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She waved the pens vaguely toward the door. “I should get back.”
“Think about it, Sadie. I’ll make sure you’re never worrying about a paycheck, a place to stay, or whether you run out of things that you like.”
“You make it sound like I’m a tortured princess in a tower or something.”
I chortled. “I’ve never met anyone who could possibly handle the weight of this position more than you, Sadie. I have confidence in you.”
Scarlet bloomed in her cheekbones, causing her to shrink back slightly as she glanced at the door. So much of her reaction to me was irritatingly arousing. The way she tried to hold her space while avoiding physical contact with my body unnerved and impressed me all the same.
Tension cracked the air like a whip. She felt it. I felt it. Why were we holding back from each other when we could just give in right now? My brows went up as her shoulders relaxed. The closer I stepped, the more she seemed receptive to my proximity. I wanted to close the gap between us in time to intercept her move to the door, but I didn’t want it to be so obvious that she had time to correct her course.
This was such a delicate matter.Shewas delicate, much like the flowers beyond this room. She wasn’t by any means breakable—but I had ideas about breaking her. I had positions in mind for the tasks I wanted her to perform, and I had things that I wanted to see her do, if just for a brief moment.
Fleeting or not, I was going to have her. I was going to make her mine whether it was in this moment or the next.
She breathed shakily and handed me the pens. “Sorry about that. I should get back to Bella before she had a heart attack about the, uh—about the—well—”
She darted off, leaving behind a delightful blend of pheromones and vanilla dashed with honey. Just breathing her in made me ravenous. I reached out for her, grasping a strand of hair that broke away from her as she sprinted out the door. It tangled around my fingers, shimmering like a silky strand of gold fabric.
She didn’t exactly decline my offer. But she didn’t accept it.
My fingers curled around the strand. Women like Sadie were hard to come by. Anyone else would have taken up my offer and taken advantage of the position. They probably would have just performed whatever I asked until they saved enough to ditch. Most people were like that outside of Silverdawn.
In here, though, things were different. People weren’t as desperate with a leader like Raven at the helm. But they still struggled with their personal debts or addictions or whatever came along to tear through the fabric of their fantasies. For me, betrayal snapped me out of it early on, so I considered myself lucky.
But Sadie? She wanted something different. I could smell it on her. I could sense the desire for adventure, for rebirth. And I was more than happy to give that to her. I was glad to be the candle in the night leading her to a new dawn.
Yes, I would have her. One way or another, I would have her—for as long as I could possibly manage.
Chapter 2 - Sadie
Bella rushed me out the door before I had time to argue with her. “Shoo! Get out of here! Go rest!”
I laughed while digging my heels in the ground. “You can’t make me do anything.”
“Yeah, well, I can call your mother, andshecan make you do it.”
I stumbled forward, prompting Bella to collide with my back. I caught her before she could fall to the ground, and then propped my shoulder against the wall. Thoughts about my mother made me a little bit sick right now. But not because she was a bad mother or anything. I was just in the process of kind of avoiding the hell out of her until the luncheon was over with.
Once Bella was stable and my shoulder was out of the wall—thankfully, it hadn’t put a hole there—I rubbed my elbow and ignored the itch in my palm that made me want to grab my phone. “Don’t call my mother, please.”
“I’m just kidding, Sadie. Don’t have a cow.”
I glowered at her as she brushed her fingers through her long, wavy silver hair. She had eyes like emerald stones and sepia brown skin with a mermaid tattoo on her forearm and gold beaded bracelets on the other.
She chuckled while reaching out to fix my hair. “I mean, don’t have apup.”
“She’d love that, you know.”
“Your mother?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, she’s…” Bella tightened her lips into a smile while crinkling her nose. “She’s weird about the whole biological clock thing.”
“She’s something.”
A real smile came through her scrunched features. “I mean, she’s your mom. She loves you. I’m sure she just wants you to be happy.”
