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“Very funny. I’m not here to see you. I didn’t expect to see you.”

“Strange. Because I bought the club.”

She felt her eyebrows shoot halfway up her forehead. “You bought the club?”

“I did. And when you walked in I saw you immediately on the security camera.”

“This bar is kind of tacky,” she said, indicating the glass bubbles. “Very obvious, honestly. Oxygen. The little oxygen bubbles. I just think that it needs to be elevated. Something that I was intending to pass on to the owner, turns out that’s you.”

“Goodness, Esme,” he said. “You have turned into a bit of a snob.”

“My snobbery was handcrafted by the best, Adonis. As you should know. But funnily enough, my business is no longer yours. As your business is no longer mine. And my brother wants to kill you.”

“He shouldn’t,” Adonis said. “It’s only business.”

“Is that where we are now? All of this is only business, and it’s not our lifelong friendship.”

“We bonded together through necessity.”

“Necessity. Lovely. Go away.”

“I own the club,” he reiterated.

“And I am here to find a man.”

“Well, look, one has found you.”

“I’m looking for a man to take my virginity, Adonis, so I suggest you leave me to my business.” It was anger that was causing her boldness now. That had always been her downfall. She could shock people, because they expected her to be sweet because of how she looked. And she found she wanted to do it now. She wanted to shock him. “Unless…you’re volunteering for the job.”

Chapter Two

Adonis Katrakis did not suffer fools or the ridiculous younger sisters of his best friends. Granted, he only had one best friend, and that best friend only had one sister, so generally he did not suffer Esme, but the little minx had looked right at him and said that.

And he couldn’t go back to the moment before those words had exited her lush lips. The problem with Esme was…layered. And yet simple at the same time.

He’d lusted after her for years, but that wasn’t an issue all on its own.

It was what he’d done in response to that four months ago that had become a problem he couldn’t ignore.

He’d vowed to protect her, to protect Alex, and instead he’d brought his brand of darkness right to Esme’s door.

She’d started dating—which he didn’t like. He’d interrogated her about every man she swiped on in the godforsaken dating app she downloaded. Then she’d given up “the apps”—her words—to “really connect with people in person.” Which meant she’d met a horrifying moron at a club on a work assignment.

Adonis had done his due diligence. He’d found out everything there was to know about the man.

Shady. And not good enough for Esme by half. Business dealings that weren’t legal and many reports against him for unwanted sexual advances—all withdrawn. Likely either because he’d settled with his victims, or had threatened them into silence.

Adonis had watched them on their dates, because he didn’t trust him. He’d fantasized about grinding his bones into powder.

One night, he’d dropped Esme by her place, and Adonis had pulled his ski mask over his face and gotten out of his SUV. He’d waited in the alley and listened. He was ready to stop Esme from letting that man into her house.

She hadn’t. But the guy had taken a step away from her door and made a phone call.

Bragging about the hot, rich piece of ass he was going to have next time they went out.

She’ll be into it.

He’d seen red. He’d walked out, face covered still, and had dragged the guy into the alley and beaten him within an inch of his life. Told him to stay the hell away from Esme forever or lose his life.