Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
I need to focus. I can’t allow myself to slip. I have a job to do, and I’ll do it to the best of my ability, no matter how desperately I’d rather be with someone else . . . or inside someone else.
Stepping out into the streets of Onyx Heights, I head down the sidewalk toward my matte black Dodge Challenger that’s parked on the next side street. Heading past the long line of people waiting to get into Black Velvet, my phone buzzes again, and I pause just before stepping out onto the road.
Once that confirmation text comes through, that should be it. No more communication is permitted.
Hastily checking the message, I let out a heavy, frustrated sigh.
Unknown: Target is on the move. Wait for instructions.
“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter to myself. Not only has the client messed up the one task I gave him, but he also cost me precious minutes where my eyeballs could have lingered on Lyra’s skin, potentially even having her up against the wall in a side alley. And to me, that’s a mistake punishable by death.
Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I switch it out for my pack of cigarettes, lifting the whole thing to my mouth. Pinching one between my lips, I pull it free, light it, and take a long drag.
A few of the Black Velvet bartenders linger around the side of the building, taking their break, and I almost laugh, realizing this is likely the very side alley Lyra was referring to.
Leaning against the wall, I prop my foot up as I quickly work my way through my cigarette, and as I’m waiting for a new confirmation text, the back door flies open, and the very woman I’d just bailed on strides out, laughing animatedly with some of the other girls.
That is until she senses my stare on her and pauses, glancing back at me.
She doesn’t try to approach me, doesn’t even try to talk to me. Just stands there among her friends, her eyes roaming up and down my body, eye-fucking me with everything she’s got. And judging by the smug expression on her face, I know exactly what she’s thinking; that I just blew off burying myself nine inches inside of her just to stand out here like a fucking loser sucking on the end of a cigarette.
I don’t know what game we’re playing here, but whatever it is, she thinks she’s just won. But she’s far from it. Nobody outplays me.
I leave her be, knowing damn well that come 2 a.m., she’ll belong to me. I’ll let her think she’s won for now, let her soak in the high of the endorphin rush, thinking she has me right where she wants me, because when the time comes to take what’s mine, I want her ready for me.
As she laughs with her friends, I can’t help but notice how fucking gorgeous she is. She still wears that wet tank top, showing off that sexy body beneath, but my attention keeps coming back to the black lace bra that’s barely able to conceal her full tits.
I want them. I want it all.
A few of the girls clock back in, and as they make their way back through the back door, Lyra strides toward me. The air of confidence she holds has to be the most attractive thing about her.
I watch her every step like a predator watching its meal walk straight into its den. She doesn’t stop until she’s standing right in front of me, her body so close, yet she doesn’t touch me.
“Need something, Savage?”
She just grins and takes the cigarette from between my fingers and lifts it to her lips. After taking my last drag, she tosses the butt on the ground before stomping it out and lifting her chin once again, her bright green gaze colliding with mine.
“Oh, I’m going to enjoy ruining you,” she murmurs before glancing at her phone. “Duty calls.”
And with that, she’s gone, slipping into the darkness, and fuck, I want to follow her. I want to claim her before she gets the chance to get away, but there will be time for that. I have all night, and for now, I know exactly where she’ll be. But come tomorrow, I’ll figure out who she is. Where she lives. Her work schedule. Financial situation. What makes her scream. What I need to become to make sure I’m all she’ll ever need. And only then will I discover exactly what it’ll take to ruin her.
Lyra has barely disappeared into the shadows when a new text comes through on my phone, and I jump on it like an addict searching for a fix, desperate to get this over and done so I can get back here and work this woman out of my system.