Page 58 of Coerced Kiss
He leans closer still, so close that if he lowers his head another fraction, his lips will brush over mine. “Are you sure about that?”
“I don’t fool around with married men,” I say with my heart beating in my throat.
He dips his gaze to my stomach. “Yet you did.” Tracing the seam of my lips with a fingertip, he continues with a cruel smile. “Which makes me wonder. What made him so special to be your exception?”
“I didn’t know he was married,” I say, clenching my jaw. “He didn’t wear a ring, and he gave me a false name.”
Surprise washes over his features, eradicating the frosty violence in his eyes. Letting me go, he puts a small measure of space between us. “How did you find out who he was?”
“I happened to see a photo of him in a newspaper.”
He tilts his head. “What did he say when you confronted him?”
“He told me to get rid of theproblemand to never contact him again.”
His gaze turns stony. “That son of a bitch.” He searches my face as if he can’t figure me out. “How did it happen? You don’t strike me as a one-night stand type of girl.”
My hackles rise. “What’s that supposed to mean? That I’m uptight?”
His lips quirk. “You come across as…” He pauses as he seemingly reflects for a moment before declaring, “Prim and proper.”
“Go to hell,” I say, not caring about the consequences of swearing at him even though he warned me about it not a few minutes ago.
“I’m not insulting you.” He appears amused. “On the contrary, it’s a compliment.”
“That I’m so gullible?”
Yes, I should’ve known better than trusting a man I’d just met. It was a terrible mistake, one I’ll never repeat. At the time, I reckoned single women did it all the time. Why not me? Why not allow myself one night to forget everything in the arms of a handsome man? I guess I was both unlucky and unwise. I’ve been stupid. That doesn’t give Saverio the right to rub my faults in my face.
“Not gullible,” he says. “Innocent.”
I’m not even sure that’s a compliment.
“Where did you meet him?” he asks.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I want to know.”
I huff. “Why?”
“I don’t need a reason. Tell me, or I’ll ask him myself.”
“Why are you being so sadistic? Do you enjoy my humiliation?”
“Not at all. I just want to understand.”
“Why is it so imperative that you understand?”
“It’s part of figuring you out.”
“Why do you need to figure me out?”
Sighing, he takes his phone from his pocket. “Fine.”
“What are you doing?” I ask with alarm.
“Sending a man to get my answers from the honorable justice.”