She crossed her arms, the picture of defiance. My girl was drop dead gorgeous and practically built to be my undoing.
“So some idiot breaks the rules, and I’m the one who’s punished for it?”
Henry opened his mouth, but I stepped forward before he could speak.
“I’ll do it,” I said.
My voice wasn’t loud, but it carried through the foyer like I’d just cocked a gun in the middle of a party.
Chrissy’s head snapped toward me.
“You?” she echoed, her expression painfully hopeful.
Henry’s gaze cut sideways, sharp as a warning flare. He knew what I was thinking. He always did.
“Jacob,” Henry said sharply, “you are speaking out of turn. You know what will happen because of it.”
I lowered my eyes.
“Yes, sir.”
“And yet you volunteer?”
Henry played the disbelieving master of ceremonies to perfection.
“Yes.”
I nodded, but didn’t raise my gaze to meet Henry’s again. To any outsider, it would look like Henry outranked me.
Henry looked at Chrissy next, studying her, weighing her reactions, reading her as ruthlessly as I did.
“Miss Jones?” he asked. “Would you accept help from a lowly groundskeeper to remain in the Game?”
Chrissy’s jaw set. Those big, brown eyes flashed with fire and defiance, and, God help me, she went feral in exactly the way I’d hoped she would.
“There’s nothing lowly about a hardworking man,” she snapped. “Servant or not.”
A ripple of titters moved through the gathered contestants, along with a few whispers. The blonde in the corner smirked. One of the Ben decoys muttered ‘damn’.
Henry didn’t smile, but he approved with a sharp nod.
“Very well,” he said. “Jacob will be your partner in the Game.”
My heart swelled in my chest. Everything was going according to plan.
Chrissy exhaled in sheer relief, and I kept my expression neutral as Jacob.
But inside? Inside, I was already dragging her into my gravity well.
Already planning the first challenge, tasting the moment when she realized who I was.
I couldn’t help imagining the sound she’d make when she put the pieces together and learned the truth: She didn’t stumble into the Game.
She was always meant to be the prize.
Chapter
Eight
