“I was smart enough to figure out you’re one of the bad guys.”
“The bad guys. Explain.” Now he was amused, folding his arms and even tapping his foot on the sidewalk.
Exhaling, I hated that I’d spouted off at the mouth, but he was the kind of man who caused my involuntary sputtering. “You’re as dangerous as I thought you were. You kill people for a living.” There it was, right out in the open.
“Is that what Emmeline told you I do? My family does?”
“Not in so many words, but I could read between the lines. You’re mafia.”
Exhaling, he scrunched up his entire face as he looked toward the street. It was obvious he’d never faced a pointed accusation of this nature. At least not by a woman. “I assure you thathow my family handles our business activities doesn’t include murder on a daily basis.”
“But it does include murder.”
He crowded my space even more until I was pressed up against the building, already calculating how I could get away from him. “If you’re asking if my line of work is dangerous then I’ll say at times. Not always. We do run a very successful business that includes land development.”
“Right. Sure you do. And if people cross you, they disappear. Maybe underneath tons of freshly poured cement. If people don’t answer your questions, they disappear. If you don’t like answers given to you. They. Disappear. Right?” I pointed my finger at him, careful not to touch him given the electricity was already off the charts. “For the lack of a more appropriate word since I can’t seem to find it in my vocabulary, you’re a very bad man and I should stay away from you.”
His sigh was one of frustration. “I’ll accept your assessment and the choice of words. But no, just because they don’t thrill me, you’re not going to disappear. You’re far too… enjoyable.”
Even the change in his tone created tremors skating down my spine. “As I said before, we have nothing to talk about. I’m not working for some group of people hell-bent on tearing down the great Prince family. I’m a ballerina trying to return to some semblance of a normal life. I’m also not your enemy, although I understand you have several. I don’t care what you were doing yesterday morning. I just want to start over in a new city around people I don’t know except for your sister, who, unlike her brother, was sweet enough to welcome me with open arms. Can’t you understand that? Please?”
The way he was looking at me was as a predator eager to devour his prey. Tingling sensations prickled every inch of my skin.
He had the nerve to push me closer to the side of the building, planting one hand beside my head and leaning in. “I completely understand you’re in a new city facing new situations and were caught off guard seeing something you shouldn’t have. You enjoyed a night with a masked man. Then you found out who he was and you fantasized about him, enough so when he was trying to do his job to protect his family, you panicked.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Wow. You are an arrogant asshole.”
His eyes narrowed, more hooded than I’d seen them and his breathing was ragged. I sensed his incredible tension by the way the thick cords on both sides of his neck vibrated. “You are a difficult woman to deal with.”
“Then don’t.”
“You walked into my world unexpectedly, but I do understand your predicament more than you know.”
“You do?” I don’t know why I bothered asking. He was everything I hated in men. Controlling. Demanding. Arrogant to a fault. Yet I was still fully aroused, which was the most irritating aspect of anything I’d been through since stepping foot in New Orleans.
The way he nodded, taking his sweet time forced me to look him directly in the eyes. He was every girl’s dream with his long hair flowing around his shoulders, the look he was giving me so intense he was stripping away my breath.
When he lifted his other arm, curling his fingers, I winced involuntarily. He noticed, shaking his head so slowly if I hadn’tbeen paying attention I wouldn’t have detected movement. With a gentle touch I didn’t think possible with the man, he rubbed his knuckles across my cheek where I’d been smacked. “Everything you said about me is the truth. However, you can trust me, Anna. I’m not going to hurt you. If I had any intention of doing so, I would have done so already.”
I tried to recoil but sensed he wouldn’t allow me to go anywhere. “That’s a change from yesterday.”
“For some who dare challenge the Prince Empire, you are correct. What no one in my family can or will tolerate is betrayal of any kind. My family has been involved in illegal activities for as long as I’ve been alive. There’s no reason to lie to you nor am I ashamed of my family and everything we’ve accomplished.”
His touch was far too electrifying, but I remained leery of his actions. Did I honestly think he’d followed me from the coffee shop to end my life? Of course not, but I knew men like him too well. They all had an ulterior motive. Whatever his motive for pursuing me continued to prick at my survivor instincts. He was absolutely predatory in nature. “What’s the difference?”
Every sound he made was calculated, as a wolf would do when standing mere feet from his mate. The thought was captivating in all the ways I should consider ridiculous. “Perhaps what Emmeline said last night finally sank in. As I said before, you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to witness something within my business operations. My instinct tells me you understand what’s at stake.”
His words weren’t a direct threat, but a reminder that I was in his world.
“And as I said, I know who you are, Jaxon. You’re a member of the Prince family. You’re mafia. You don’t know me at all. I’m not a stupid girl and have no loyalty to anyone in this town or beyond but your sister.”
While his expression reflected what I’d just told him, he didn’t respond right away, acting as if he had all the time in the world. His touch remained tender but more than the gentle gesture, the desire coursing through me was even more elated than the night before.
I hated feeling so hungry for a man who wasn’t good for me.
“When men abuse women, they deserve to face the worst fate in the world. Women are precious jewels, gems to be cherished and protected like a perfect butterfly.”
The words coming from his mouth didn’t suit the man who’d all but threatened me the day before. As crazy as it seemed, the man was mesmerizing and all sense of time and necessity of breaking free from his hold was nothing that mattered to me. “I’m okay, Jaxon. What happened was in New York.”
