Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

something else, aren’t you?”
She looks up at me, her expression docile despite all the threats she just threw at me. “I’m just
telling you how I see it.”
I nod as if convinced. “I appreciate the peek into your mind. Now, would you like to hear how I
see it?”
Her eyes dim a bit. She swallows, but attempts to maintain a brave face. “Not really. Why don’t
we just go with mine? I’ll leave, you can go about your business, and I’ll never speak to that little ratfaced
weasel again. Everybody wins.”
I smile at the insult to Jackson. “Yes, that ex-boyfriend of yours is a real piece of work. I can’t
believe you showed up to help him, honestly. You should hear the way he talks about you.”
She rolls her eyes. “His ego is bloated. He can’t fathom that I didn’t like him. It turned him into a
crazy person—or maybe he was like that when we met and I just didn’t notice. That seems more
likely.” Narrowing her eyes as she looks at me, she adds, “Wait, do I attract crazy people? How did I
catch your attention?”
The wave of amusement rolls over me again. “Handsome, reasonable, and crazy?”
“You’re quite the catch.” Suddenly inspired, she lights up. “Hey, tell you what? Why don’t we
leave this dungeon and go upstairs? I saw a bar on the way in. We could have a drink, get to know
each other a little better. Then we won’t be strangers anymore,” she adds a bit enticingly, as if
perhaps then she’ll consider sleeping with me.
I ignore the blatant bait. “So you can pretend you have to pee and slip out of the club? I don’t
think so.”
Her nose wrinkles up adorably with annoyance. “Maybe that’s not my plan. Maybe I just want to
hook you better with my dazzling personality. Maybe I’m a golddigger, and you’re a nice-looking
prize.”
I shake my head. “If you were, I’d be bored already. I like you more than I thought I would. You
come across as sweet from a distance. I didn’t expect you to be wily.”
“I am sweet, just not to men who lure me into dungeons with the intent of mistreating me.”
Her unexpected bluntness gives me pause.
For the damndest sliver of a second, I reconsider my plan. I like Hallie enough to spend more
time with her. If I do what I initially intended to her tonight, I’ll burn her out in one go. She’ll want
nothing to do with me afterward.
Then again, it seems unlikely she would ever agree to go out with me after I lured her here
tonight with bad intentions. Even if I could somehow convince her and I ended up enjoying a night out
with her, it would likely only lead to boring sex—at best.
It’s not as if I could convince her to come back through these doors with me after taking her out