She stood. The fire I’d first caught a hint of in the elevator was back in her eyes, and it was blazing, and it was fucking beautiful.
“What kind of options are those?”
Maverick opened his mouth, but she cut him off with a shake of her head.
“I’ll either whore myself out to you and your brothers, or I whore myself out to your men? What was the point of this last week? Why do all this with me when you knew this was where we were headed?”
Silas frowned at her choice of words, but he didn’t correct her. Maverick crossed his arms over his chest and stared her down.
She was right about that, no matter how much Silas might think differently. She could be our whore, or she could be the syndicate’s, no matter how badly Silas wanted to keep her for ourselves. The choice was up to her, and I was just about done with this entire thing.
As for the little play pretend game they were playing with her, I couldn’t tell what they were trying to accomplish. Silas said it was to make her hate us a little less. I didn’t think this worked out the way he wanted.
She took a small step back before she thought better of it. “Fuck that,” she snarled, and then she moved so fast, I didn’teven see it coming. She grabbed the first thing her hand touched—a black remote control—and aimed it at my head. And the bitch’s aim was true. Had I been slower, she might have taken out an eye.
She didn’t wait. She jumped over the coffee table and swiveled around me, heading for the door.
I moved before either one of my brothers could react, reaching for her first. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her tightly against me, ignoring how good she felt pressed so close to me, or how fucking much my dick liked having her close.
Her familiar floral scent hit me, bringing me back to our moment in the elevator.
Fucking hell. It was going to take a while for the effects of that goddamn moment in the elevator to fade… or not.
“Let go of me!” she screamed, her arms and legs flailing. She got in one lucky shot when her sharp elbow caught me on the side.
I grunted.
“You’re a little firecracker, aren’t you?” I asked, my lips touching her ear.
How wrong I’d been about her.
I’d thought she was meek. Beaten down.
The little wildcat in my arms was anything but.
I held her tighter when I felt her slipping. “Hold still, girl. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Fuck you,” she spat out.
I couldn’t help the small grin that peeked out at her venomous words, which I quickly let slip away when I caught Silas’ knowing grin from across the room.
I shook my head at him, carried the little firecracker back to the couch, and sat down with her on my lap.
One, to keep everyone safe from her throwing arm, and two, to hide the fucking hard-on I was currently sporting.
She tensed when she felt it pressed against her.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she gritted out.
I squeezed her to me, trying to keep her quiet. It didn’t work.
“Let go of me.”
“No,” I answered easily. I looked up at my brothers standing there and waited for them to take the lead. Silas was determined to have this girl, and with Maverick on board, there was nothing I could say or do that would make any difference.
And a part of me didn’t want to admit I wasn’t fighting the idea very hard.
“Why do you want this?” she asked miserably. “I’m sure there are plenty of women out there who would be more than willing.”
