She dominated the kiss, and it showed me the spark I’d missed in her. Keelani Hale was bold, defiant, and absolutely stunning when she let herself be who she really was. They’d caged her for long enough.
Her lips were still pillow soft and full as we tasted each other. She wasn’t gentle or cautious with them, though. She bit at me and thrust her tongue over mine like she needed me to know who was really in charge.
Then she stepped back, and we both came up for air. Looking at her standing there in my penthouse felt dangerous but necessary, like she was a siren that had lured me in, waiting to have me try to devour her again. Instead, I was sure she’d tear me apart in some way.
And I was going to let her. I wanted her to feast on me, ravage me, and leave me all used up so I would never want her again. Six months with the woman I couldn’t get out of my head. Six months of hell…and maybe heaven.
She tasted like tequila and citrus but still somehow smelled like lilacs. It reminded me of the year I lost everything. I’d lost my reputation, my friends, my heart. Most importantly, I’d lost her.
I dug into my pocket and handed her my phone. “Call your label.”
She hesitated. “It’s pretty late to be—”
“Now.”
Her eyes narrowed. “They don’t just pick up when I call. Mitchell is probably sleeping.”
I shrugged. “Let’s see.”
Her gaze darted to her phone and then to me again like she was looking for an ounce of sympathy or understanding. She wouldn’t get it. The quiver in her hands as she dialed the number was enough to show me she was scared, that she didn’t push back with them even when she felt she needed to. She never had.
Good.
“Hi, Mitchell.” I lifted a brow, and she rolled her eyes as she turned away from me. “I’m sorry to be calling so late, but with the whole proposal and everything, well, there’s been a situation.”
I heard the guy grumble something over the line. I followed her to the window, where we stood next to one another, looking out at the city lights.
“No. I accepted the proposal. Of course. But the guys from the HEAT Empire aren’t happy about it.”
HEAT had become big enough that no one ever wanted to hear that phrase. My brothers and I inherited the hospitality empire and made it our own. We dominated the resort industry, the technology and security industry, too. And, as of late, the food service industry with high-end restaurants and bakeries thanks to Clara, my sister-in-law.
Kee flinched at her manager’s loud response. “Yeah, I do know them, Mitch.” She glanced at me, and instantly I knew that fucker was leveraging our relationship. “But I sang during Dominic’s wedding tonight. The resort just opened and—”
I snagged the phone from her hand. He wanted to leverage the relationship, then he could discuss the game he was playing directly with me. “Mitchell, correct?”
The man stuttered, and I instantly remembered his slimy voice from years ago. “Y-Yes, hi. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”
“It’s Dexton Hardy.”
“Oh, it’s a pleasure to talk with you again!”
“A pleasure? You used to ignore me most of the time, Mitchell. Let’s not forget.”
“I… I don’t recall that.” So quickly a man could forget when his ass was on the line. “So sorry if you felt I did that in the past. Probably was pretty busy. You know how it is when you’re working and—”
I didn’t have time for this, and I didn’t waste my time on things that didn’t matter anymore. “Kill the Ethan-proposal story.”
He chuckled at first, like he wasn’t sure I was serious, and then he floundered over his words. “Well, we can’t. Keelani already signed onto being engaged and has committed to attending events with a fiancé. It’s good for the brand. You understand?”
“I do. It’s why she’ll be engaged to me instead. The PR will be better anyway. You can figure out how to spin that story since you figured out how to spin the car wreck when we were kids.”
He huffed and puffed with that comment. “I— Dex, that was never my intention.”
“What wasn’t your intention?” I asked. He could flounder like a damn fish out of water for all I cared.
“Let’s not rehash the past. You said you will get engaged to Keelani? That… That could work well potentially. We can say you’ve both been keeping the relationship quiet for a while.” I heard his excitement, the way he stumbled when he asked if I was sure.
“Who is to say we haven’t?” I asked him with irritation. I didn’t care to enlighten him on all of the details of this fake engagement. He could wonder if we were real or fake for all I cared.
“Oh, is that so?” He laughed nervously over the line but I could tell he was also thinking he’d struck a gold mine. He didn’t realize I would probably end up being the ruin of him.
People didn’t seem to understand that when they signed a deal with the HEAT empire was that they didn’t only get one Hardy brother, they got all of us.
Dom was the big brother to all of us and tried to set an example. Declan had been in the public eye for so long that he knew how to maintain an image, and Dimitri was easygoing, handling problems before they even occurred. but he had a temper just as bad as mine and was secretive about a lot of shit.
I was a middle child, in between Declan and Dimitri. I’d accepted that it meant I was unhinged. I felt every single thing more because I related to each of them, and I felt every slight deeper than all of them too.
Something was off about her contract with him and about the record label in general. That wasn’t my problem, but he had better not disrespect the HEAT name by not disclosing every single thing he could. And, if I was being honest with myself, I was interested in what the hell he had on Kee that ever made her leave me.
“I’d like her contract sent over to my legal team.” I held Kee’s eyes as they grew into saucers while she shook her head vigorously.
“I’m sorry, her contract with the casino?”
“No. The one she has with Trinity. I’m sure she’ll voluntarily give it to me as I’m now her fiancé, but you sending it to my legal team will be beneficial. I don’t want any secrets between us when you’re working with my fiancée. Do you?”
So, maybe I wouldn’t wait for her to share, considering she looked like a deer caught in headlights.
“Oh, well, that’s confidential—”
Did he think I was an idiot? “My future wife is either going to share with me or you are. If she shares it with me and I find something I don’t like, Mitchell, the problems you encounter will be much worse. You understand?”
Somehow, he’d snuffed out her drive to be independent and had practically brainwashed her into thinking this was what she wanted. It’s why even when I started to consider whether or not this would be a bad idea, I’d doubled down when she’d mentioned changing her brand. Something was amiss, and I was keen on figuring out what. Not to save her. Not even to help her. To get closure for myself.
I clicked off the phone before her manager could rattle off any more bullshit to me and handed it back to her. “Now…call your fiancé.”
“Ethan?” she squeaked. “What the hell for?”
I put my hands in my pockets and rocked back on my loafers as I looked her up and down. “I’m not fucking you while you’re engaged to someone else. Call him and end it.” Then I spun around and walked to my kitchen. I grabbed a glass of water as I waited for her to blow up.
It was coming.
I’d seen her face redden, watched as her breath came faster, how her hands clenched at her sides. Then she stormed up to me in the kitchen and poked my shoulder hard as she glared up at me. “You’re not fucking me either way.” She said it defiantly enough that my cock jumped at the challenge. “You need to realize you’re not going to control this whole situation, Dex. I am. This is my life. And I’m going to do what I want.”
I took a deep breath, not because I was angry but because Kee scolding me was something I missed getting turned on by. I had to go slow here. I had to be strategic on how I was going to get her out of my system. My body wanted a moment to remind her of something though, and I took the opportunity.
I set the glass of water down and turned to stand chest-to-chest with her. I pushed up against her so she’d step back and then back again, until she hit the counter. My hands went to either side of her, and I leaned on them so I was close to her ear when I said, “Do me a favor, then. Let me touch you while you’re on the phone with him.”
“I’m sorry… What?”
I spun her toward the counter and moved close, caging her against the granite. “If I don’t affect you, prove it. Wouldn’t you rather show me once and for all you don’t want to fuck around during our engagement?” I already had a hold of her maxi dress and was lifting it slowly.
“This isn’t a good idea,” Keelani said. But she was panting. Her ass wiggled against my length, giving her away. I pulled the flimsy fabric higher so I could stare at her smooth upper thighs.
“It’s only a short call, Kee. Dial the number, and let’s just see how you handle me.” I nudged my cock against her then, let her feel what she’d missed over the years. I peered over her shoulder to catch her biting that pout of hers as I asked quietly, “Scared you can’t?”
She flicked her gaze down to my mouth and dragged her teeth across her bottom lip. “I’m not scared of anything with you, Dex. We don’t have anything between us anymore.”
“Interesting.” My hand gripped the back of her thigh and then massaged it as she gasped. “I seem to remember you promising me forever when you whispered you loved me.”
“I was a kid. Like you said, it was a childhood crush.”
I hummed. I’d used those words to hurt her, and I guess they had. Her saying them back at me years later stung badly.
“So, then, I won’t affect you when you call that fiancé of yours. Go on.” I egged her on. “Dial the number. Tell your fiancé you’re done with him so I can fuck you into oblivion.”
“Not gonna happen, Dex.”
I sighed. “Kee, I think you misinterpreted what this is. I will rip your contract apart and throw your ass out on the street if you don’t listen to me. Do you understand? We’re not kids anymore. You won’t walk all over me like—” I stopped. Fuck, I was still mad at her, and I wanted to punish her for it, make her feel it, make her suffer like I did.
“Dex—” Her voice was soft as she started to say something and set her phone down beside her. Maybe it was an apology. A reason. An excuse. But it was nothing I wanted.
I pointed to the phone. “Call that asshole if you want this deal. Right. Now.”
She picked up the phone, her eyes holding a challenge now too. “You might control this whole city—they might be scared and listen to you—but you don’t affect me at all. Go on and try to prove otherwise.”
With that, she pressed Ethan’s number, and I ripped her dress up her hips so I could see the thong she had on underneath. I leaned close to whisper in her ear, “Bend over the counter and face the window. Look out at the city I rule and feel how I’m going to rule you too.”
