10
ZANDER
THE FURY I FELT when I saw Victor Romano curse out Eden was something I hadn’t felt in years. I wanted to go across the bar and rip his vocal cords out so he could never speak to another person that way. And when I saw tears roll over her cheeks, I had to control myself because I almost did just that.
Who the fuck wore flip-flops to wait tables?
A lot of the girls wore heels—and I didn’t understand that either—but fucking flip-flops?
No.
That was my first thought after the anger toward Romano melted away, but then when she said she didn’t own any other shoes than the old, broken flip-flops on her feet, something inside me cracked.
“We have ourselves a bit of problem then, don’t we? Because if you wear those flip-flops to work again, you’re fired, which means you either take what I’m offering you from the goodness of my heart and keep your job, or you refuse my offer and you lose your job.”
Her face paled, her wide blue eyes looking hurt and confused.
Part of me hoped she would refuse and leave. That would make my current situation a whole lot fucking easier. She would basically be quitting, and then Kennedy couldn’t hold it against me. But for a second, when I looked at the pain in her eyes, I changed my mind.
The embarrassment of being so poor she couldn’t afford shoes showed on her face, and part of me hoped she would take the offer and get a pair of acceptable shoes. If she did, maybe she could continue to work and make money to dig herself out of whatever hole she was in.
Then again, this was Kennedy’s niece we were talking about.
Why had Kennedy not gotten the girl a pair of decent shoes?
I happened to know for a fact that Kennedy made damn good money. I signed her paycheck. She could afford shoes.
Anger moved into my gut once again.
“Does your aunt know you don’t have any shoes? Does she know you’re working with fucking flip-flops on?”
My questions came out rougher than I intended, making her jump a little.
“She doesn’t know, and I would prefer she not find out. It’s not her job to take care of me.”
“Then whose job is it?”
“It’s mine. And as I said, I have the money, I just haven’t had the time.”
Respect for her seeped in, shocking me. I hadn’t expected her to be so headstrong. She looked small and timid, but it seemed inside her tiny frame there was a bit of a warrior.
“You have the money but not the time?”
She nodded.
“And you won’t take this money because you didn’t earn it? Seriously? You’re walking around with duct tape on your ninety-nine-cent flip-flops, and you’re looking at this hundred-dollar bill and refusing it because you didn’t work for it?”
Again, she nodded.
I stared at her, my eyes scanning her serious expression and the perfection of her flawless skin. She could have whatever she wanted. I knew men who would give her anything just to be near her. With her looks, she could walk the Vegas Strip dripping in diamonds, yet she refused to accept something being handed to her.
She wanted to work for it, and I respected the fuck out of that.
I nodded, understanding her reasoning. “Fine,” I conceded, stuffing the money in my pocket. “Then go buy some decent fucking shoes right this second and then get back here to finish your shift.”
Her eyes narrowed at my words, anger striking her flushed expression and making me think she might actually stand up to me.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, she nibbled her bottom lip as though it was keeping her mouth in check, and then she said in a sarcastically sweet tone, “Yes, sir.”
She turned, her broken shoe in hand, and started toward my office door to leave. My eyes moved over her stiff back before landing on her perfect ass.
She was fucking gorgeous and seemed to be clueless about it. I liked that about her. I also longed for the tiny spark I could see behind her eyes from time to time.
She was a warrior.
A fighter.
We were kindred.
I had once fought to survive in this life, and I could tell she was doing the same. It made me glad she had Kennedy Vaughn on her side, and if, by some chance, the same heated blood that flowed through Kennedy’s veins was in Eden’s veins, then I knew she would make it to the top.
With or without anyone else’s help.
Once the door clicked behind her, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a struggle to be in her presence, and holding my own was slowly becoming more difficult
Her skin called to me.
Her eyes.
Her lips.
Breasts.
And that warm soaking spot between her thighs that I knew was untouched and needy.
My cock throbbed between my thighs, hard and heavy, begging to be touched, but I wouldn’t give in. I was in control, and I would remain that way. My body didn’t have the last word; I did. But sometimes, when I looked at Eden, I didn’t feel so powerful. In fact, looking at her made me feel downright fucking weak.
She brought out the addict in me, and he was hungry for just a tiny taste of her.
THE NEXT MORNING, I woke with a hard dick and thoughts of Eden racing through my mind. I couldn’t get in a cold shower quick enough, and once inside, I made it a point not to spend too much time washing my cock.
It was purple and angry, peering up at me with its accusing eye and cursing me for putting it through so much pain. I looked away, washing my hair once again and letting the cold water shock my system until my heated member cooled and went limp.
Turning off the shower water, I dried my starving body and dressed for the day.
It wasn’t long until I was stepping off the elevator onto the first floor of the Empire and making my way toward my office.
“Good morning, Mr. Hale,” Joey, a member of our morning shift security detail, said as I passed him.
I nodded to him, before pushing open my office door and disappearing inside.
Sitting at my desk, I went about my morning routine, which meant checking the hundreds of emails I received between leaving my office last night and getting here this morning.
I opened one from Kennedy that read urgent in the subject line. As always, they were quick and to the point, which was exactly how I liked them. It made my life easier.
“Shit,” I cursed after reading over the first few sentences of her email.
I pushed away from my desk and made my way toward the men’s locker room where, according to Kennedy, there was a leak in the bathrooms that connected. She had already called maintenance to come out and look at it, but apparently, it wasn’t something they could fix.
Pushing open the door, the room was silent and empty since the morning crew and night crew had already switched shifts. Passing the row of lockers, I glanced down each aisle out of habit, and that was when I saw her.
I skidded to a stop and stood there, unable to take my eyes off her almost bare ass. Aside from the thin string of fabric that nestled between her ass cheeks, she was all soft skin and temptation.
She held her back to me as she pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it onto the bench next to her.
I lost track of how many minutes passed as I stood there frozen and unable to look away from the perfect curves of her ass. I thought about turning around and leaving before she realized I was watching, but before I could, she turned and faced me.
She froze with her shirt midway over her head, and her eyes went wide.
“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
My eyes rushed over her half-naked body before landing on the overflowing cleavage above her bra. It was apparently too small for her.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked, trying to cover as much as she could with her arms and hands.
“I should be asking you both of those questions. You are aware that this is the men’s locker room, right?”
Her eyes went wide before she turned her head from side to side to take in her surroundings.
“Oh, my god. I’m so sorry, Mr. Hale. I had no idea—”
“I told you not to call me that,” I snapped, cutting her off midsentence.
She stiffened, drawing my attention to her tense posture. My eyes dipped over her folded arms on her chest before taking in her flat stomach and small, adorable belly button.
I wanted to lick it, before kissing my way down and sucking in her sweetness.
“Sorry, sir,” she said sarcastically, making my hard cock throb inside my slacks. “Is that better?”
She lifted a brow in question while still attempting to cover herself.
She wasn’t doing an outstanding job of it, and I was able to see every succulent piece of her flesh except for whatever was hiding behind her thin white panties and folded arms.
The words I wanted to say weighed heavily on my tongue, but I didn’t speak them out loud no matter how much I wanted to see the sweet blush tint her cheeks.
That’s right.
Call me sir, angel.
Call me sir before you suck my hard throbbing cock between your sweet lips.
“Just forget it,” I snapped. “Put your fucking clothes on and get out of the men’s locker room.”
And then I fled, turning on my heels and leaving her beautiful face with a look of confusion and frustration. This would not work.
I had overestimated my patience and abilities.
I wanted Eden.
I wanted her so fucking badly my body was burning for her.
I knew next to nothing about her minus the fact that she could hardly afford a decent pair of shoes and she had one of the best asses I had ever laid eyes on, but I wanted her so badly my blood boiled.
I was scorched from the inside out for her, my brain frying and leaving my thoughts screaming and scattering like a wounded animal.
My focus was on all things her, leaving important things like work and numbers sitting in the back untouched. My job and the numbers were always the most important things to me, but I left the locker room without even checking or thinking about the leak in there again.
It wasn’t until a security member came into my office later in the day and informed that the room had a bit of flooding that I remembered the reason I had even gone into the locker room in the first place.
No.
She had to go.
But firing her was out the question.
The last thing I needed was Kennedy on my ass. She was ballsy and, honestly, scary as fuck. I didn’t want her on my bad side for the next few months. I had pissed her off once, and she made my life a living hell for two months. I had a feeling fucking with her family would get me at least six.
Eden needed to quit.
End of subject.
I was the only one who could make that happen, and I knew exactly how to do it.