Page 38 of Relentless Sinner

He's like a magnet drawing me in and I watch him, utterly mesmerized and unable to deny the heat curling through me.

Jaxon grabs a towel from the deck chair and rubs it across his chest, then over his hair.

When he sets it back down a woman I’ve never seen before walks up to him carrying a mug of what must be coffee.

The woman is a beautiful redhead who has a model-like face and body. She looks to be in her mid- to late twenties and walks like she owns the world.

As I observe her I can’t ignore the stab of envy that pierces through me.

Who is she?

I thought I’d met everyone who works here.

Maybe that’s it. Perhaps she doesn’t work here. She’s dressed in a black business dress and six-inch heels. She looks like she works in an office.

Jaxon smiles and takes the cup from her. They start talking but I’m too far away to hear them and the wall is separating us.

Whatever she’s saying to Jaxon makes him smile and I’m surprised to see him actually laugh.

He looks so…happy.

Happy and so unlike the dark menacing man I’ve known since I’ve been here.

He lookswaytoo comfortable with her for her to be someone who simply works for him. I could be wrong. Or I could be right.

What if she’s his girlfriend?

I’ve been here for all of two minutes but I feel like I know his type—her.

God, am I about to enter a marriage where my husband will have all these sidechicks and I’ll be left alone wondering whose bed he’s sleeping in at night?

That’s not how I want to live my life.

Against my better judgment my heart refuses to let go of being the hopeless romantic who wants the fairytale guy with a happily ever after. It feels so silly to fill my head with such shit when I’ve ended up with the villain who stole me.

It’s like some kind of dark, twisted version of the life I wanted.

The combo of my fascination and the intensity of my gaze seems to alert Jaxon to my presence and he looks around at me.

As our eyes lock the same heat I felt earlier slithers back into my core, stirring that attraction for this man I’ve so desperately tried to stave off.

It only tames when the woman looks at me, too.

The look she gives me isn’t exactly friendly. It’s not bitchy either. It sits somewhere in between, like when you’re not sure about something.

The woman speaks to Jaxon and he looks back at her. Then they carry on their conversation as if they never saw me.

Nice.How I wish I really were invisible.

I shouldn’t feel a thing. It’s not like I’m standing next to them and they’re outright ignoring me. I just feel…uncomfortable.

“There you are.” Eve’s soft Russian accent draws my attention away from thecouple. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

I face her, giving her a polite smile. “Morning.”

“Are you okay?” she asks, looking me over. She’s taken such good care of me over the last few days. I was right about that grandmotherly vibe I sensed in her when we first met. I know she was appalled by what Dad did to me.

“I’m fine,” I tell her with a reassuring nod.