Defiant. Sweet. Alluring.
A business deal gone wrong brought me to her doorstep.
She's everything I shouldn't want; everything I was against after watching my mother's obsession destroy her.
Still, I can't stop myself from craving her.
I should know...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
OLD ME WOULD BE balking at current me.
Not only had I skipped work for forty-eight hours—and counting; I'd also taken a flight out of New York for reasons unrelated to my work. Both choices were unlike me.
My entire adult years revolved around work, and it was a conscious decision I had taken because I was avoiding everything else around me.
The one thing I feared the most was coming to fruition right before my very eyes, but my brain had completely turned off when it came to dealing with this woman, it seemed.
The very thing I made the decision to run away from when I was ten stood in front of me in the form of a frowning, five-foot-nothing woman, who looked at me like she wanted chop my dick off.
Maybe losing control wasn't so bad, after all.
"Tell me!" Ariana whined, grabbing onto my forearm to stop me from moving forward.
"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now, would it?"
"Ugh, you suck." She let go of my arm, turning to walk in front of me.
An amused chuckled slipped past my lips. "So impatient." I pulled her into my side. "You'll get your surprise soon enough."
"I'm not good with surprises," she admitted, smoothing her hand down her dress.
Mira had prepared it for her beforehand, and because it looked 'fancy', she wouldn't stop trying to guess what fancy place I was taking her.
From the corner of my eyes, I watched as my security detail got into position outside the building as we neared the entrance. Only Lev and Anton followed us into the building.
"Have a great night, ma'am. You too, sir. You have quite the lovely lady with you." The doorman tipped his hat at us as we walked past him, unable to tear his eyes off Ariana.
Hm. When last had I scooped out eyes from their sockets with a metal spoon? It was messy work, and I hated getting blood on my skin, but I wouldn't mind making an exception for him tonight if he didn't look the fuck away.
Ariana flashed him a blinding smile over her shoulder. "Thank you. Have a lovely night!" When we were out of ear shot, she pinched my arm, staring at me disapprovingly. "That was rude. You could've at least said hi."
"I could have. I would have, if he hadn't kept on staring at you for longer than was socially acceptable."
"He wasn't."
"Wasn't he?" I halted, turning around just in time to catch him staring at Ariana's body.
The doorman flinched in shock, realizing he'd been caught, and he quickly averted his gaze, doing a poor job of playing his actions off.
"Should I handle that, Boss?" Anton asked, his fingers paused on the gun tucked into his waistband.
Ariana's eyes widened as she quickly caught on. "No!" She said firmly, tugging on my arm. "Let's just go. Is it a fancy dinner?" she asked in a poor attempt at distracting me. "We can't miss our reservation, right?"
