Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
The secrets.
The strategy.
The reason Los Infideles had teamed up with me in the first place.
Who the fuck was this man, and why did he care?
I could tell him. But then I wouldn’t be the strong, badass boss he thought he had chained in front of him.
So instead, I smiled at him. A slow, condescending, even mocking, smile. “Go to hell.”
Tension filled the room between us.
His eyes dragged over me slowly, and I couldn’t help but stare at his lips—the same lips that had kissed me so intensely before he abducted me.
Flashes of what had happened between us danced through my mind, and I couldn’t push them away.
Not with him looking at me like that.
Not with him watching me with more heat, more respect, than any man had ever given me before.
And that was the pathetic part. This man who took me, who kidnapped me after kissing me, looked at me with more reverence than the men who were supposed to serve me.
He grabbed my chair by the legs and pulled me forward, closer to him.
So close he spread his own thighs, placing me in between them so I couldn’t escape that dark, addictive aroma, or the heat radiating off his skin.
“Zoya, that wasn’t an answer.”
His words were barely more than a whisper.
“It’s the only answer you’re going to get.”
His hands moved to the edge of my seat, just outside my thighs, his thumbs grazing me. Just a brush. Barely a touch. But I felt it. I felt everything.
And worse—he knew I felt it.
“Zoya, this doesn’t have to get ugly.”
He was so close it made it hard to think.
It was a distraction.
It had to be a distraction.
A cold, determined fury settled in my core, and I straightened my spine.
Did he think that because I was a woman he could show me just a little bit of attention and I would give him whatever he wanted? Like I was some silly little girl that could be played?
The attraction and chemistry didn’t go away.
God, my life would be so much easier if they went away.
Instead, I used that energy and forced it toward anger and control.
Two could play his game, but I didn’t want to play his game.
I wanted to force him to play mine.
Throwing my head back, I let out a laugh.
A dark taunting laugh that sounded a little hysterical even to my own ears.
He sat back, his eyes widening, not expecting that.
Good. If I wanted to survive this, I needed to throw him off his stride.
“You expect me to spill my secrets just because you asked nicely?” I laughed again, then cocked my head and spoke slowly, using small words like I was talking to a child. “Just because you say please doesn’t mean I’m going to give you what you want.”
He shook his head, his dark curls falling in front of his face.
“I was hoping you’d make this easy,” he said. “But of course, you just had to be difficult.”
“Were you, really?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
He gave me another knee-weakening smirk. “You’re right. I wanted you to be difficult. It’s so much more fun for me if you fight.”
I opened my mouth to snap back, but he stood up to his full height and I couldn’t help but marvel at how big he was.
I had stood next to him, in front of him, and even had his body pressed against mine, and somehow his sheer size still caught me off guard.
His hand cupped my cheek and tilted my face up as he leaned down, hovering over me.
For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me.
My lips parted as I waited for the feel of his mouth devouring mine, but it stopped just a breath from touching me.
He was close enough that I could count the thick, dark lashes that framed his eyes as he looked into mine. “Last chance. Be my good girl, and I’ll… reward you. I can take away all your pain, all your stress, and protect you. All you have to do is tell me what I need to know. All you have to do is give in to me and I will give you the world.”
And just like that, I went from my heart racing and heat pooling in my core to dead cold.
Why couldn’t men understand?
I didn’t want his protection.
I didn’t need him to give me the world.
The world meant nothing if it was handed to me.
I wanted to take it for myself.
I leaned up, closing the distance between our lips even more. Now I could practically taste the dark spicy rum as it danced across my tongue, and I wanted more.
But I refused to be a little girl who just gave in to her wants on a whim.
I was a woman who was in control of her wants and desires.