I slide my cigar to the side of my mouth and lean over the wooden edge of the pool table, lining up my cue stick to take my shot.
The set of remaining cue balls are on the smooth black surface waiting for me to strike, but all I can see is Aurora Wright swirling around in my mind. That murderous expression is entrenched on her beautiful face, and she’s glaring at me as if she wants to gouge out my eyes with her heels.
Even I couldn’t fault the beauty if she stepped over to the dark side and tried to kill me. Today, she witnessed the conqueror in me and saw the cruel extent of my ruthlessness.
Our encounter this morning was the summoning of all the participants to the battlefield. Now the war has truly begun.
I take the shot, and the balls scatter. All, including the eight-ball, roll straight into the nearest hole.
I win. Again.
“Damn you,” Jericho hisses, slamming down five hundred dollars on the edge of the table.
I straighten, take a drag of smoke, and release the fumes into the ether with a smile on my face.
We’re at the Astoria Club playing pool.
The Astoria is an invite-only association for the world’s elite. Apart from the fundraisers and other gatherings that are hosted here, most of the men come by during the week to be social and hold meetings for the businesses and charities they support. I’m sure the lure of the beautiful women who work here is also a reason they come in droves.
Most Sundays, Jericho and I meet here with our friends from high school to hang out.
The Astoria also happens to be one of the few places I can stand to see my father and Bastian outside of work. That’s probably because the grandiose mansion we’re based in has enough space and rooms so we can coexist without actually seeing each other.
As usual, Jericho and I are the first here. The other guys will come later. Luc will be the only one missing tonight because he’s doing extra training with his team for the hockey championships in a few weeks.
“Want another game?” I quirk a brow when Jericho sneers at me. This is the third game I’ve won, and he’s out of pocket by a grand.
He hates losing to me and won’t stop until he finds a way to win back all the money he lost.
“Fuck yeah. I’ll beat you this time. Let’s put two grand on the table.”
“Game on.” I chuckle.
“Hey.” He taps his stick on the table. “Don’t get cocky just because you’re on a winning streak. Sunset Cove today, Park Avenue tomorrow.”
“Why don’t we just wait and see what happens.” I blow out another ring of smoke.
“But you already know you’ve got Sunset Cove, don’t you?” He gives me a quizzical stare.
“Not until Aurora gets here with that contract.” I don’t doubt she’ll come. I know she will. I’m simply being vigilant by wanting the signed contract in my hands before claiming my victory.
I know how people behave when their backs are up against the wall and they’re blocked in. Ninety-nine percent of them will cave. But then there’s that one percent—the fighters who won’t give up. They realize they still have a chance, and no matter how bleak the outcome may seem, they’ll fight tooth and nail.
There’s a remedy for those sorts of people, or rather a work-around. Either you snuff away their hope, or you provide a sufficient counterattack that will force them to bend to your will.
Aurora Wright fits into that one percent, but my counterattack is her father. By using him, I also had the doubled-edged effect of stealing away her hope because she won’t be willing to take any risks that will affect him. Unlike me, the goddess has a heart. She won’t let her old man suffer or lose his life’s work.
That’s why, although the sun has nearly set, I expect to see her soon.
She’s left coming to see me purposely late because she wants to hold on to whatever power she thinks she might still have until the absolute last moment when she’ll have to let go and accept her new state of powerlessness.
The goddess is also not going to be in any hurry to see me again.
Jericho sets down a new stack of balls, and I take my shot, nearly winning again.
Instead of taking his turn, he leans against the table and stares back at me, assessing me with newfound scrutiny.
“Knight, have you thought about how this is really going to play out?” He blinks several times and releases a thoughtful sigh. “This is where my help stops, so I’m curious. You’re going to marry this girl and take her resort, but she’s going to live with you. In your house. You hate the idea of women in your home.”
Apart from Mom and my staff, I don’t like any woman knowing where I live, so this is going to be a first for me.
Only a select few are privileged with my address, and that already feels like too much. At least one or two have abused that privilege when I least expected it, and I hope I won’t have any unnecessary drama in the weeks to come.
My life is already in enough upheaval, which will only increase when Miss Wright chooses to grace me with her presence.
“I’ll cross that bridge when I get there,” I tell him, glancing away from that stare of his that’s still trying to probe too deep. “The house is big enough that we’ll hardly see each other.”
“Does that mean you won’t be sharing your bed with her?” Mischief lights up his eyes.
The image of Aurora Wright lying on my bed with my sheets wrapped around her naked body sends a rush of blood straight to my dick. My artistic mind runs wild with the vision, and I barely manage to contain it.
“This is business, not the Playboy Mansion.” My jaw tenses.
Jericho eyeballs me and tsks. “Stop acting like you don’t want to fuck her.”
“Like I said, this is business.” Although my voice is firm, even that sounds like a lie to me.
“Well, this is going to be one hell of a thing to watch. I’m glad I got front-row tickets.” He swivels around and takes his shot. “One thing’s for sure, you’ve got this in the bag. Park Avenue is practically yours. Have you spoken to Grandfather yet?”
“I’ve updated him.” Grandfather was thoroughly impressed with what I’d done so far. I think I even outdid his expectations. “I’m seeing him on Wednesday when he gets back from Hong Kong. I want to have all the loose ends tied up by then.”
“I’m sure you will. I, on the other hand, am still waiting to know what I’m supposed to do to secure the damn CFO position. I swear Grandfather wants to torture me.”
“I don’t think it’s that. Knowing him, you’re already doing what he wants you to do.” As the days have gone by, I’ve tried to think about the empire from my grandfather’s perspective. “He just wants things to be done a certain way because this is his end. Once he leaves, he won’t look back.”
“That’s going to be weird. He’s always there. Always involved and around. I can’t imagine that coming to an end.”
“Me neither, but it will. I think he wants a clean break and to be sure that everyone gets what they deserve, but he also wants to secure the empire with the right people.”
“Yeah, I suppose so. It’s just hard not knowing where I stand so I can start working on what I need to do. Dad and Bastian have each other. Even though Grandfather knows we won’t want to work together, in the end, he’ll always choose the right person for the job. That’s what worries me.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think you need to worry about that.”
“Hope you’re right because the longer I wait, the more I want the damn position.”
“Maybe that’s part of Grandfather’s plan too. Fuck knows.”
We both laugh.
The creak of the door to our left cuts into our conversation. We turn and see my lovely bride-to-be entering the room.
In her little pea-green coat with her face bare of makeup and her cotton-white hair braided into a fishtail, she looks no older than eighteen.
Her eyes rivet to me with that villainous expression again. And God, if looks could kill, I would be ashes and dust in the wind.
She came, just like I knew she would. And in her hands is the envelope containing the contract.
The contract declaring her mine.
The thought of her belonging to me ignites that primal rush again, and I stare at her with deeper fascination, my fucking cock hardening the closer she gets.
Although she’s just come out from the rain and is looking at me as if she wants to kill me, she’s still one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my life.
Aurora Wright has the type of striking beauty that could fascinate a man for eons and make him do all sorts of shit to make her his.
When she gets closer, she switches her gaze from me and cuts Jericho the same razor-sharp stare.
Our billion-dollar portfolio is usually powerful enough to tame even the worst of shrews, but Aurora looks like she couldn’t give two shits who we are.
“I’m gonna call Luc and leave you to it,” Jericho mutters in a sing-song tone. I don’t have to look at my brother to know he’s grinning from ear to ear. “Looks like you’re gonna have your hands full.”
I don’t answer.
When he leaves, Aurora looks back at me.
She stops a breath away and intensifies her glare.
“I was beginning to wonder if you weren’t going to accept my proposal—”
A slap from her dainty hand connects with my jaw, cutting out my next words and shocking the hell out of me. The last person who was bold enough to hit me ended up picking all their teeth up off the ground.
“Yes, I accept. I will marry you. And if you think that was a real proposal, you have another thing coming.”
Well, damn, looks like the goddess has some balls on her. “Given the circumstances, I didn’t think I needed to get down on a bended knee.”
“How about nothing at all.” She wrinkles her nose. “Let’s get something clear. This is for my father. I’m nobody’s fool, so don’t make the mistake of thinking so or believing I’m anything like one of your groupies.”
I want to tell her that she certainly acted like one at the restaurant, and she liked me well enough when I was finger-fucking her pussy, but I’m more intrigued to hear what else she has to say. It’s not often people challenge me, especially women.
“I wasn’t myself at the restaurant the other night,” she points out as if reading my thoughts. Her cheeks are flushed, so maybe she can. “Had I been, I would have seen you for the asshole you truly are and have nothing to do with you.”
Her eyes darken to a stormy blue, and I half expect to see lightning crackling around her irises.
She’s enraged, as she should be, but I wonder if she knows she’s still looking at me like she wants to fuck me.
I smile, take a drag from my cigar, and blow out a plume of smoke over her head. As it settles like a halo, I lean forward, slicing into her personal space.
My closeness makes her shoulders tense, but she continues to stand her ground, doing her best to look unfazed but failing when her gaze drops to my lips for the briefest moment.
I look at her lips too, and remember kissing her. I shouldn’t have done that. It’s screwing with me now.
Ignoring her vapid bitch warning, I say, “I’ll send my driver to pick you up Tuesday morning at eight. Make sure you’re packed and ready to go.” I move even closer and catch her scent. That fucking scent of honey and roses mixed with rain. “I’d hate for us to start off on the wrong foot.”
She steps back and lifts her chin. “Everything about you is wrong, Mr. Grayson. Everything.” She shoves the envelope into my chest, turns on her heels, and heads back toward the door, never looking back.
I blow out another ring of smoke and my eyes drop to her perfect round ass, which I can just about see from the curve of her coat.
Jericho chooses that moment to return—I’m sure he didn’t really go that far or call Luc. It’s more his thing to eavesdrop, so I know he heard everything that was said.
He wolf-whistles when he reaches me. “So, that was her.” His voice holds a spark of amusement.
“That was her.”
“I like her.” He nods and nudges his elbow into mine. “She’s beautiful, fiery, ballsy even, and I think she might hate you. Looks like you’re definitely going to have your hands full.”
I think I’ll have more than my hands full when it comes to Aurora Wright.
And this is only the beginning.
