Crazy In Love (Secrets of Suburbia #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,73

a bite of it and then tossed it onto the plate.

I glared at him. He was dressed similarly to me...but the guy version. His outfit was green though, which definitely made him an elf instead of Santa. Mrs. Claus with an elf? What kind of kinky stuff had we gotten into last night? I couldn't remember changing into this. Which meant...oh my God. "Why did you put me in this costume?"

He laughed. "It was your idea. I just went along with it." He pulled on one of his green suspenders and let it snap back against his chiseled chest. "You really liked these last night."

"What? I...there is no way in hell this was my idea."

"Do you really not remember last night?" He raised his left eyebrow at me.

I ignored the way the action made my heart race. "I don't remember anything." That wasn't entirely true. I remembered kissing him. I remembered him carrying me upstairs. I remembered straddling him on the bed. His hands. His lips. His tongue. His...I swallowed hard. God, how could I ever forget the things he’d done to my body? But then things got a little foggy. Technically it was possible that after we'd rolled around in the sheets once that I’d wanted to spice things up with the outfits. It could have been my idea. After all, I had bought what I was wearing as a surprise for Noah.

"That's a shame. It was quite memorable for me."

Me too. Until I’d blacked out. I tried to ignore his words and my own traitorous thoughts. "I'm glad it was fun for you. Now untie me or I swear to God I'll..."

"Orange juice?" he asked, cutting me off. He lifted a glass off the tray and took a sip before putting it up to my lips.

I spit in it.

He made a tsking noise and set the glass back down on the tray. "I don't remember being this hostile when you had me tied up, Ensley."

"Then clearly you're not remembering things well either."

He shook his head. "You were the hostile one then too. Starving me. Making me do my business in a litter box. A litter box, babe."

"So this is about revenge?" I knew I shouldn't have trusted him last night. I'd let my guard down for two seconds - fine, two hours - and this is what happened? "So what do you want? You want me to pee in a litter box so that we're even? Great, let's just get this over with then."

He smiled. "This isn't about revenge. I told you I didn't want to hurt you. And I don't."

"Then untie me." Asshole. This time when I pulled on the ropes I almost started crying. Ow.

"I can't do that."

"Why? We can have a civilized conversation where we're both not tied up. Like two normal adults."

He sat down on the edge of the bed, far enough from me so that I couldn't kick him in the nuts. "Two normal adults. How boring. I think I fell in love with you because you're anything but normal, Ensley."

"Then let me go. Let's be un-normal together." I twisted my body around so that I was sitting on the bed facing him. Then I forced myself to smile. Happy people were trusting people.

"I can't," he said.

"Why do you keep saying that? Of course you can." I slowly inched my foot forward. Maybe I was wrong before. It was possible if I stretched just so that I could kick his balls.

"Technically I can, sure. But after you insisted on the outfit change you started talking about all this crazy stuff. Sorry, I know you don't like the term crazy. But Ensley...the shit you were saying really freaked me out."

I pressed my lips together. He could literally be referring to anything I'd done in the past few weeks. It was better if I stayed silent.

He didn't elaborate either.

If he was hoping for a staring contest, I could definitely win...crap. I blinked. "And what do you think I said?"

"You talked about decapitating all the elves in the house. And then drowning them in the lake. Something about a fresh start for Senorita Claus. I was wearing an elf costume." He gestured to his getup. "So naturally you kinda freaked me out, babe."

"I was high." Apparently so high that I'd blabbed my plans to him. Decapitation though? Ouch. I just wanted a clean slice across his throat, not to lob the whole head off. High me was extra crazy. "Clearly I didn't mean any of that,