“I’m not Jill.” I tilt my head to the side and watch… wait… for him to peek up at me. “I’m not sixteen years old, Archer. I’m not a kid naively swimming with sharks.”
“Sharks.” He huffs. “Basically.”
“I’m okay.” I cup his tense jaw and lay a soft kiss on the very corner of his lips. “I’m always going to be okay. And though I’m not opposed to banging at your brother’s wedding?—”
He snorts.
“I’d rather bang you because we’re horny, and not because you think I’m going to die soon.”
He rolls his eyes and nibbles along my wrist. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” Inching forward on the cold steel countertop, I push him back and drop to my feet, an aching tingle pulsing up through my ankles and into my calves as blood flow reestablishes. I bend and collect my panties, stepping into the lace with quick movements now that reality has come back to the forefront of my mind and the thumping bass of a live band reverberates in my veins. “We’re in a professional kitchen.” I drag my underwear up and cast a wary glance at the door. “This issounsanitary, Archer! What if someone walks in on us?”
“No one would.” He tucks himself back into his shorts, fixing the zipper of his pants and tidying his crisp white shirt. “I have men on the doors.”
“So, there are people out there whoknowwhat we were doing?”
“There are men out there who know to mind their own fuckin’ business.” He straightens his tie and suit jacket, returning to his handsome, tailored self with just a few tweaks and changes to his outfit. Then he looks me up and down, his expression turning goofy. Finally. “You look all mussed up, Mrs. Malone. Enjoy yourself?”
“Shut up.” His cum dribbles along my thigh, that icky wet slide that sends my senses into overload every damn time. “You need to start carrying condoms around. I’m tired of your jizz being my problem.”
Chuckling, he closes the space between us and grips my face in one hand. Taking control of my movements, he tilts my head back and searches my eyes. “Turns me on every time I leave a little deposit.”
“Savage.”
His lips twitch with amusement. “Biology, probably. Wearing a condom wouldn’t feel nearly as satisfying. We didn’t mess up your makeup.” He uses his thumb to trace a neat line below my bottom lip. “Credit to the artist.”
“The artist was a pain in my ass. Like you are.” I slip out of his hold and tuck my boobs away properly, sitting on their shelf in a dress made for the man’s adoring observation. “They don’t make dresses like this for women’s comfort, ya know? No self-loving womanwantsto wear a corset that crushes her lungs or squeezes her stomach. No one actuallylikessetting their tits on a platter, purely for dudes to stare and pretend they’re not.”
“Who’s staring?” He settles back on his heels and digs his hands into his pockets. “Tell me now, while I’m New York Malone. Once Copeland Malone returns, I have to become respectable again.”
“Oh yeah? You’re New York Malone right now?” Assigning men tosecure the doors. Demanding hotel employees leave their kitchen with a single, simpleget out. No shit, he’s New York Malone. “What should I ask of my New York husband while he’s here?”
His eyes twinkle with deviousness. “What would you like? Are you partial to diamonds?”
I raise my left hand and study the stunning ring he gifted me a little over a year ago. On a superyacht. In the Caribbean Ocean.Jesus.“I have diamonds.”
“Land, then?”
Like the nine-bedroom McMansion we’re technically moving into when we leave here tonight? “Seems my real estate portfolio is already quite plump.”
“Which leaves us with… Power?” He studies me with a playful hunger in his eyes. “I’d say you’re the third most powerful person in this building tonight, Doctor Mayet.”
“Third?”
“Cordoza. Felix. You.”
“I find it interesting you so casually bypass the mayor. Tim. Aubree. Even you.”
He hums in the back of his throat and meanders one step closer. Two steps. “The mayor wields authority… administratively, and only to this city. He’s got nothing on Cordoza, though. Nothing onyou.”
“Shouldn’t Sophia land somewhere near the top, too, then?”
Another step. A fourth. “Cordoza. Felix. You.” He leans in and drops a kiss on my cheek. “Timcouldcommand a room if he demanded his seat at the table. If he did, then Aubree would become her own authority, too. But he’s happy where he is, and you, my dear Minnnnka, exude power the way a tigress prowls her kingdom. Formidable. Beautiful. Indisputable. I don’t need to claim my New York status for Cordoza to appreciate you for what you are. It’s terrifying, really.”
“Me?” I finish with my gown and place my hands on his hips. “You think I’m terrifying?”
“No. I think your natural-born ability to command an army you never built is terrifying. Because I’m not the only man who sees you. Where there is power to behold, there will always be someone who wants it. Some will be satisfied to own what you own. Others will want to ownyou.” His eyes flash with anxiety again. “Having you inside this building, with these people, terrifies me. Because half of me is scared they'll see you as a target. The other half is scared they’ll see you as a prize. I lose you either way.”
