Dark Ties (Made Men 9)

Shit, am I his coyote ugly?

Glancing over at where Dante lay still, she knew the asshole wasn’t asleep, even though he was already pretending he was. Leo and Amo, however, were actually asleep, that she was certain about.

She studied the man, wishing she could find something, anything, about him that made him physically unattractive, yet she couldn’t find a single fucking thing. She wished Dante Caruso were her coyote ugly, but the man was anything but. He was and probably would remain the most attractive person she had ever slept with, and that made her hate him just a little bit more.

I am the ugly one, Nadia thought, coming to the only conclusion left of why he must be treating her that way. He was embarrassed by the fact he had slept with her.

No! she stopped herself. Nadia herself knew she was not ugly and couldn’t believe she was letting a man make her feel that she was. If he did find her unattractive, then fuck him.

I’ll show you ugly.

Slowly, Nadia stood, removing the shirt Dante had given her and revealing the white triangle-top bikini underneath. Then, only when she was certain he was looking at her, did she leisurely remove her blue jean shorts. She adjusted the white string bottoms to sit higher up her waist, making sure Dante got an eyeful of her ass before she walked off. She remembered last night well enough to know where his hands had stayed firmly planted.

“Where are you going?”

So, he can speak …

Looking back over her shoulder at the prick, she saw that he had pulled his sunglasses far down his nose to get an undistorted view … I guess he can see me, too.

“Going for a dip. I’m hot.” She decided to play it cool, like she didn’t want to murder the asshole.

His brows furrowed together. “You can’t swim.”

“Says who?” Nadia said, walking off again. She didn’t need his negative energy.

“You!” Nadia could not only hear the frustration in his voice, but she could see it in his face, too. “When you took a dive off the boat. Or have you already forgotten that I had to jump in to save your ass?”

The emphasis on his last word proved her theory right.

“Well, don’t bother this time,” she grumbled, giving the man the sight he wanted.

* * *

Goddammit.

Dante weighed his options while he stared at Nadia’s backside walking away. He could either listen to his head and go make sure she stayed alive himself, or he could listen to his actual head and get Amo to watch her.

The sight of her glorious ass made him not want to do the latter, but he found himself picking up the bottle of SPF on the ground and throwing it at his soldier to wake him up.

“What the—”

Amo shot up, prepared to fight, but quickly saw the bottle on top of him. “The fuck was that for?”

“Go make sure Nadia doesn’t fucking drown herself,” he spat at him grumpily, already regretting his decision.

“Why can’t yo—”

Amo was already about to lie back in his lounger when he caught Nadia in her white bikini in the distance. “No problem.”

It was everything Dante could do not to strangle his soldier when he practically jumped up to go watch Nadia. The only thing that kept him plastered to his lounger and his jaw tightly shut was the fact that Leo had woken up … and was watching his every move.

* * *

Proud of herself, she smiled smugly as she walked to the swim platform at the back of the yacht. She sat down, dangling her feet into the warm salted water, feeling like she had beat him at his own game. Any moment, he would be comin—

“Didn’t expect you to want to go swimming anytime soon,” Amo joked, joining her.

Nadia looked back at Dante, who was already back to acting asleep on the lounger. Her eyes turned into beady little slits. That motherfucker. He had woken up his soldier to deal with her instead.

“I don’t,” Nadia huffed, dipping herself into the water just enough to wet her body. She pulled herself back out of the water just as quickly then walked off the way she had come, leaving Amo baffled.

Her excessively loud footsteps let her presence be known, and it took all her willpower not to flick him off when she sauntered by him in her wet white bikini. Knowing the sun was going to set soon, she didn’t let herself dry off, heading back to her room instead.

She could practically feel his heated gaze on her backside this time, and now that she knew how to get his attention …

He was going to pay.

Thirteen

The King of Kansas City

The look on Dante’s face as Nadia joined them for dinner after disappearing made getting all dolled up for the last hour worth it. For the first time since he had given it to her, she had left his shirt behind to reveal her dress in all its glory. She had picked a sexy, red, ruched dress that hugged her body for dear life, as it was probably a size too small, but it really did a number for her curves. It was quite short, but she had checked her self-consciousness at the door, because this was payback, and her fiery-red dress with matching red lipstick gave her all the confidence she needed for retribution.