Page 46 of The Villain We Tempt

Bait, to lure me here and trap me.

“I already told you,” the Ghost Prince growls. “If I was going to hurt you, I would have done so by now. Maybe while I was watching you sleep the other night.”

A hot, embarrassing thrill stabs into me.

While I was watching you sleep the other night.

What the actualfuck?!

I force myself to look into his masked face.

“Y-you watched me sleep?” I croak.

He nods his head slowly.

“What do you mean by that.”

A sound that might be a chuckle rumbles from his modulator.

“Exactly what it sounds like. I stood over your unconscious form andwatched you sleep.”

That embarrassing, thrilling feeling inside me coils, twists, and throbs. Then a thought hits me.

“Did…” I clear my throat, feeling heat rise in my cheeks. “Did youtakeany?—”

“Yes.”

My insides knot and tighten, something insidious slithering through my core.

I love fashion, and Ilovemy clothes. Laundry day is a carefully planned operation. I fold and put things away with precision verging on military.

So when I wake up and go to get dressed, and the blue bradoes nothave its matching pair of panties sitting directly next to it in the drawer, I’m thrown. I don't know how that could have happened.

…Now I think Ido.

“You took two pairs of my underwear,” I mumble.

“Yes.”

Heat pools between my thighs.

“Why?” I ask quietly.

Even though he makes no reply, I swear I canfeelthe grin behind his mask.

…I can also feel the throb of need tugging at my center.

“Why am I here?” I blurt.

“It was your choice to come here,” he answers robotically. Again, though, I can feel smugness emanating from behind his mask as he deftly folds his tattooed arms over that gorgeous torso.

My brows knit. “You know what I mean. You baited me into coming here. I want to know why.”

The silence hangs between us for a few very long seconds.

“Curiosity,” he finally says.

Heat slow-walks up my spine, spreading through my body.