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She sputtered slightly before offering me an answer. “You never discussed a wage with her!”
I nodded, shifting my eyes toward the countertop, lest Sage read right through my transparent expression.
“That is true,” I mused aloud.
She snorted. “But you knew that would ensure she returned tonight,” she added.
Luve excused herself quietly, shuffling out of the kitchen, understanding that her place was not listening in on our private business talks. Not that I would have cared if she’d stayed. I trusted all the beings I placed around me. If I didn’t, they wouldn’t be in my house. But I didn’t stop her, and Sage and I continued our conversation.
“You’re flirting with disaster,” Sage told me warningly. “You’re too smart not to see that.”
“I’m asking you about paying the girl,” I shot back.
“Right.”
“She does need to get paid.”
“Tell me what you want me to pay her.”
“I suppose I should speak to her about the terms of our arrangement.”
Sage rolled her eyes. “Are you asking me to play Devil’s Advocate? To talk you out of it?”
“I’m not asking you anything!” Even I heard the defensiveness in my tone and caught myself. I forced a smile onto my face. “I’ll deal with Bianca when she arrives tonight.”
“Suit yourself. I’m going to the casino. I have inventory to attend to.”
She didn’t wait for me to argue, and I was glad to see her go. Her naked judgment wasn’t helping me in my inner turmoil, and I could use the peace and quiet without her as my conscience.
Everything she said was true. I couldn’t afford to get tangled up with Bianca. It had been extremely poor judgment offering her a job—here, no less—but I couldn’t recant it now. Moreover, she was doing what I had asked her to do.
Still, I could keep my distance as I had last night.
Or,I reasoned as Sage slipped from the house,I could really test my will and see how I face her. How bad could it be?
* * *
I smelledBianca on the property the moment she arrived and met her at the back door. Her face was flushed, eyes red-rimmed as she looked at me.
A cold fury washed over me. Had she been crying because Jesse had claimed her already? Had that bastard done the unthinkable with her?
My hands closed into fists, claws extracting instinctively to dig into my flesh at the thought of Jesse touching her. It took everything inside me to keep my composure.
“Oh. You’re here,” she said dully.
It wasn’t the reaction I’d been expecting. Partially annoyed but more concerned, I ushered her into the inner office in the basement, eying her curiously. She said nothing, but I noticed how ashen her complexion was when she sat at the desk, the phones ringing the moment we entered. Immediately, Bianca reached for them, but I stopped her.
“Hang on,” I told her. “We have some business to discuss first.”
Biting on her lower lip, she avoided my eyes, and I realized she was fighting back tears. A flurry of worry and protectiveness overcame me.
“What happened?” I asked, nodding for her to sit down.
Leaning over her, I turned down the volume on the phones, silencing the room as she stared at the desk.
Bianca shook her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she mumbled. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
I lingered over her, inhaling her scent. She hadn’t been bathed in a long while, but her feral smell triggered something deep inside me, igniting fires in places I hadn’t known in a long, long time. I couldn’t pull myself back, and for a moment, I hung there, awkwardly, over the desk. I willed her to look into my eyes until she was forced to do exactly that.
