Mastered (The Enforcers 1)

He was getting pissed, and he made no effort to hide that from her. “I’m not paying for sex. I don’t ever have to pay for sex. What I give to you, whatever I choose to give to you, are gifts. Gifts I expect you to accept and think of creative ways of expressing your gratitude. You’re mine for as long as our arrangement lasts, and that puts your girls in a bind. And I’m responsible for that bind because I’m a selfish bastard who takes what he wants and won’t accept no for an answer. So I’ll cover their rent because me being selfish puts them in a bind, and I won’t be responsible for three women losing their home because of my demands.”

“Oh,” she said softly. Then she shook her head. “This is insane. This sort of thing doesn’t happen.”

“In my world it does,” he said, amusement in his voice.

“There is only one world,” she snapped. “And we all live in the same world.”

“And that is where I intend to prove you wrong, Angel. My world, my rules. I answer to no one, and no one fucks with me or what’s mine.”

“And is that what I am? Yours?”

“For the time being? Yes.”

She looked instantly uneasy, her eyes worried and apprehensive.

“And what happens to me when you figure out I’m not all that and you don’t want me anymore?” she asked quietly.

“You will always be taken care of, Angel. I’m not a complete bastard. If the day comes that we no longer are compatible, then you will be taken care of for the rest of your life. You needn’t have any concerns that I’ll cast you off and leave you to fend for yourself. That will never happen. You have my word on it.”

Drake reached up to take one of her hands and gently pulled it down until it was completely encircled in his.

“You’re a beautiful woman who deserves far more than what you’re getting out of life, and I’m going to make you see that, no matter how long it takes. You’re a woman any man would be on his knees to have. And you’re as attracted to me as I’m attracted to you. I didn’t imagine you coming all over my mouth last night.”

Her face went beet red and she hastily averted her gaze, but he reached with his free hand to cup her chin, gently forcing her to face him once more.

“You were so fucking beautiful and so wild, and I want to be the man who gently brings you to heel. I want to be the man who takes care of you, the man you ultimately answer to, the man who controls you.”

“Controls?” she asked incredulously. “Do you even know how obscene that sounds? No one controls me!”

“I do—I will. But you’ll blossom under my care. Have no doubt there. There will not be a more spoiled, adored woman on this earth, because what is mine I take care of in all ways, and your happiness, your protection, your life comes before all else.”

She looked at him in utter bewilderment. “Why would you do this for a woman like me? You could have any woman you wanted.”

She broke off, blushing furiously, her eyes dropping in shame and God only knew what else. Fury rose inside him, and he was forced to loosen his grip on her hand or risk hurting her.

“Explain what you mean by a woman like you. And be careful how you word it, Angel, and how you say it, or I’m not going to be very happy with you.”

She swept her hand down the length of her as if that explained it all. Then she sent him a helpless look that suggested she had no idea how to explain what in her mind was a very obvious fact.

“You have no reason to be ashamed or embarrassed,” he said through clenched teeth. “And you will be neither with me, because that will not please me. Who you are, what you are, is what I want. Not your fucked-up idea of who and what I want. I know when I see something whether I want it or not, and I wanted you the minute you walked into my club. Your not believing me or thinking otherwise is bullshit. But you’ll figure that out in your own time.”

“There’s no way I can ever pay you back,” she said desperately. “I’ll never be your equal. I’ll never be able to pay back the kind of money you’re talking about.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said in a soft voice that made her shiver.

In that moment, she looked very much like prey being stalked, and he was the predator closing in on his prey. Hunted. He could deny none of those things when that was well what he was doing.