have put you in my thrall the moment I saw you. You’d have climbed on my lap, and I would have loved you right then and there and shown Hera exactly how her precious children are made. Because I can see it, buried deep underneath your dignity and resolve—you want me.”
She shoved away from him once more.
Smack.
He groaned. “Four.”
Hitting him stung her hand as badly as it probably hurt his face. She resisted the urge to wave her hand or hold it to try to dull the pins-and-needles sensation that echoed across her palm. “You’re being nice to me to seduce me, then?”
“No. That’s not why.”
“You just said—”
“Do I want you? Yes. I do. Very badly. I’d go into a very descriptive declaration of every single thing I want to do to you, and want you to do to me, and exactly how many times, but I don’t want to get fucking slapped again.” His fingers wound around her bracer, then moved down to lace her fingers into his. “I want you. But that’s not the only reason I’m being nice to you.”
“Then why?”
He sighed heavily. “Is it so hard to think that I’m interested in you romantically, as well as physically?”
“Yes.”
He laughed at her blunt answer. At least he wasn’t angry. “I’ll only accept that if you answer me this. No dodging. No skirting it like you do most of my questions. Do you not believe me because you think I’m incapable of it, or because you’re not worth it?”
Both.
She turned away, not wanting to reveal what she was thinking. People told her she wore her emotions on her face. She didn’t know how to obscure them in any other way than to hide them.
“No answer?” He paused. “Nothing?” She remained silent. He scooted closer to her. “Then I don’t accept your answer, and I will continue to act as I have been. I think you enjoy it, anyway. Just a little.” He paused again. “Are you a virgin, Hope?”
She fought the urge to slap him again. “That is inappropriate.”
“You’re my slave. Nothing’s inappropriate. Right?”
“I dislike this immensely, then.”
“You’ll be shocked to find I don’t care.” He laughed. “I just want to know what I’m getting myself into. Yes or no?”
She gritted her teeth and felt her jaw twitch. She wanted to hit him again. “That is a very personal question.”
“Don’t make me guess. You don’t want me guessing.”
“Why not?”
“I’m always right.”
“My private life is no business of yours.”
“All right, guessing it is.” They sat in silence for a long moment. “You’re not a virgin. You’ve had sex exactly once. And I’m going to bet it was terrible. Probably some temple attendant. Some sweet kid who caught you at a vulnerable time. He had his rut with you, and you probably never saw him again—” He paused. “Fuck!”
She would have laughed. If he hadn’t been right. “You can reference my ‘seeing’ things. It’s fine. It’s a verb that means more than literal sight. I’m not easily offended by unintentionally insensitive comments about my sight.”
“Good, because I’m generally offensive.” He waited, as if expecting her to laugh at his comment. When she didn’t, he puffed out a long breath in one explosive sigh. “I’m right, and now you’re mad.”
“I’m not mad.”
“But I am right.”
Her jaw twitched again. She knew he wasn’t going to let it go. “Fine. Yes. You’re right. I wanted to see what the big fuss was about.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“No. I mean, sure. But no more than could be expected for a first time.”
“And it was terrible, wasn’t it? Just awful. And ever since then, you’ve ignored it as being a big waste of time.”
“Temple priestesses are not meant to have relations.”
“But it was terrible, wasn’t it?”
“I suppose.”
“Then I will have to work hard to correct that opinion.” His hand slid up her arm. She yanked out of his grasp. He chuckled. “I’m not going to give up, you know.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“I’m not going to hurt you. I won’t force you. If you tell me no, then no it is. But you haven’t. Not once.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve told me to stop it, to cut it out, you’ve slapped me. But you haven’t turned me down.”
“You have a very odd idea of what constitutes ‘no,’ Nero Finch.” She reached for the olives again, and finding them after a moment, skewered a few more with a toothpick. She was glad the waiter had left them where she had expected them to be. That was one of the most