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He pivoted back toward the door Then he strode out of the roo her to stare after hi, and deter ass for the duration of her confinement with him

CHAPTER 8

For the next two days, he hardly saw Seraphina

She spent her evenings behind the closed door of thehis existence During the daytime, she slipped outside to the villa’s sunbaked patio for hours on end, safely out of his reach and about as far away froet

She was pissed off, punishing him with frosty silence and deliberate avoidance

Exactly as he’d intended when he’d left her high and dry--and as sexually frustrated as he was--that first night

Better to earn her contempt than test his control under the desire-drenched heat of her gaze again Her absence was a reprieve he welco to withstand the te curves and infinitely soft skin, now that he knew the pleasure of both

Fuck He’d only touched her for a few ertips Her warar scent was seared into his senses

Even though she was out of sight now--ru quietly in the kitchen, by the sound of it--all he had to do was close his eyes and there she was in hisbut a few scraps of scarlet silk, her parted lips and heavy-lidded eyes inviting hi for hi he was the one in control, denying both of them the pleasure they both wanted because he’d been too swamped with need to trust he could control hinore hi hi around the villa like a caged animal with a semipermanent case of blue balls

Damn

He wasn’t only a bastard He was an idiot

On a curse, he raked a hand through his hair and got up froe floor cushion where he’d been unsuccessfully atte to doze It was just about sundown and he itchy with the need to beuseful Hell, he’d settle for doing anything at all

He’d never been good at inactivity and the boredo hi out in the ht to run off some of his tension Or say fuck the handfast and hoof it all the way to Casablanca and take the earliest flight to Roenetics, he could make it to the city in about as many hours as it would take to drive it Maybe sooner

Te

But he couldn’t leave Seraphina by herself out here And asafter Opus with his teammates at the Order, he wasn’t about to abandon his honor or his fa the terether and adhere to the ridiculous restrictions ireement--in addition to their own set of rules--then so could he

And he supposed he really owed her an apology for the way he acted the other night

Padding silently on his bare feet, Jehan strode toward the kitchen where he’d heard her a o She had her back to hi nook

With her knees drawn up and her head bent down to study whatever she held in her hands, she didn’t even notice hiht she’d taken one of the many books from the villa’s library But then he realized the s else

A phone