I can’t read the look on Isabella’s face, but her name echoes in my mind. I want to taste it on my tongue. I want to taste her on my tongue. And I don’t trust this shift in tactics. Five minutes ago, she was calling me a bastard from the doorway of my own office and looked ready to tear me into a thousand pieces.

The heat isn’t gone from her face. If anything, it’s almost intensified—but the words dripping from her lips are a breath away from begging, and it’s the most beautiful sound in the world. I’ll do anything, Jasper. Anything.

It’s only a shadow of how she’d sound if she was moaning my name, pleading for the kind of sweet release I’d play out for minutes—hours, if necessary. Her green eyes are wide, breasts lifting underneath the thin silk shell, and those lips—Jesus, those lips—parted while she waits for me to answer...

Isabella Gabriel is playing a dangerous game.

Can it really be all about her mother’s apartment?

It hardly matters to me whether the woman wants to move or not. If she wants to stay in the building badly enough, she’ll come up with the funds to buy one of the renovated condos. Hell, if it resolves the slight issue of the seller lying through his teeth to not only me, but Mike Ford, and who knows who else at Pace, Inc., it might be worth the cost.

I’m not going to say that to Isabella.

Not yet. 

I’m going to keep my cards face down on the table. She might have her most contrite face on right now, but I saw her when she came in. I’m not as witless as she thinks I am.

I could dismiss her right now, and show her who’s really in charge.

Or I could let her dangle for a little while longer. I could buy some time to decide what to do. 

I choose door number two.

“Anything?” I let the word roll off my tongue, narrowing my eyes. Isabella’s fingertips rest lightly on the edge of my desk, but her grip tightens at the word. An image flashes into my mind—her bent over this desk, knuckles white while she holds on for dear life. And me? God, the options would be endless. I could bring my palm down against her creamy, flawless ass. I could work my fingers between her legs, teasing at her clit, making her spread those legs wider and wider until she can’t buck against my fingers, until she’d let me take total control if she wanted to get off.

Her tongue darts between her lips, but she doesn’t take her eyes off mine. “Anything.”

I lean back in my seat, linking my hands together behind my head. “It seems odd,” I say casually, “that five minutes ago you were ready to tear me limb from limb, and now you’re ready to give away...anything.”

“My mother—”

“I’m not sure you’ve quite thought through the consequences of a word like anything, Isabella.” I was right. Even her name feels sweet in my mouth, even if a wayward breeze could have her shooting daggers at me with her eyes. 

She straightens up again, putting her hands in her lap. “That’s where you’re wrong, Jasper.”

“About which thing? Tearing me apart?”

Isabella bites her lip. “Both. I was—” Her eyes dart down to her lap, then back to my face. “I was upset. I was angry. If you only knew how much that apartment means to my mother—” She breaks off. “That doesn’t matter. That’s personal. This is business. I’ve thought about it, and I will do anything to convince you to let her stay.”

I grin at her across the desk, leaning forward to pull a folder from one of the drawers. “If you’re serious, then there should be a relatively simple solution to all of this.”

Isabella can’t disguise the hope in her face. “What’s that?”

I pull out the packet of papers about the Hamilton Heights building—the outlines of the deal I made to buy it two months ago. It was finalized last week. The owner clearly didn’t waste any time in notifying the tenants, who aren’t supposed to exist.

I slide the packet across the desk toward Isabella, and then tap one finger against the sum at the bottom. “Buy it yourself. Make it worth my while.”

Isabella’s shoulders sag a fraction of an inch, and then her guard is back in place. A new flush comes to her cheeks. “If this were any other day—” She lifts the papers from the desk, holding them lightly in her hands, and shakes her head.

“Then what?”

The packet flutters back down to the surface of the desk. “Are we being honest with each other?”

“What else would we be?”

She gives me a wry grin. “Three weeks ago, I could have bought this building from you and had capital left to spare.”

“And here I had the impression that you weren’t a wealthy woman.”

“I do well for myself.”

“What business are you in?”

“I’m sure you haven’t heard of me. I run a little company called Gabriel Luxe.”

It clicks into place then—the fearless attitude, the way she waltzed in here as if she owned the place. She’s the Isabella Gabriel, and her fashion company is so buzzy that I’ve even heard of it at cocktail parties. I laugh out loud. “You’re playing with me, Isabella. You’re the talk of the city. You’re telling me you can’t afford this single building? I haven’t even started the renovations yet—it’s at a rock-bottom price.”

There’s no hint of embarrassment in her reply. “I’m in the middle of expanding to statewide distribution, with plans to go national by the middle of next year.”

Oh. “And you’ve found yourself a bit...over-leveraged.”

“A bit.” Another deep breath, and a charge flashes through her eyes. “So I can’t deal on financial terms.”

My cock is so hard I feel every heartbeat resonating through it. There’s no way she’s suggesting what I think she’s suggesting. There’s no way a woman like Isabella Gabriel would ever put herself in that position. And along with the hot, pulsing lust that’s echoing through every one of my cells, there’s a bright glee. This game is about to get interesting, because she’s given me the chance I’ve been waiting for since she said she’d do...anything.

The chance to call her bluff.

“If finances are off the table...” She waits, her full lips pressed together. I nod like I’ve made up my mind once and for all. “I’ll accept a different kind of trade. You agree to let me possess you—possess all of you—for one month, and I won’t force your poor mother to abandon the only home she’s ever loved.”

“All of me?” The words are low, her eyes wide, cheeks a scarlet red.

“All of you. Everything at my discretion. Everything under my control.”

It’s an outrageous demand, and it’s going to send her running for the door.

She sucks in her breath.