Abel (Sabine Valley 1)

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re not wrong.” His gaze drops to my mouth. “You’re wasted on him. He’s so busy trying to save you, he’s suffocating you.”

I jolt. Apparently I’m not the only one who got a quick read on my opponent. Still, I’m not about to give Abel anything for free, and I’m certainly not going to let him crawl around inside my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re deliriously happy. It’s sickening, really.”

“Liar.” Slowly, giving me plenty of time to react, he shifts his hands from the sink to my hips and then lifts me up to perch on the counter. I don’t mean to spread my thighs, but he takes advantage of it, stepping between them. He doesn’t press against me, not exactly, but one deep breath could have our chests rubbing together. Abel drops his face to my neck and inhales deeply. “Tonight’s full of surprises, isn’t it?”

I can’t quite catch my breath. “What are you talking about?”

“I figured I’d take you, he’d come after me, and I’d beat him somewhere nice and public and then send him into exile just like my brothers and I suffered. Instead I get two Brides for the price of one, the faction handed over with minimum fuss, and you’re no helpless flower in need of a glass cage. You’re like me, Harlow. Monster, through and through.”

I’m not sure he’s wrong, but I’m not about to admit it. “You have a point.”

“Yeah.” He drags his mouth along my neck, and it takes everything I have not to moan. “I’ll offer you a bargain.”

It will be nothing good. Abel is too smart, and he’s got all the cards. The only thing I have to offer is my body, and I’ve already taken it off the table, at least on this subject. It seems silly now, with him kissing my neck and me clutching his shirt and fighting not to pull him closer, but I won’t change my mind. Sex is sex and has no place in these negotiations. I draw in a ragged breath. “I’m listening.”

“Be mine.” His thumbs skate up my sides. “We have the year. You know the faction as well as anyone, and you obviously care about the people. Help me take over, help me rule, and I’ll keep the bloodshed to a minimum and take your input into any changes I make.”

Shock turns my thoughts to static. “What?” Surely this is a trick, some kind of cruel manipulation. Surely he’s not casually offering me the one thing I want more than anything in the world.

The one thing Eli’s denied me for the last five years.

But when Abel lifts his head, he looks devastatingly serious. “Be my partner, share my bed, and if you want to leave at the end of the year, I’ll set you up with the resources you need to go wherever you want.” He gives me a sudden grin. “And if you want to stay, you’re more than welcome to do that, too.”

“You’re out of your mind.”

“I’ve been accused of worse.”

“You don’t even know me.”

He gives me a long look. “Sweetheart, I have a file on you an inch thick.”

Of course he does. He put too much planning into this night going his way to not have researched everyone involved. It still doesn’t change anything. What he’s offering isn’t exactly too good to be true, but it’s definitely in the realm. All I want is to protect my people. If Abel gives me the opportunity to do that, there’s no way I’m going to say no. I suspect he knows that. “You’re just doing this to hurt Eli.”

“I won’t lie. Punishing Eli plays into it.” He shrugs. “But I could just seduce you, and it would serve the same purpose. You know it as well as I do. This”—he motions between us—“sparks hot enough to burn Sabine Valley to the ground. We’ll fight, and then we’ll fuck, and it will drive him out of his mind. I don’t need to offer you a full partnership to get the perks.”

I hate that he’s not wrong. Even now, I want him with a borderline frenzy. It’s as if he’s woken up a part of me that’s spent most my life in slumber. I feel feral around Abel. I try to slow down, to think, but it’s hard when I’m breathing the same air as him. “I’ll do it on one condition.”

“You seem to be under the mistaken impression that you have bargaining chips in this situation.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Don’t I? I’m a valuable resource, and I’m more useful to you if you keep me relatively happy.”

His hands tighten on my hips ever so slightly. “Oh, I’ll keep you happy.”

“Don’t kill Eli. Give me your word that you won’t—not by your hand or order or brothers.”