Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

and shoot off a text to Calvin. “Did you by chance send a man to my apartment to replace the locks on
my front door without my permission?”
I don’t have to wait long for a response. “Sounds like something I might do.” Bubbles appear on
the screen, then I get another message. “Did you by chance creep out of my bed like a thief in the night
because you didn’t want to cook me breakfast?”
My fingers fly across the screen so fast I make a few hasty mistakes, but with the help of
autocorrect I finally manage to send back, “I crept out of your house for a myriad of reasons, but
reluctance to cook wasn’t one of them.”
A few seconds later he returns, “Next time I’ll hire Chef Ryan to make us breakfast so you can
stay.”
“You’re not a great listener, are you?” I send back. “Not why I left.” I push send, then realize he
has roped me into the wrong conversation. “Also not why I am texting you. You cannot have men
infiltrate my home in the dead of night when I’m not home. That is not a thing you’re allowed to do.”
My eyes narrow as I read his response: “It’s cute how you think you can tell me what to do.”
“Only you’re allowed to do that?” I type back.
“Now you’re getting it,” he answers.
Sighing, I get to the point. “Do you have a key to my apartment now?”
“Well, I couldn’t very well wait for you to give me one,” he answers, like that’s a reasonable
thing to say.
My eyes widen. “I would never give you one!”
“Exactly.”
I huff with annoyance. “You are an infuriating man.”
“You are a beautiful woman,” he answers immediately. “What should we do tonight? Dinner?
Movie? Museum? I bet you love museums.”
“What I love,” I type back, “is not being blackmailed into ‘dates’ by a lunatic.”
“Unfortunately, that I cannot help you with.” A few seconds later he adds, “Tell you what, I’ll
make the plans, you just be ready to go at 8 o’clock.”
Narrowing my eyes, I type back, “I did not say I would go out with you tonight.”
Almost instantly, the infuriating words, “I know. I did,” flash across my phone screen. As if
that’s not obnoxious enough, he adds, “8 o’clock. Don’t keep me waiting.”
I’ll keep you waiting, all right.
“I realize this word doesn’t mean much to you, but I’m going to try it out anyway: NO.”