Why was he shouting?
It was almost as if he was afraid of me.
My lips twitched.
Add super human hearing to his many lists of attributes, his eyes flashed and a snarl curled his beautiful lips as he leaned forward close enough to kiss me. “I do not like you.”
“Um.” It was hard not to feel rejected when a being who looked like that, told you that they didn’t like you. Not to mention he had spent the last five minutes cursing everyone and everything to Hell only to yell elf at me about a million times before finally pouting on the opposite end of the bed with his arms crossed over the deeply muscled rivets of this stomach. “I’m sorry?”
His eyes narrowed and then snapped shut before he let out a breath and started pacing in front of me. “You,” He spat the you like a curse. “Are not normal.”
I jerked like he’d slapped me. And the compliments just kept coming.
“Weaker than the average human,” He pressed his lips together in a hard line, “Defenseless, weak, nothing but an elf.”
I frowned. “You mean like the ones who make cookies? Those elves?” My stomach growled on cue. My cheeks heated in embarrassment.
He glared down at my stomach and then back up at my face. “Did you just ask if you were a baker of cookies?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “Oh!”
Alex jumped at the word.
“Or a shoemaker.”
“Let’s see.” Alex pressed a hand to his forehead. “So when I say elf…”
I nodded.
“You either think of cookies or shoes?”
“Yeah,” I croaked. Well, when he repeated it like that. “That about sums it up.” I pulled at my itchy sweater. “Why is it so hot in here?”
His lips twitched.
“Are you doing this?”
“Not on purpose.” He sneered, and a piece of reddish blond hair fell past his shoulder, narrowly missing my face. I could smell it all the same; the scent of rain filled my nostrils again, and I inhaled because I really couldn’t help myself. “Believe me, if it was on purpose, I wouldn’t be in such extreme pain that I’m actually tempted to do it.”
“Do what?” I just had to ask. I knew it was impossible, but my body felt numb from the inside out, like the minute I’d breathed him in, I’d taken a drug. My tongue felt heavy in my mouth.
His eyes narrowed into tiny slits. “You.”
“Do me what?”
“Do you.” He emphasized the you and then the heat spread down my thighs again, tickling, aching. “Understand?”
I gulped. Then nodded. Then gulped again.
“Gods!” Alex turned on his heel and in a flash was at the door again, hitting it with the palm of his hand. “It won’t work, damn it! Cassius, are you even listening to me?”
Well, this was fun.
I was trapped in a cement room that was turning into a sauna by the minute, with a siren who was so in love with himself that I had no doubt in my mind if he could screw himself — he would — and I was going to die of thirst.
Fun day.
So glad I woke up and went to work early in a vain attempt to show the immortals my punctuality and ended up trapped with a sociopath.
Alex let out a pitiful groan, his blue eyes snapped to mine one last time before he clenched his fists together and spoke. “The only way we’re getting out through that door is if I make you my mate.”
“No.” I shook my head as if to add more emphasis and repeated. “No, I don’t think so, I unvolunteer.”
“First…” He rolled his eyes. “That’s not a word.” I could have sworn he mumbled idiot elf under his breath. “Second, do you truly believe I want you?”
I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears as my chest cracked a little. No. I didn’t. Because nobody had ever truly wanted me, not that I was stupid enough to admit it to him. I still had my pride, even if it was such a small amount, it was staggering. “No.”
He swallowed; the motion of his throat moving caught my attention, his skin shimmered with a sheen of sweat. His lips parted and then a bead of moisture slid along that smooth neck and trailed down his perfect chest.
“Hot?” I asked crossing my arms.
“Sirens don’t get hot,” he snapped, seemingly upset about his own body temperature. “I’m fine.”
“Are you?”
“Completely. Like I said.” He leaned back against the pillows. “I can do this all day.”
“Me too.” I closed my eyes. It would be easier to hate him if I didn’t have to look at him. It was hard to hate someone so beautiful, even if the inside was ugly.
The minute my eyes slid closed the heat intensified. I was going to die in that cement room with a siren by my side and all because my organs burned me alive from the inside out.
The smell of rain intensified.
It was absolute torture.
Finally, in an effort to cool down, I peeled the sweater from my body and tossed it on the floor.
But if anything — the heat merely intensified. What was happening to me?
Alex released a series of ugly curses before locking his blue eyes on mine. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”
“What?” I sighed. If he hated me so much why was he talking to me?
His hungry gaze roamed down my body. “Stripping in front of a man who takes his pleasure wherever he can. Whenever he can. However he wants.”