Free Bait: A dark erotic thriller (Hunter & Prey Book 2) by Kira Barker

before I allowed myself the slightest of frowns. “Is she even a slut? I mean, considering your track record, I can’t believe that she can live up to your previous conquests. No, I think she’s more like a nun. A pretty, easy-to-impress nun.”
    Darren gave me a smile that was just calculating enough that I figured he knew that I wasn’t as indifferent about Daliah as I aimed to appear.
    “She’s young,” he admitted. “Impressionable. So very eager to learn.”
    If he thought he could goad me on with that, he had lost his edge.
    “Really? I thought you’d be at least a little above the stereotypical egotistical man approaching his midlife crisis. Banging a young girl just so you can impress her with your skills? Does she know who taught you those moves?”
    Maybe licking my lips there was a bit much, but just seeing how his eyes followed the motion before they skipped back up to mine was worth the bad taste of lipstick. Or maybe that was just regret.
    “She doesn’t need to know everything.”
    That was such a lawyered-up reply that I couldn’t keep from laughing.
    “Since when are you so circumspect about naming things by their true name?” His gaze held mine, then flitted to my chest for a moment, making me chuckle again. “I’m not wearing a wire, if that’s what you think.”
    Darren shrugged, not looking too impressed. Well, he wouldn’t, after the stunt he’d pulled on me with my phone.
    “Maybe I just don’t want to appear crude?” he suggested.
    “Yeah, because tattooing your name across my cunt is so subtle,” I shot back, aiming for levity rather than bitterness. I didn’t quite succeed, but that just seemed to drive home the message that I wasn’t cringing away from him. He considered me for a second, pursing his lips.
    “Why are you here? Not here, specifically. It is quite obvious what you’re here for.”
    “Letting you fuck me?” I suggested, aiming for a languid shrug to go along with my words.
    “That could hardly have been your goal.”
    “Says who?” I asked, settling back on my right elbow as I continued to look up at him. “Just because I’ve had more sex than the average woman in her entire life doesn’t mean I intend to stop just yet.”
    “So you weren’t busy stocking up and reclaiming your client roster?” he suggested.
    I shook my head, smiling as if that very idea was ludicrous. “My clients? Of course not. You know how the spiel goes. You’re not paying the madam to send the whore to you. You’re simply reimbursing the girl for the quality time she’s spending with you.”
    I really couldn’t read the look on his face, but some of the sharpness left his gaze. Was that a note of jealousy that I’d detected? Interesting.
    “So you have switched sides?”
    “I’m transitioning,” I said, mostly to add that little barb of possibility in there. From the way his eyes flashed it had found the intended target, but it only took him a moment to get a grip on himself again.
    “I presume that means I will see you around?”
    “There’s the possibility of that,” I replied, allowing myself another lazy, seductive smile. “Not that you have any problems finding me. It was a nice gesture of you, footing my bill.”
    His lips curled up into an equal smile.
    “After seeing you in that terrible dress with that fake tan and bad makeup, how could I let you continue to exist in such squalor?”
    I hated that he’d been able to see right through my getup, but it also presented another opportunity.
    “You noticed? Comes with the trade, I guess. After all, you do have to do their makeup and hair afterward, right? No whore dies pretty and perfectly put together.”
    Now it was easy to smile at how a muscle jumped in his temple as he gnashed his teeth, but he forced himself to relax a moment later—much, much too quickly for my ease of mind. It still felt like a triumph that he seemed incapable of completely locking away that side of him that he so perfectly hid