18
ZANDER
IT WAS A DICK MOVE, but crashing Eden’s Date with Luke felt like the right thing to do.
It wasn’t that he was a bad kid.
He wasn’t.
It was just that well …
Eden was mine.
Not technically.
I couldn’t lay claim to her, but even though I would never admit it to anyone else, I couldn’t stand the idea of her with another man. I had never been the jealous type, but then again, I had never wanted something so badly in all my life.
After making the arrangements to have Luke removed from the restaurant and a car set to take Eden home, I left and went back to my penthouse feeling like my control was back in full force.
I leaned casually against the elevator wall on the way up to my place, feeling better than I had in a long while.
Things were still a mess inside me. I was still the sexual deviant, but for some reason, I didn’t feel like my desires for Eden were all that wrong.
I mean, yeah, I wanted to do dirty things to her.
Tie her up.
Blindfold her.
Fill up her tight little cunt and ass until she was begging me to make her come.
But my desire for her felt healthy.
Normal.
It had never felt that way with any other woman.
I waved my access card and opened the door to my place when the click sounded. Removing my jacket, I draped it over the bench by the front door knowing the maid would take care of it.
I hadn’t eaten at the restaurant like I had intended. So instead of going to my room and showering, I went to my kitchen, which I rarely used, to see if maybe there was something worth eating there. If not, I would just have to send an order down to the kitchen.
Just as I tugged my refrigerator door open, a loud knock shook my door, surprising me.
First of all, there were only a handful of people allowed on our floor and all of which, with the exception of Kade, would never show up at my place late at night. Secondly, Kade was in New York, and if he wasn’t, that fucker would never knock on my door.
I went to the door, pulling it open without even checking to find Eden staring back at me with fire in her eyes and her body tense as if she was ready to strike.
“How dare you?” She stomped past me in her little yellow summer dress looking like a fucking wet dream.
I followed her with my eyes, my gaze landing on her gorgeous legs.
Shutting the door behind me, I strutted into the living space where she was standing with her arms crossed and ready for a fight.
“How dare I? You do know who you’re talking to, right?”
I did whatever the fuck I wanted most of the time.
She should know that about me by now.
She pinched the bridge of her perky nose and breathed out. “Please tell me that tonight didn’t happen. That you didn’t stroll in on my date with Luke and kick him out. That definitely didn’t happen, right?”
I chuckled, liking the way she was able to make me feel amused.
“It happened, angel.”
And then she surprised me yet again when she flew across the room and got in my face. She was shorter than I was by quite a bit, which meant she had to look up at me. She pointed her finger in my face and glared at me.
“You think you can control everything! Well, you can’t!”
I crossed my arms, trying to keep the grin from my lips. But the truth was, her little fit was doing nothing but turning me on. My cock was already rock hard.
The fire in her eyes when she yelled at me? I wanted to see that fire while I fucked her. I wanted her nails scraping my back and her teeth in my shoulder.
“I can, and I will.”
She breathed hard once again, her nostrils flaring. “You owe Luke an apology.”
Her words struck a chord, sending angry vibes through me.
“I don’t owe anyone a goddamn thing, and I never will again,’ I snapped, making her jerk back.
“You basically called him poor. You put him down in the worst way possible.”
“I did no such thing. I simply made a statement about how expensive the restaurant he took you to was.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re completely clueless about the real world, aren’t you? You’ve probably never wanted for anything in all your life. Never been hungry. Never been cold. You think you’re so mighty, but the fact is, you’ve never survived this life.”
She had no fucking idea what she was talking about.
None.
I had survived harder than anyone else I knew.
I did what I had to and nothing had ever been handed to me. I either took it or worked my fucking ass off for it, but I didn’t feel the need to defend myself to her. She was going to think what she wanted to about me.
“Oh, really? And have you survived? Tell me, angel. Have you ever been hungry? Have you ever had to steal to survive?”
Her face went blank, her large blue eyes looking wounded as she stared back at me.
She was at a loss for words.
“I didn’t think so.”
I turned to walk away, but before I did she spoke.
“I stole a car to come to Vegas. I did it to get away from the hellhole I called my life where my mother’s current boyfriend didn’t know how to keep his hands to himself.”
It took me a minute to comprehend what she had said, but once she did, pain struck me in the stomach while rage for whoever this man was began to boil in my gut.
“I’ve gone to bed hungry many nights because he wouldn’t let my mother and me work. They might’ve been fine without eating since they were too high to care, but I didn’t do the drugs. I was hungry. So, yes, Zander, I know hunger. And I know what it’s like to steal to survive because if I hadn’t stolen something and ran, I wouldn’t have made it another year in that house.”
Her eyes lowered as if she was embarrassed by her admissions, but to me, it only showed how much of a warrior she was.
She was a fucking fighter.
She might have looked angelic, but the devil was just beneath her skin, and I wanted to expose that side of her while enjoying the fruits of her innocence.
“Come here,” I said, reaching my hand out to her.
Opening up to another person was something I rarely did, but somehow, it felt safe knowing some of her inner demons.
She stared at my hand as if it was a venomous snake.
“I won’t hurt you, Eden,” I promised.
At least not at that moment I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t make that kind of promise about any moment past the one we were in.
She swallowed, the action moving her slender neck and drawing my eyes to her graceful collarbones.
Finally, she closed her eyes and stepped closer to me. I pulled her into my arms, loving the feel of her tiny body against mine, and then I reached up and pushed her long blond locks from her shoulders, so I could see her beautiful neck.
“Tell me his name and I’ll have him killed.”
I was only half joking.
She looked up at me and shook her head. “I bet you would, too, wouldn’t you? I bet you have that kind of pull.”
I grinned, giving her an answer without actually saying hell yes.
“It’s best if I don’t answer that. After all, that would make you an accomplice.”
Her lips tilted into a grin, but then she sobered. “Don’t make me laugh. I’m furious with you.”
“Why is that again?”
She glared. “You know why. You realize this just means now Luke and I will have to have a makeup date to rectify the one you sabotaged.”
Now I was instantly sober. “The hell you will. I don’t want you dating anyone from Empire Sevens.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why? Do all your female employees have this rule, or is it just me?”
“I mean it, Eden.”
“Is this another one of your ploys to get me to quit?”
“If that is what it takes to keep you from dating anyone else.”
She pulled back and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re serious?”
I nodded, feeling crazy at just the thought of her and Luke alone again.
“As a fucking heart attack. I dare you, angel. Try me.”