I pause to see if I’m boring her, but Dani looks enraptured with everything I’m laying out, so I continue.
“Years later, I was honorably discharged from the military, and I was lost as to what to do with myself. By the time I left the military, the millions that Jaxon invested for me turned into billions, and I had no idea what to do with it. With Jax’s guidance, I started investing in realty, purchasing and renovating apartment buildings, homes, and condos all across the United States. I was away from home most of the time, traveling to look at properties and enter bidding wars. Eventually, I missed home though. I came back to California after leaving my properties with my management company, and I opened Club LAX shortly after.”
“Huh…” she replies, taking it all in. “I would have never thought you were a billionaire if Melody didn’t tell me. Rich maybe, but a billionaire? I would have had no idea. You are power personified, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t give off that douchy vibe, ya know?”
I chuckle. “I didn’t grow up entitled, none of us did. Yes, our childhood was nearly perfect with Jenny and Bill, but money wasn’t something they were well off on. Bill was a police officer with mediocre pay, and Jenny made decent money as a nurse at the hospital, but raising four kids isn’t cheap. Jaxon ensured they were taken care of when he came into his money, though. At first they wouldn’t accept it, but eventually Jax wore them down. He bought them a nice house and vehicles, but other than that, they don’t really touch the money aside from a trip or two a year to the Bahamas.”
Dani gets a dreamy look in her eyes as she watches the chef finish cooking our meals. “Bahamas is on my bucket list.”
“I’ll have to remember that when I plan our first trip.”
Her gaze snaps to mine. “That’s… very forward of you.”
Reaching over, I brush a strand of hair away from her face, gently tucking it behind her ear and leaning in. “I’m very forward when it comes to you, Dani. I’m a man that knows what he wants.”
Dani turns her face barely an inch, and it takes everything in my will power not to cover her lips with my own, drink her in, and take her right here on this hibachi table.
“And what is it, exactly, that you want, Kayden?”
The way my name sounds on her lips. “Say my name again.”
She pulls her gaze from my lips and meets my eyes, her own widening slightly. “Kayden,” she murmurs.
“Mmm, makes me wonder what it’ll sound like when you’re screaming it…”
Dani releases a shuddered breath. Glad to know I affect her as much as she affects me.
The chef interrupts by placing our plates in front of us. Steam wafts from our food, and I’m quickly reminded of how hungry Dani must be. I pull away from her, releasing her hand and nudging her plate toward her. “Eat up, spitfire.”
The rest of our meal continues with Dani telling me a little about her life leading up to Anthony Romani. Her parents made good money, and while they weren’t millionaires, they lived well enough to support her modeling career. Two years into her pursuit of modeling, her mother was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer and passed just a few months later. Her father took her mother’s death extremely hard and a year later passed from suicide. Dani was left with her childhood home and their remaining money. She sold everything to come to California and lived off their money while she was getting established. Living in California, though, the money went fast. Anthony Romani’s photoshoot call was her desperate search to finally make her own money and build her portfolio.
“I lived off their money for years, and look where it got me. I went through it all and then I got desperate, leading me directly into Anthony’s clutches. It’s why I won’t use the money you gave me unless I have to. I don’t ever want to be in that predicament ever again.”
I clench my teeth, my frustration at her disregard probably evident on my face. She’s never going to want for anything else in her life. The sooner she realizes this, the better.
“I won’t allow you to ever be in that situation ever again, Dani. Not on my watch.”
“Yeah, and what happens when you die? Like my parents died?” she asks, her cheeks reddening. “No, I don’t want to become dependent on anyone ever again. I refuse.”
It’s probably too soon to tell her she’s already in my will, and everything will be hers when I pass. I rub the back of my neck—yeah, probably too soon.
“We’ll see, Dani.”
She huffs out a sigh and we continue to eat our food in comfortable silence.
This woman is mine and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.
Thirteen
Andrei
Two days prior
“Derek, Derek, Derek. What am I to do with you?” I ask, already knowing exactly what I have planned for him.
“I’ll get you your money, I swear,” he cries pitifully from where he’s slouched forward on his knees, my men holding him up by his arms. He’s bruising already, face swollen from the brass knuckles on my hand.
“Mybabushkawould be turning over in her grave if she heard the lies you spew. Why do my men tell me you’ve gambled everything away and that you’ve been distracted by some pretty cunt?” (Grandmother.)
