Page 71 of King of Temptation

Mouth open, she stared at the man seated at the head of the table. The head of the Irish mob, casually telling her… whatever the fuck Brody was, to spank her on his behalf.

What the actual hell?

To her further shock, Brody just nodded, as if the request were nothing out of the ordinary. “I think five should do it.”

“That will do.” One corner of Killian’s mouth kicked up in a smirk. “Now, you were saying something about how you would have written it?”

Okay, apparently she was actually doing this. She was giving advice to a real-life mobster. Swallowing hard, she rubbed her sweaty palms against her jeans for the hundredth time that evening. “Well, like I said. If I had a character who wanted to truly weaken an enemy, I’d have him—or her,” she added with a glance toward Reagan who grinned and raised her glass in toast, “strip them of anything that gave them power. Money, friendships, family.”

That last had Killian’s eyes narrowing. “You mean an attack.”

“No, not necessarily. I mean, yes, but not the way you’re thinking.” When everyone simply continued to watch her, she swallowed hard and forged ahead. “Attacking someone’s family physically is brash, but it’s also reckless. It emboldens the enemy, gives them something to fight for. But if you take that family away, make them turn on him, he’s just as likely to feel lost. Hopeless. Alone.”

“Vulnerable,” Murphy supplied softly, drawing her attention to the man on her other side.

“Yes. Exactly. A man like that would be easy to defeat. But what this person is doing, it’s more like a cat playing with its food before it eats. It feels like someone toying with you, keying you up so that you make a mistake.”

“A distraction.” Killian’s voice was hard, and she had to suppress a shiver. This was the man behind the myth, the ruthless ruler of the O’Rourke dynasty rather than Brody’s affable if somewhat intimidating cousin.

“Maybe. Can you think of anyone who’d want you distracted?”

A ripple of unease seemed to travel around the table before Killian nodded once sharply.

“We have some ideas.” He looked toward the twins. “Keep an eye on Williams. I want to know his every fucking move. I don’t want him to so much as take a shit without my knowledge.”

“On it,” they replied in unison, like something out of a horror movie.

Killian’s eyes narrowed. “But you are only there to observe. We don’t make a move until we know what his endgame is.”

Bottom lip puffing out in an impressive pout for such a dangerous-looking man, the one she thought was called Lochlan slid down in his chair. “Aw, man. You never let us have any fun.”

“Trust me, cousin. Once we know what we’re dealing with, you’ll have all the fun you can handle.”

Chapter 25

Brody

His little menace was nervous.

As she should be.

The whole way home, she kept sliding sneaky little glances his way, and her knee was bouncing so hard he wouldn’t be surprised if she managed to punch a hole through the floorboards.

Perfect.

Once they parked in the oversized garage that was practically its own wing of the house, he killed the engine, letting the silence stretch between them. Her knee bounced faster, and he swore he heard her audibly swallow.

“When we get inside, I want you to go up to my bedroom. There is an empty corner beside the tall dresser. I expect to find you naked and kneeling in that corner with your hands behind your head when I get up there. Do you have any questions about my instructions?”

“The corner? Seriously, Brody?” The slight whine of her voice did nothing to hide her excitement. Not when he could look at her and see her pupils were already dilating, when he could hear her breath catching as he told her how to prepare herself.

Cocking a brow, he slid a hand around the back of her neck, leaning in until their noses were nearly touching. “What do you think you should be calling me right now, menace?”

Her pupils grew ever larger, the black all but obliterating the whiskey-gold of her irises. “D-Daddy.”

“Much better. And when Daddy tells you to go kneel in the corner like the naughty little girl you are, what do you think you should do?”

“Go kneel,” she whispered, her voice trembling ever so slightly.