Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“That’s exactly why you need me.” She stands up and leans forward. I resist the urge to stare at the hint of her breasts as her neckline falls open. “You’re alone out here and you need an extra set of eyes. Even if I’m not a criminal and I don’t know anything about your world, I’m still smart and I’m the best option you have. Besides, you don’t have to worry if I’m safe. I can learn how to take care of myself.”
She crosses her arms, glaring at me, daring me to disagree—and the problem is, she’s right. I know guys I could hire to help with some of the mundane work like getting lunches, sending messages, checking blind drops, and the thousand other little tasks that need doing in any given day, but I can’t trust any of them. Back in the States, there are people I can depend on, but out here, I’m flying blind and I don’t know who is going to turn on me at any given moment. All the while I’m working for a family that isn’t my own on a job that’s more dangerous than anticipated, and I don’t know when I can stop worrying that someone’s going to sink a knife into my back.
I do need her. Not in the way she’s probably thinking—but as I look at her again and let my mind wander, I need her in other ways. I need her in this apartment with me. I need her on my arm in clubs looking beautiful, turning heads. I need her lips against mine, even if I think she’s spoiled and difficult. I need her laughter in the morning and, hell, I need her anger. I want to feel something other than this all-encompassing numbness. She hurts me and that’s a start.
“Let’s say I agreed with you.” Her eyes light up and I continue. “What I don’t understand is why you’d want to stay here and help me. What are you getting out of this deal? Unless you have a death wish.”
“You let me worry about that.”
I shake my head. “Not good enough.”
“I want more time with my sister.”
“Also not good enough.”
“It’s the best you’re getting.” She takes a breath and glares at me. “I don’t like you and you clearly don’t like me, but I want to know more about my family and you’re the only shot I have at talking to Reina again. You need help out here, and I’m the only person you can trust because you know I’m not connected to any of the other crime lords. This can work for us.”
I let that sink in. This girl is a pampered middle-class college graduate with a bruised face and a self-esteem problem, and she’s looking at me like she’d rather stab me in the chest than work with me, and yet I like that spark, it means there’s something inside of her yearning to get out. I’m not sure what that thing is—whether it’s good for her or not—but I’m curious enough about her to want to find out more.
And it doesn’t hurt that I find her attractive. It doesn’t hurt that I like watching her walk, watching her swim, watching her lounge on my couch in a light-weight crop top that shows off her smooth belly and the bottoms of her breasts. That’s dangerous and might be a problem later on—but right now, I like it.
“All right, Adrienne. You want to do this? Then you’ll accept my rules.”
Her eyebrows raise. “What rules?”
“You work for me. That means when I tell you to do something, you do it, no whining, no complaining. No second-guessing or hesitating. Understand?”
She nods once. “I understand. What else?”
“You will tell nobody about my work with Reina unless they are actively involved.”
“Done. What else?”
“You are mine.” I push off the counter and enjoy the surprise that slips across her face. “All of you is mine. From the second you wake up to the second you put your head down on my pillow, you are mine, and I will do with you what I please. Do you understand?”
She chews her lip and I wonder if she understands the implication—but I’m not being subtle. I don’t want subtlety right now.
I want her to be afraid.
I want her scared out of her mind—because maybe then she’ll make the right decision and run the hell away from me.
I’m not the kind of man she wants or needs. Adrienne needs someone that can take care of her, that can pick up her pieces and put them back together. She’s been through some horrible shit and I know she’s hurting badly. I can see it in the way she moves, the way she speaks, the way she flinches at loud noises. The Russians broke her and she needs someone loving and caring and gentle to help coax her back into herself.