It might be easier, or more satisfying, if I spotted even a glimpse of fear in her eyes. I ran a hand back up to her thighs this time under her skirt. I watched her features carefully but no emotion flickered there. She’d shuttered herself completely like a blackout curtain over an early morning sunrise.
I leaned in, only a couple inches from her mouth. Had to give her credit for not flinching away. “Ask me to kiss you.”
Her answer brushed my lips. “No.”
“No…that sounds a lot like dissension.”
She shifted a little in front of me, the only outward sign of her discomfort. “You never said I had to enjoy this arrangement.”
I licked my lips, my tongue mere millimeters from her mouth. “It might be easier if you did.”
The first flash of emotion crossed her features and she dragged her eyes from mine. Once she cleared back to indifference she resumed her stare down. “You’ve taken my life’s work in less than a week. I don’t want anything from you, including pleasure. And despite all of your demands and posturing you can’t force me to like anything I have to submit to.”
I clapped my hands together slowly and stood up. “What a speech. Are you finished?”
She pressed her lips together into a thin line and followed me to standing. Annoyance I could recognize easily enough.
“Then get anything you’ll need and let’s go.”
She grabbed a bag the size of an elephant from behind her desk, and a long black coat from the hook by the door.
“Anymore guns in there? A desert eagle would fit. Or a sawed-off shotgun perhaps?”
“Damn, I didn’t think of that,” she said, deadpan.
I led her out of the office. The man lingering by the front door when I arrived stood nearby watching us carefully. No doubt a backup weapon wouldn’t have escaped his mind. A backup and a spare.
She made a gesture toward him as we exited, and the man sat down. I’d bet my fortune he was ready to jump into action at her slightest motion. He needed a place on my list of her associates to watch out for.
I could deal with corruption, evil, insanity…but loyalty was harder to break open and use against people.
My car idled by the back door as we exited. I held the door open for her to slide in before me.
“Where are we going?” She asked, once I settled into the seat beside her.
“Finally afraid?”
“Should I be?”
I didn’t answer her. Not if she held up her side of the deal. I took good care of what belonged to me.
The car pulled away and we rode in silence. She stared out the window on her side as if all the answer to her situation would come to her in a flash of street lights. She owed her problems to good old-fashioned greed. It took days to dismantle her empire and replace it with my own. Almost too easy. She’d grown complacent over the years, thinking her crews stayed with her out of some kind of loyalty and devotion.
But these kinds of people only responded to cash and opportunities to get more.
It was a silent drive, as I preferred. But I couldn’t help catching glimpses of her from the corner of my eye. Her long black hair hung straight to her lower back. And her outfit clung to well-honed curves and muscles. She looked like she did when we were kids. A few more lines here and there but generally the same. Would she taste the same too?
Before I could tumble too far down her rabbit hole we pulled up outside my building. I climbed out and extended my hand to help her exit from my side. She ignored it and clamored out of the car in a heap.
As we entered the building, I could feel her taking everything in. Soaking up the details and filing them away for analysis later. Hunting for my weak spots. She could look, but she'd fail. I worked very hard to ensure I didn't have a single vulnerability.
We stepped onto the elevator and rode thirty stories in silence to the top floor. The elevator opened to my apartment and she exited first. I let her take her time looking around. Nothing to use against me here either...unless she counted the kitchen knives.
She picked up and replaced trinkets, inspecting my home as I did her office. Once she finished she stopped and waited, staring at me again with her secret-filled eyes. I wanted to know every single one, and I wouldn't let her go until she whispered them all to me willingly.
"Where am I sleeping? Chained to your bed naked, I assume."
I rolled my eyes. "Dramatic was never something anyone ever said about you."
