word. I would resist at first, pretending that every thrust he gave wasn’t the best sex I’d ever had, but when he made me come, it would be impossible to lie. He would push me until I admitted the truth…that I wanted him inside me again and again. I’d never felt that way with another man, as if I couldn’t get enough of him and wanted him in my bed every night. I suspected Hades would be the first, and that told me I should stay away from him. “That’s presumptuous.”