bud. Made it so you never got that blow job you want. Made it so you couldn’t dole out this absurd punishment I want no part of. Wouldn’t you be angry if your choice to have me or not no longer existed, your wants and needs deemed unimportant?”
He was hard. So hard his loins were aching. “No. I would not get angry over such a thing. Because it would not happen. My need to keep you here is so extreme that I am more than willing to use less than civilized methods to accommodate it. That means I would kill this person who attempted to take you and probably fuck you in his blood just to add insult to injury.”
A tiny jolt shook her body. He was polite enough not to comment but did take immense pleasure in watching desire flirt with the tinge of fear on her face. She responded to his darkness.
“I know you’re being deliberately shocking.” She sounded suspiciously breathless. “Hoping to, well, I don’t know what you’re hoping to gain from it. Do you want me to fear you?”
A growl escaped before he could stop it. Her bravado was sexy. As was the way she continued to stare at his mouth. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it would prove your intelligence is as impressive as your beauty.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I’m more than nice skin and healthy hair, you know?”
She didn’t retreat when he untucked her shirt and stole under the hem. He was a perfect gentleman by keeping to the warm skin of her waist. Though he did slide his palm around until he reached her lower back so he could gently tug her forward. He kept his hips angled so she didn’t feel his erection.
“I am aware of that.” So soft. He would spend some time in the indent of her spine later. For now, he caressed it with the tips of his fingers.
“No, you’re not,” she said, her gaze on his throat.
“Yasmeen. I am well aware you possess other talents.” He examined her doubtful look before adding, “I know how you coming onboard has improved the reputation of my gallery. It may be a small venture compared to my other holdings, but I still pay attention to the bottom line because it is a business, and it is one of mine.” Lies. He kept it under a microscope because she was there.
Her eyes slowly came up, and he watched her pupils blow, her body stiffening like drying clay under a hot sun. “What did you say?” she whispered.
Goddammit. And that slip-up was why he didn’t want to converse with her outside of telling her to arch her back or spread her legs wider.
He ran a hand through his hair and looked down the corridor. He seriously considered walking away to avoid what he knew was coming. For some reason, those he tried to help always centered on privacy and control issues. Why couldn’t they accept his aid in the manner it was given? Freely and with no need for acknowledgment. He was in a position to help. Why would they not let him?
♦ ♦ ♦
Yasmeen’s mind was reeling, flipping back twenty-three months to when she’d gotten a call saying there was a job opening at a gallery in Queens, and as a recent graduate from NYU, she was encouraged to apply. She’d nearly killed herself in her haste to reach the place to speak with the curator; on the very same floor where she’d met Lucian only weeks before.
She made to step back, but his arm tightened around her. “My gallery is owned by LDF Holdings,” she said. “I’ve never seen Fane Enterprises on anything that’s crossed my desk.” She pushed at him. He didn’t budge. “Do you know where I work? I think you must be mistaken. Do you know where I work?” she repeated, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her. Maybe he was wrong. He couldn’t be her boss.
Her skin shrank on her body, her heart shriveling to match. Was the accomplishment she’d been so proud of, the one she thought she’d earned…was it all bullshit? Did her efforts to study hard and learn every goddamn thing her professors had taught have anything to do with where she was today?
Not if Lucian had placed her in her current position at Nebulous.
If her gallery was his, her body had once more gotten her where she needed to be. Only this time it was in her prized job rather than in that final