My hands ball into fists as I watch her bend over to examine it. She arches her back and angles her hips up, actively flaunting her youth and beauty at me.
“Be careful of that,” I warn her. “This house ismine.”
She turns, showing so much cleavage my mouth starts to water. “You think I don’t know that?”
“Just a reminder,” I reply, shifting my stance to make room for my hard-on.
“A reminder?” She giggles. “Like the mark I left on your stomach?”
She’s goading me. Trying to get a reaction out of me. But I keep my face straight and walk right up to her.
There it is again—that intoxicating scent of her designer perfume. A heavenly haze that assaults my rational mind.
She just stands there looking at me like she’s ready to go again. But I hold back. I’m tense and my heart is pounding, but this is hardly the place to start a fight. And if she’s going to be living here from now on, I guess I’m going to have to get used to it…somehow…
“I’m gonna go,” I say simply, turning my back on her as I head to my room. I wanted to put my hands on her—see if she’d fight me again. But all I can do for now is retreat, respect my father’s wishes for this new alliance.
Why would he warn me away from her? It’s not like I’d ever get involved with a Noir woman, no matter how nice her body is.
I’m not some horny teenage boy whose hormones dictate his behavior.
And if Sable thinks she can goad me into trouble, she’s got another think coming.
I’m the heir to the Vale crime family, and this ismyhome.
And I don’t lose control.
That’s what I tell myself.
3
SABLE
I wake in a foreign bed.My eyes open to a foreign ceiling. The air is foreign in my nose.
The silk sheets fall from my body as I rise and catalog the exits: one door, three windows that open onto the side yard, and another window in the bathroom.
Ryker wants me to feel out of place here. Wants me to feel afraid.
Too bad.
My cheeks still sting from the slaps he gave me last night, and I have to smile as I raise my hand and feel the tender skin.
Honestly, I didn’t expect that from him. Most bosses don’t get their hands dirty; they just have someone else do it for them.
But now it’s clear that Ryker is not a man to be trifled with. He’s dangerous, unpredictable. But most of all, he can be provoked.
Smiling, I get up and walk to the bathroom. I quickly shower, wrap my hair in a towel, throw on a robe, and continue my exploration of the house.
Most doors are locked, and tons of men in suits stand guard, watching my every move. “At ease, fellas,” I tell them as I pass.
No reaction. They’re well trained.
Their eyes say that they want me back in my room, tucked away in my little corner of the manor. But that’s not happening.
My mom is married to Dominic Vale now, and that makes this placemine.
I try another door, and it opens, leading me into a large living space with charcoal colored walls, modern furniture, and an enormous plate-glass window that looks out into the gardens.
