I pull away from him, standing straight, closing the robe and belting it.
“I put my life in your hands. I never said you could take my identity.”
Cole smiles at me, unabashed.
“I’m not trying to change who you are. I’m trying to reveal it. A diamond can’t shine until it’s cut.”
I cross my arms over my chest, already knowing where this is going.
“And where do you plan to cut me today?”
He’s trying to hold back a laugh—never a good sign.
“Always so suspicious, Mara. It’s quite unjust, considering I’ve yet to make a plan for you that you haven’t enjoyed.”
“That’s a generous interpretation. Especially since the journey to ‘enjoyment’ tends to be nothing less than horrifying.”
Now he does laugh, a sound that flushes me with heat. When the devil chuckles, the world tilts a little on its axis, and somewhere, someone makes a fatal mistake.
“There’s nothing horrifying about me taking you shopping.”
“No fucking way,” I snap. “You promised to get my things from my old house.”
“And I have—your ‘things’ will be delivered this afternoon. Though I ought to have them fumigated first.” He sniffs.
“Don’t want my thrift-store jackets hanging in your immaculate closets? Don’t worry—I’m sure there’s some wing of this house you’ve never even seen.”
“Oh, I know every inch of this house,” Cole assures me. “There’s nowhere you can hide from me out in the world, let alone here in my own home.”
Locked in his dark gaze, I believe him.
Opposing Cole feels like standing in the path of a freight train.
Yet here I stand, staring down the headlights as the horn blares in warning.
“I like my clothes,” I hiss.
“You don’t have your clothes,” Cole says. “I do. And I’m not giving them back to you until you come shopping with me. If you don’t like what I pick out, then you don’t have to wear it. But you will accompany me … or you’ll have to go to the studio in that robe.” He grins. “Or naked. I’m happy with any of those options.”
I’ll wear this damn robe all week long to spite him. That would offend his sensibilities much more than mine. It’s only the chill gray fog outside the window that dissuades me—silk isn’t warm.
“Fine,” I say grudgingly. “But I mean it—I’m not wearing anything I don’t like.”
“I’d expect nothing less,” Cole replies with irritating smugness.
Taking my latte glass to the sink and setting it down a little harder than necessary, I say, “Let’s get this over with.”
Cole raises one black slash of an eyebrow.
“You need to shower first.”
My hand itches to snatch up the glass again and fling it at him. It’s never enough for him to get what he wants—it has to be exactly the way he wants it.
Instead, I slip out of the robe and drop it in a puddle in the middle of his kitchen floor.
“As you wish, Master.”
The tone is all sarcasm, but I see the flush of pleasure it gives him all the same. He picks up the robe and follows me like a dark shadow, silent and close.
I walk back up the stairs to the master suite. Cole’s bathroom is triple the size of my old bedroom. The sinks are massive slabs of raw gray stone beneath waterfall faucets. The bathtub, nearly the size of a small swimming pool, sits directly in the hardwood floor, right up against the window like an infinity pool. The shower is the size of a car wash, with dozens of nozzles pointing in all directions.
Cole turns them on for me while I send the playlist on my phone to his Bluetooth speakers.
The music echoes off the stone walls, bouncing around the space, melding with the thick steam of the shower.
Terrible Thing – AG
Spotify → geni.us/no-devil-spotify
Apple Music → geni.us/no-devil-apple
“Why do you need music for everything?” Cole asks me.
“Because it makes everything better,” I say, stepping into the pounding spray.
Cole stands outside the glass, his eyes roaming over my wet body.
He has no shame in watching me. He does it openly, all the time. Not bothering to hide his pleasure.
It’s flattering.
I’m an exotic creature to him. Everything I do is interesting.
Cole’s gaze makes me more aware of what I’m doing. How I tilt my head back under the spray, exposing my throat. How the soap suds slide down between my breasts. How my skin flushes in the heat.