I hate waiting.
Always have.
My empire doesn’t move on hesitation. I’ve bled for this chair, clawed my way past men twice my age, outsmarted rivals who thought they’d eat me alive.
And now?
Now I’ve got some city detective sniffing around the one woman I can’t afford anyone touching.
I rub the back of my neck, my jaw tight, and force myself to sit down.
Sienna’s name keeps rolling through my head, sour and sweet all at once. I can’t figure out if she’s going to be the death of me or the reason I survive the storm. Maybe both.
The soft knock on the office door pulls me out of it.
I look up and she’s there.
Small frame, loose sweater, hair tied back like she doesn’t want to be noticed, but can’t help drawing every ounce of attention out of me anyway.
Her hand lingers on the doorframe, like she’s not sure she’s welcome.
She’s everything but.
“Come in,” I say, leaning back in my chair. My voice comes out lower than I intend, but hell, she makes me feel that way—rough, dangerous, and fucking unsteady.
She steps inside carefully, shutting the door behind her. Doesn’t meet my eyes right away.
That tells me she’s nervous or curious, and I want nothing more than it to be neither.
“What is it?” I ask, watching her.
“I thought… maybe we could talk,” she says softly.
That makes me sit straighter.
She’s the one who wanted open communication, wasn’t she? The one who accused me of treating her like a pawn.
Now she’s standing here asking for exactly what she fought me on.
I motion to the chair across from me. “Good. Because I’ve got things to say.”
Her eyebrows twitch, like she’s already regretting this. She sits down anyway, folding her hands in her lap.
I notice the way she keeps her knees pressed together, how her shoulders curve slightly inward.
Guard up.
But she came to me. That’s something.
“I know you’ve got deliveries to make for your…actual job,” I start, keeping my tone even. “But if any of those deliveries are going to a government office—mayor, police, anything like that—I want one of my men with you.”
Her head snaps up. “Why?”
“Because Isaidso,” I fire back, sharper than I mean.
Her eyes narrow. “That’s not a reason.”
I exhale slowly, forcing down the urge to bark at her. She deserves the truth.
