I stand there for a long time, gripping the edge of the counter, trying to remember why this is a bad idea. Sterling's connections. My business. The fifteen years between us. The hundred reasons I shouldn't want her.
None of it matters.
I'm already gone.
She might be worth it, I told Rosa.
Standing here in the kitchen with the ghost of her touch still burning on my skin, I'm starting to think I was right.
5
Diamond
I'm not trying to provoke him anymore.
That's the strangest part of this whole messed-up situation. For the first few days, I threw everything I had at Cesar Vega—tantrums, skin, attitude—trying to get a reaction. Trying to make him see me as something other than a job.
Now I just want to be near him.
I wake up thinking about the way he looked at me last night. The roughness in his voice when he saidyou will be if you do it again. The promise underneath the warning.
And he didn't follow me. Didn't push me against the wall and show me exactly what happens. Just let me walk away, even though I could feel his eyes on my back the whole way down the hall.
He's stronger than me.
I don't know why that makes me want him more.
I find him in the gym around nine. The house has a full setup in the basement with weights, treadmill, heavy bag, and Cesar isusing all of it. I stop in the doorway and watch, telling myself I'm just passing through.
I'm not just passing through.
He's shirtless. All that ink on display, muscles moving under tattooed skin as he works the heavy bag. His back is a landscape I want to explore, more ink disappearing into his waistband, the flex of his shoulders with each punch.
He's not young. There's gray at his temples, lines around his eyes. Fifteen years older than me, which should feel like a lot.
It doesn't feel like a lot.
It feels like exactly what I want.
"You going to stand there all day, or you going to come in?"
I jump. He hasn't turned around, hasn't stopped hitting the bag, but somehow he knew I was watching.
"I was just—"
"Staring." He catches the bag, stills it. Turns to face me, and I get the full effect—sweat-slicked chest, dark eyes, the kind of body that's built for violence and probably other things too. "It's fine. I don't mind."
I don't know what to do with that. The old Diamond would have a comeback ready, something sharp and flirty. This Diamond just stands there with her mouth slightly open, trying not to drool.
"Come here," he says. "I'll show you some basics."
"Basics?"
"Self-defense. Just in case."
I should say no. Should keep my distance, stay on my side of the invisible line we've been dancing around. But my feet carry me into the gym anyway, stopping a few feet away from him.
"Closer."
