Page 47 of The Price of Power

“Are you saying I don’t have to sleep with you tonight?”

“Have to? Of course not,” he answered with that dark smile that made my knees feel weak and wobbly. “But you’re still going to. Not because I’m making you, but because this is the moment when you stop lying to yourself and admit that this attraction between us has nothing to do with your brother’s debt. This isn’t about family obligations or the deal we struck. This is about the desire burning deep inside you.”

I opened my mouth to refute his words, but nothing came out. Nothing but the sound of my breath, growing faster and heavier by the second.

“That’s what I thought.” His smile grew smug as he released his hold on my body and leaned back on the mattress, propping his weight on bent elbows. “Now give into that dark voice that’s been whispering in your head all night and do what it says—strip for me. Nice and slow.”

Chapter Fifteen

OLIVIA

He wasn’t going to make me. Not tonight. Not ever.

That was the out I wanted—wrapped in paper, topped with a bow, served on a silver platter. All I had to do was take it. Tell him good night, grab a pillow, and off to the couch I go…

But I didn’t.

Instead, I took a second to look at him, casually lounging back on his mattress. The way his perfectly tailored white Oxford shirt draped over his body. The way his hands, large and strong, rested at his sides. The way his chest rose and fell with each breath.

Damn, he was hot.

So fucking hot.

And he was right. I did want him.

Even more than I wanted to keep myself protected and swaddled up in all those comforting lies he’d confronted me with. Even if it meant not casting him as the villain and myself as the victim anymore.

Slowly, I reached up and slid one of the silky straps off my shoulder. Gabriel’s pupils widened at the simple move, making his eyes seem even darker than before. His chin lifted as he drew in a long breath.

“Good,” he said, his voice even raspier now. “Just like that—nice and slow.”

His hands balled into fists at his side as I moved on to the other shoulder. They were small moves, exposing just inches of skin that were previously covered. Still, his reaction to their reveal was powerful. Almost primal.

And it made me bolder.

“Now you,” I said. My voice might not have been anywhere near as forceful as his, but I couldn’t help being proud that I’d managed to say them out loud.

He cocked his head to the side as his brows arched up high. “Excuse me?”

“I want to see you just as much as you want to see me.”

His eyes narrowed as he shot me a crooked stare. “That’s not how strip teases work.”

“It’s how this one does,” I shot back, faking a boldness I didn’t fully feel.

“And if I don’t?”

“That’s fine,” I said, shrugging my bare shoulders before starting to pull one of the straps up again. “I’ll just?—“

“Don’t,” he broke in before I could move the silver material more than an inch. “I’ll do it. Though I’m not sure how extortion fits in with your whole ‘do unto others’ philosophy.”

Despite his words, his smile stayed put as he sat up and undid the top button of his shirt. I found myself biting into my lower lip as even just a small swatch of taut, tan skin came into view.

“I’m giving your tit-for-tat approach a try,” I said.

“And how are you liking it?” he asked, freeing another button.

“Oh, I like it.”