Devoured (Devoured, #1)(8)

What a stupid question to ask yourself, Jensen, I think. He’s gorgeous and talented, and you came all over his bed without even getting down to the actual deed.

Those type of thoughts—yeah, they’re the ones that get me flustered and in trouble. “So I’m shit?” I blurt out.

“You know exactly what I meant.”

“You know you have some jumbo balls coming out here today. God, don’t you have a soul? I don’t care if you’re the legal owner now or not—if my grandmother had heard you talking about tearing down walls and demolishing she would have been devastated.” When he crosses his arms over his chest, I repeat the gesture, trying to ignore the dizzying feeling that he’s slowly undressing me with his hazel eyes.

It’s the same way he looked when we first met a couple years ago, on the set of one of his band’s music videos. To this day, “All Over You” is my favorite Your Toxic Sequel song. Every time I listen to it, hear Lucas rasping taboo promises, I think of how his eyes drunk me in on that video shoot.

“You’re cherry red. And your nipples are hard,” he says. My already crossed arms automatically hug myself tighter. He chuckles then whispers, “Hearing about the stripper pole in the living room turned you on, huh?”


I gasp, because for some messed-up reason, I can’t help picturing svelte women in G-strings grinding their asses against my grandmother’s furniture. It’s a ridiculous thought—even if he did install a pole, it’s not like Gram’s belongings would still be there. I’m still furious. “Are you f*cking with me?”

Before I realize what’s happening, he moves forward, pulling my arms away from their protective position over my body and pressing me up against the wooden door behind me. His scent—a mixture of clean linen and sweat—fill my nostrils, makes all of my senses blur. He’s close. So close I can feel the fabric of his jeans scratching my bare legs and his lips brushing my right temple. My breath is ragged and to my surprise, so is his.

“Do you really think I’m that classless to put a pole in my living room?” When he tilts my face up and I glare darkly at him, he grins. “On second thought, don’t answer that.”

“Why couldn’t this have waited until after all this was over? Lucas, my grandmother is almost eighty. If something had happened to her, if you had gotten her upset . . .” I inhale deeply, until my lungs are about to explode, and then exhale. Hesitantly, he lifts his hand up and runs it along my cheek. A shudder that’s both agonizing and warm all at once ripples through my body. I squeeze my eyes together. Start a slow, mental count to ten.

My head is spinning so violently that I only make it to six.

“If something happens to my grandmother because of you, I will kill you,” I say. There’s a roughness to my voice that surprises me. When I open my eyes, I can tell he’s shocked too.

“Funny, I would’ve taken you for the passive type, but then again”—he leans backward, letting me go and crosses his arms over his chest—“there was that little incident you’re still so pissed off about. Guess you’re not very passive, huh?”

“You asked me to let you handcuff me to your bed. And sorry, Wolfe, but I’m not some f*cking toy you can do with whatever you please.”

Snorting, he wrinkles his nose. By the way he’s skeptically looking at me, I know he’s about to say something mocking. “Um, don’t think that’s exactly what I said. I told you I was going to handcuff you to my bed, and you refused. Actually, I’m pretty sure you would’ve started screaming if I hadn’t asked you to leave.”

“Get the f*ck out.”

His eyes narrow. “This is my house, Sienna. And technically, I’m not in.”

“No.” I shake my head so fiercely that my high ponytail shakes loose. He lifts a strand of my red hair, sifting it through his fingers, his eyes never leaving mine. It’s an intimate gesture, and I feel that frustrating need in the pit of my belly. Silently, I curse my body for wanting him so much in spite of everything. “You didn’t ask me to leave, you told me to get the f*ck out,” I whisper.

“Well, I’m sure I wasn’t that—”

My voice is five times as strong as before when I say, “You were.”

“You know, I misjudged you.”

I’m getting sick of Lucas’s riddles, and we’ve spent a total of half an hour in one another’s company. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“The entire time we were shooting “All Over You”, you were very obedient and . . . ah, shit, let’s put it this way, Sienna—I didn’t expect you to say no to the handcuffs. I expected to have a long, healthy relationship with you, actually”

I’m not sure if he’s saying he mistook my being shy and overzealous to do my job as me being easy or submissive. Either way, I know I don’t like what he’s saying. Because there’s a part of me that wonders if he’s right—after all, I had gone home with him after knowing him for less than a week.

Glancing down at a spot of spot of earth that’s nothing but bright red mud due to the snow, I say, “Isn’t it time for you to leave?”

Lucas takes a few more steps backward, motions his arms out in an overtly grand gesture toward the hill that leads back up to the front of the house. I grit my teeth together, and shake my head.