I pause at the front door and wait to watch Daniel drive away. When he’s gone, I unlock the deadbolt and step inside. Mom’s dozing on the sofa with one of her European travel programs running on the TV. Six-year-old Katie’s sleeping snuggled in front of her, still in her clothes when she should be in bed this late on a school night.
I’m not sure who’s the bigger child, my niece or her grandmother, who spoils Katie the way she never could for Jen or me when we were growing up under my father’s strict rule. Mom’s gotten more indulgent about a lot of things since her heart attack last fall. Then again, so have I where she’s concerned.
I shake my head and sigh, beyond the capacity for anything but gratitude and love when I look at what’s left of my little family. We’ve been through hell and back together, thankfully the worst of it being over before Katie was old enough to understand or to grieve.
Moving silently, I shut the door and reset the locks. Placing my evening bag on the table near the door, I slip off my shoes before padding over to the sofa. Mom stirs with a soft, muffled snore as I carefully extricate Katie from her arms.
I carry my niece upstairs to her bedroom and get her into her pajamas. She’s out before her pale blond head hits the pillow, and I pause inside the room for a moment simply to watch her sleep.
She is the reason I was able to agree to Jared Rush’s very indecent proposal tonight.
As much as I care about Daniel, it wasn’t him I was thinking of when I put my signature on that contract.
It was this little girl.
She and my mom, both.
For them, I can do this.
For them, I would do anything. Even take off my clothes for a man like Jared Rush, baring myself down to my soul if that’s what it takes to help make a better life for us.
I step out of the room to let Katie sleep.
Mom’s still snoring softly when I return downstairs to collect my purse and shoes after brewing a cup of tea to bring up to my bedroom while I study some more for my exam in the morning. As exhausted as I am, I know I’m not going to get much sleep.
And while I almost have myself convinced I can drown out everything that happened tonight with several hours of study on global supply chain management, it only takes a few minutes before I toss aside my books in frustration.
My thoughts are spinning, my head still vibrating with the deep baritone of Jared Rush’s whisky-edged voice. My senses are still alive and thrumming with the unholy heat of his gaze.
God, what have I done?
Grabbing my evening bag off the edge of the bed, I pull out the contract and read it again, even though the terms are singed into my memory. His demands are clear, simple. Concise. As bold and aggressive as the jagged signature with which he sealed our agreement.
Jared Rush has secured my unclothed presence and cooperation in front of his canvas in exchange for the staggering sum of three-hundred and thirty thousand dollars.
He is a man who gets what he wants. I saw that firsthand tonight.
I felt it, and a part of me still stirs with that awareness, no matter how much I’d like to deny it.
And while it’s only my time and body that belong to him for as long as our agreement stands, I can’t help feeling that if I’m not careful, it will be nothing less than my heart and soul on the line.
7
JARED
After they’re gone, I head downstairs to cover Hathaway’s losses with my friends and other guests. As the host of this gathering, I have an obligation to make sure every player at the table belongs there. Allowing a financial risk like Hathaway—a rank amateur, compared to any of the men and women playing tonight—is a responsibility I fully accept.
Hell, I’d all but expected him to wager more than he could handle.
Call it a test. Call it a calculated move in a game he’s not even aware we’re playing.
Either way, tonight Daniel Hathaway gambled big—and lost.
And I damn well mean to collect.
I mean to collect on everything I’m due.
The fact that I’ll have the added pleasure of settling that debt in the company of a woman like Melanie Laurent only sweetens the prize. I knew she was gorgeous. I’ve been seeing her luminous eyes and silky auburn hair in the back of my mind for weeks now.
I’ve been wanting her ever since she walked into Muse. I hadn’t been prepared for the intensity of that want tonight. She walked into my study and my cock took instant notice.
She’s been gone for more than an hour and I’m still feeling the crackle of electricity that passed between us, no matter how hard she tried to pretend otherwise. I’m still craving her with a need that astonishes me.
A curt nod to the game room bartender as I approach sends him off to pour my usual. He returns a moment later with the aged Macallan. “Thanks, Adam.”
“My pleasure, Mr. Rush.”
I take a long swallow from the glass, but the whisky’s smooth burn doesn’t do a thing to take the edge off me. No more than the others that came before it had.
Melanie Laurent got under my skin tonight. Not only because she’s a knockout, but even more so because of her fire.
I didn’t expect the wholesome-looking beauty to agree to my proposal. I know she wanted to refuse. The way those glittering pale blue eyes of hers turned stormy gray and crackling with offense when I suggested she pose nude for me made it clear she would’ve liked nothing better than to smash one of her delicate fists into the center of my face.
She might yet, before all of this is over.
Fear for her boyfriend’s wellbeing
