Page 11 of King of Temptation

Brody

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He was an asshole.

But goddammit, the woman had no sense of self-preservation. He had, of course, already known she was a cop’s daughter. Which was a not insignificant part of the reason he needed her to stay far, far away from his family.

The way she’d stated it so matter-of-factly, though, like that would have made a fucking difference, had his blood boiling with barely restrained fury. It was a good thing she was dealing with him and not the Italians. Or worse, the goddamned Russians or Richard Williams. If any of them figured out they had a cop’s daughter sniffing around…

Red colored the edges of his vision and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel to the point his knuckles actually turned white. The thought of any of his family’s enemies even knowing her name filled him with enough fury to burn their city to the ground around them.

Luckily for Goldie, she stayed quiet the rest of the ride back to her apartment. It wasn’t far, but it gave him enough time to get his fury in check. He’d never once laid a hand on a woman in anger, and he damn well wasn’t going to start with her.

“Where do you park?” he asked as he pulled the car into the garage beside her building.

“Fourth level, spot four-one-seven.”

With a grunt of acknowledgement, he drove up to her spot and parked. “All right, here’s how this is going to go. We are going to walk into your building, and you are going to act perfectly normal. As far as anyone we might run into knows, we are just two people, coming home after a nice date. If you do or say anything to try and tip anyone off, I will call my cousin Lochlan to come take care of them. And believe me, menace, when I tell you that you do not want me to call Lochlan.”

A glance to his right revealed that all the color had drained from her face. Good. She should be scared. Not being scared enough was how people got themselves killed.

Still, there was a prickle of guilt at the back of his mind he ruthlessly ignored. He was laying it on thick for her benefit, and he felt like an asshole for scaring her, but it was ultimately for her own good. Maybe if he succeeded in putting the fear of god into her tonight, she’d finally heed his warnings to stay the fuck away from his family.

“Tell me you understand, Goldie.”

“You know this is absolutely insane, right?”

“I do.” There was little about how his family handled complications that wasn’t a bit insane. “Now, tell me you understand the plan.”

Huffing out a breath, she flopped back against her seat and rolled her eyes. But her color was still off, telling him the sulky defiance was just a defense mechanism against the fear he could practically smell rolling off her. “Fine. I understand.”

“Good girl. Stay there.” Palming his gun, he climbed out of the car and made his way around to the other side to open her door. He didn’t want to feel the rush of satisfaction that she had, for once, done as she was told but it was there anyway.

She could be a good girl when it suited her, it seemed.

When she climbed out, her nose tilted in the air, he had to bite back a smile. Ornery little thing. If their circumstances had been different, maybe they could have had some fun together.

But their circumstances were what they were, and he doubted she’d want to have much to do with him after tonight.

Sliding the hand that still held his gun beneath her jacket and shirt, he let his hand rest at the base of her spine, the cold metal pressed directly against her skin. “Lead the way, menace.”

“You think you’re insulting me, but I am rather proud of the fact that a man like you finds me menacing.”

“I didn’t say you were menacing,” he corrected as they walked toward the elevators that would take them back down to the main level. “I said you are a menace. An annoyance.”

Apparently untroubled by his correction, she sniffed delicately. “Good. I’d imagine you don’t have enough people in your life who dare to annoy you.”

She had a fair point there, though he sure as fuck wasn’t going to tell her that. Instinct told him that if he agreed, she’d make it her personal mission to become even more of a menace, and that would completely ruin his plan to scare her into keeping her distance.

And he desperately needed her to keep her distance.

No matter how badly he wanted her as close to him as he could physically get. Preferably beneath him, screaming for Daddy while he forced pleasure on her beyond even what her rather impressive imagination could conjure.

Another lifetime, maybe. In this one, he had other reasons to make her scream.

Chapter 5

Goldie