Dancer in Lingerie Read online

  12

  Bosco

  I was in my office when Ronan stepped inside.

  “What is it?” I asked, hardly looking up at him.

  “The family is here to claim the body.” His throat shifted when he finished talking, and there was a slight look of resentment in his eyes. He still didn’t agree with my decision, and he didn’t hesitate to show his disapproval.

  Like I gave a damn. “Hand it over.”

  He sat in the leather chair facing my desk, like this conversation wasn’t over.

  “Yes?” I looked up again, this time giving him my complete attention.

  “I heard the men talking. You’re seeing someone.” He gave me a look of accusation, as if he was offended I hadn’t confided in him with this information.

  “Correction. I’m fucking someone.”

  “You never fuck the same woman twice. So what’s this about?”

  I wouldn’t be annoyed with his question if he didn’t question my decisions so often. “I’m not sure. I met her a few weeks ago. She was about to get raped in an alleyway, and I intervened. She’s been showing her gratitude ever since.”

  “Is it getting serious?”

  I didn’t do relationships and I didn’t consider Carmen to be my girlfriend, but she had my fidelity as well as my complete obsession. “I’m not gonna marry the woman. But we’re monogamous. Hope that answers your question.”

  Both of his eyebrows rose almost off his face. “You’re exclusive? Then it’s damn serious.”

  “If that’s how you want to describe it…”

  “Maybe I should meet her.”

  “Maybe not,” I said coldly. “Give it a few more weeks. We’re working out a few bugs right now.”

  “What?” he teased. “She hates you?”

  “Actually, yes.” I didn’t hide my grin. “She despises me. But she wants me anyway.”

  “This sounds like an interesting relationship.”

  “Quite.”

  “Could this be love?” he asked, teasing me again.

  “Not even close. It’s lust—which is far stronger. Now, if we’re finished with the gossip, you should get back to work.”

  His mood immediately soured. “I get that you’re an asshole to most people because you have to be. But when it’s just the two of us in your office, it’s overdone.”

  I had no idea where this was coming from. Our relationship was the same as it always had been There was nothing special about my words that could have possibly provoked him. I was so caught off guard by what he said, I didn’t have a comeback.

  “You haven’t been the same since Mom died. It’s like you died too. And I’m fucking sick of it.” His voice rose louder as he kept talking. “I get that the two of you were a little closer than she and I were, but it’s been five years. You need to let it go and move on.” He marched out of my office and slammed the door behind him.

  I barely had a moment to reflect on what he’d said before Drake stepped inside. “What?” I asked, in a darker mood than I had been before.

  “It’s about Carmen. Or should I come back later…?” My one-word answer was enough to put him on edge. Now was definitely not a good time.

  But since it was about Carmen, I wanted to know every detail. “What about her?”

  “She had lunch with Vanessa again.”

  This oughta be good. “Yes?”

  “Vanessa told her to end things with you…and Carmen agreed.”

  After the way she’d crawled back into my bed, she actually thought she would have the strength to walk away from me? I found that very unlikely, but it pissed me off that she was even considering the idea. “Did she say when?”

  “No. But she thinks she should stay away from you.”

  Yes. She should have stayed away from me. She never should have ended up in that alleyway. She wouldn’t have met me at all, and she would be living a normal life right now. Maybe she would have met a nice man to become her husband. But that would never happen now.

  Because she was mine. “That’ll be all, Drake.”

  “Sir.” He nodded before he walked out.

  13

  Carmen

  I’d never been so nervous in my life.

  But I was utterly terrified.

  Bosco was an unpredictable man. I had no idea what his reaction might be, but judging by the fact that he’d let a man die in the most brutal way possible, it wouldn’t be good. He had a frozen heart in his hollow chest. He didn’t see me as a person, but a piece of property, no different from the watch that sat on his wrist.

  Regardless of what his reaction was, this wouldn’t be a clean break.

  He wouldn’t let me go easily.

  I never realized how much I needed my family until that moment. A part of me wanted to run to my father and ask for his help. In any other situation, he would be able to fix it for me. He would be able to protect me.

  But both he and my uncle couldn’t do a damn thing.

  Even Griffin, the strongest man I’d ever known, was useless.

  The most powerful man in the world was my opponent. And I would never win this war.

  We didn’t talk for a few days after I left. I thought I could use the space and time to collect my thoughts, to consider how I was going to accomplish this. The distance would allow me to think clearly, to stop thinking with the nerve center between my legs and starting thinking with that big brain of mine.

  But waiting only made it worse.

  Only made me more afraid.

  I was sitting at the dining table drinking an entire bottle of wine by myself while staring at my phone. I kept going over the words in my head, trying to think of the right way to phrase it. If I acted timid or scared, he would run me into the ground. I had to be confident and strong. The smartest thing to do was to do it over the phone, not because I was a coward, but because he couldn’t touch me that way. He couldn’t push me up against a wall and shut me up with a fat kiss.

  I took another long drink and finally made the call.

  He picked up right after the first ring. “Beautiful.” His deep, masculine voice was like perfectly aged wine. It was so smooth, full of texture, and it was bold. Just his voice was sexy, as sexy as his hands felt against my tits. He had the kind of voice made to speak to a woman, to make her wet without being in the same room with her.

  Listening to him destroyed all of my resolve. Like the weak person I was, I instantly succumbed to desire, my thighs pressing together under the table. My heart rate spiked, and I couldn’t drink any more wine because my stomach started to tighten.

  He didn’t say anything else, perfectly comfortable with the silence.

  I wished I were just as unaffected by tension as he was. “I want to talk to you about something…”

  “You do?” he asked, slightly amused. “What would that be?” There was a playful hint to his tone, but there was also an underlying vibration of hostility. Without even stating it, it seemed like he was threatening me. He was volatile, dancing between rage and amusement. He could project so much with so little.

  As if he were standing right in front of me, he knocked me off-balance again. I had to recover by taking a long pause, using the silence as a crutch. I reminded myself that I had to be stern. I had to match his hostility with mine, make him listen to me because he respected me. “This is over, Bosco.” I kept my tone surprisingly strong, like it wasn’t even my voice that was speaking. “I’m done with you.”

  His reaction was instant because he didn’t need a moment to pause. “Beautiful…” He chuckled over the line as he said my nickname, like my words were nothing but comical to him. “Be careful what you say next.”

  I was afraid that he didn’t take me seriously at all, that I was the one dumping him, and he was the one making the threats. “You asked me to give you a chance, and I did. You aren’t right for me. I know what I’m looking for…and you aren’t it.”

  “That’s ironic. Considering you’re exactly what I’m lo
oking for…”

  My heart started to race quicker, started to beat like a heavy drum. “I’m being serious, Bosco. I don’t want to see you anymore.”

  “I know you’re being serious.” His tone began to deepen, began to turn darker and more sinister. “But I don’t care.” Without another word, he hung up and the line went dead.

  I dropped my phone on the table and watched his name disappear from the screen. As if I could hear his footsteps from down the hall, I knew he was approaching. It was only a matter of minutes before he arrived. What would happen when he got there, I had no idea.

  But it wouldn’t be good.

  He got past my locks without effort then stepped into my apartment, wearing a long-sleeved fitted shirt and black jeans. His shiny watch was on his wrist, his hair was neatly combed, and he looked like the most terrifying and beautiful man I’d ever seen.

  The whole bottle of wine wasn’t enough to chase away the fear.

  I was terrified.

  I’d never been more afraid of anyone in my life.

  He moved across the dining room until he pulled out the chair across from me. He sat down and faced me, his eyes hinting at the rage circulating in his veins that very moment. He was pissed but doing his best to keep it bottled deep inside.

  I had to stick to my guns. I couldn’t give up. So I looked him in the eye and crossed my arms over my chest. “I meant what I said, and I won’t change my mind.”

  “I’m not here to change your mind.” The cryptic message was impossible to decipher, but it was filled with such a heavy level of threat that it stopped my heart from beating. We’d just crossed into new territory, a place I’d never wanted to visit. “I’m here to tell you how this is going to be from now on.”

  “How what’s gonna be?” My voice started to shake even though I did my best to control it.

  “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.” A slight smile was on his lips. “After you talked to Vanessa the first time, I thought I’d straightened you out. I proved how much you needed me…how much you wanted me. Then you spoke to her a second time…”

  My heart convulsed in terror when I realized he knew everything, spied on every conversation I had with anyone. I didn’t even realize one of his men tailed me everywhere I went because they were disguised so well. They even eavesdropped on my conversations, which meant they were within ten feet of me at all times. The idea made my body shiver, but not in a good way.

  “I thought you would come to your senses again…and realize it would be the biggest mistake of your life.” He shook his head slightly, his look full of disappointment. “But you chose wrong.”

  My arms tightened around my chest, and I swallowed the lump in my throat. I’d been backed into a corner by this man, and there was nowhere for me to run. The police would ignore my calls, and if I called my family, they would all die.

  Bosco kept his ice-cold stare on me. “You never gave me a real chance.”

  Now my voice was hardly audible. “Yes, I did…”

  “If that were the case, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’m everything you want in a man—powerful, rich, and good in bed. You won’t find a better man out there, and we both know it.”

  “There are lots of better men out there…”

  “If that were the case, you would be able to fight me. But you can’t. Let’s not pretend that you aren’t utterly terrified of me, that I could wipe out your entire family with a slight nod to my men.”

  My hands were shaking because I was so scared.

  “You want me in your bed every night. You want me to sleep on my chest because it’s your favorite place. You want to keep walking the streets with your invincibility. The only reason you’re doing this is because you’re afraid of me…even though I told you I would never hurt you.”

  “You just threatened to kill my family,” I whispered. “And that would hurt me more than anything else in the world.”

  He stared at me with those intense eyes, eyes so cold they reminded me of the Arctic. He sat perfectly upright, his shirt fitting his body like a glove. He was a man of muscle, built like a racehorse. “But I would never lay a hand on you. And I would have no motivation to hurt your family if you give me what I want.”

  “What about what I want?” I demanded.

  He cocked his head slightly. “I am what you want.”

  “I don’t want a murderer.”

  “And I don’t murder people.”

  “But you cast the death sentence, which makes you just as bad.”

  “Really?” he asked. “So the judges in America who put criminals on death row…are they murderers?”

  “Not the same thing.”

  “It’s exactly the same thing, Beautiful. I own this city, so I’m the judge, the jury, and the people. I control all things because I’m the only one who can. Some people die. Some people live. It’s just how it goes. If people followed the rules, there would be no need for punishment. Unfortunately, people are just too stupid for that.”

  I had no idea what to say. No idea what to do.

  “If you were some other woman, I would let you go without a fight. But you’re very special to me. And I know I’m special to you. You want to run from me, but by my side is the safest place you’ll ever be.”

  “Then why do I feel so scared?” I whispered.

  “You aren’t scared of me,” he said confidently. “You’re scared of the way you feel about me.”

  Maybe that was partially true, but I would never admit it.

  “So this is how it’s going to be.” He rested his hands on the table and leaned toward me, his hard jaw clenched because he was still annoyed. “You’re going to tell Vanessa that you broke it off with me. I let you go. In reality, you’ll be packing your things and coming to live with me. And instead of being a woman I’m casually seeing, you’ll be mine exclusively. You’ll share my bed every night. You’ll be the woman on my arm. In exchange, I’ll offer you anything you could possibly want. Any car you want, any set of diamonds, any—”

  “I don’t want your money. I told you it doesn’t impress me.”

  “Then what do you want, Beautiful?” he whispered.

  “My freedom.”

  “You can’t have that—”

  “Fuck. You.” I rose to my feet and snatched the empty bottle, prepared to slam it over his head.

  His eyes narrowed at my outburst, but he still seemed slightly amused by my words.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” I demanded. “You think you can just do whatever—”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you can’t do that with me. I don’t care about the men outside this apartment or how much money you have. I’m not a slave, and I refused to be a slave. I will not come quietly. I will not submit willingly. I will not give up on the life that I deserve—”

  “Then let me give you the life you deserve.” He slowly rose to his feet and came close to me, his eyes shifting back and forth between mine. “I told you I would give you anything. You want a husband and four kids? Fine, I’ll give that to you.”

  “You’ll let me marry another man?” I asked incredulously.

  “No.” He took hold of the back my neck, touching me gently. “I’ll be your husband. I’ll give you four kids. Problem solved.”

  My eyes flashed in shock. “You’re crazy.”

  “I’m compromising with you. That’s the one thing you want, and I’m giving it to you.”

  I pushed his arm away. “No.”

  He lowered his hand and didn’t try to grab me again. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Trust me, you don’t want to do it the hard way.”

  “You know me, Bosco,” I said coldly. “I’ll always take the high road. I don’t accept this, and I never will. I don’t want to be involved with a man like you. You kill people—”

  “And you think Bones is any better? He killed people for a living, and now he’s your family. What about Conway and Carter? Buying women from th
e Underground? What about your father and uncle? Running one of the biggest weapons companies in Europe. And you’re gonna sit there and say what I do is wrong? Fucking hypocrite.”

  I was speechless because there was no argument against that. He had me cornered.

  “You want me, Carmen. I see it in your eyes every time your legs are spread and you’re underneath me. I feel it in the way you kiss me. I feel it in the way you come around my dick. Stop pretending otherwise.”

  “Yes, I like sleeping with you. But that doesn’t mean I want more from you.”

  “That’s too bad,” he said coldly. “Because you’re getting more from me.”

  “I refuse,” I said quietly. “I refuse.”

  “You don’t get to refuse. If you do, I don’t need to tell you everything I’ll do to your family. I’ll wipe them all out at the same time, send a hundred men to each place and destroy your family legacy like that.” He snapped his fingers.

  Just the thought made me want to burst into tears.

  “Don’t call my bluff, Carmen. It’s not a gamble you’ll win.”

  I had no choice. I would rather die than let anything happen to the people I loved, so I would submit. They would do the same for me in a heartbeat. “I have a compromise…”

  He chuckled, like the suggestion was ridiculous. “You don’t get to make compromises.”

  “Look, I’ll give you what you want. I’ll cooperate fully. But there has to be a timetable on this.”

  He narrowed his eyes at my suggestion.

  “You get what you want, and I get what I want.”

  It was the first time he didn’t have anything to say.

  “I’ll be yours for…a month. But when that time is up, I get to walk away. I’m a good person who deserves to find happiness. My husband is out there somewhere, and we’re supposed to have a family together. I’m not giving up on that. Not ever. But I won’t risk my family either. You’re going to give that to me.”