Chapter Two
Dawg took a seat in the exclusive VIP area, ordering them both a drink as he did so. There were no queues or delays for him.
“You own this place, don’t you?” Lori asked.
He smiled. “Yes.”
“How long have you been watching me?” she asked.
“From the start.” He wasn’t even embarrassed about it. She averted her gaze though, and he knew she wasn’t happy about it.
“I don’t get it. You can have any woman you want, and yet why me?”
“Why not you?”
She released a breath. “I don’t like who you are or what you represent.”
“I’m not going to ever ask you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”
“But I don’t like what you do.”
He stared at her, seeing past the lies. Yes, maybe a small part of her was uncomfortable with it, but something else kept her at bay.
For now, he didn’t push. This was their first night together, and he didn’t want to ruin it. He’d have liked to take her out to dinner, but she’d been too stubborn to accept him.
Taking a sip of his brandy, he watched as she simply held her drink and stared down at the dance floor. She really was a beautiful woman, and sweet as well.
She tried to hide it underneath all that fire and anger, but he saw it. The documents he’d acquired about her had also told him what he already knew. During the weekends she helped at shelters to feed the homeless, and also volunteered as often as she could at several orphanages in town while also working a full-time job as a receptionist in a lawyer’s office. She never stopped, always worked, and always kept to herself.
There had been men in the past. Boyfriends that hadn’t really lasted longer than a couple of months. She’d not been pining for him.
He watched as she ran her fingers through her hair, and he couldn’t take it anymore. Reaching out, he asked for her hand, which she took.
“We’re here to dance.”
Leading the way onto the dance floor, he was aware of his men watching him, making sure nothing untoward would happen. He was a man that anything could happen to. Never had he allowed himself the luxury of relaxing and joining in the fun. His entertainment always came much later.
Tonight, he didn’t see himself getting what he wanted, but that was fine. He could have what he wanted if he was to use the contract, but he didn’t want to actually use it. What he wanted was for Lori to crave him like he did her. He could wait. The first part in his plan had been acquiring Lori. The next part was wooing her, and that alone would be hard. She had walls around her, keeping him out, and he was determined to break them down.
In the middle of the dance floor, he spun her around so that her back was to his front. With his hands on her hips, he began to move, feeling her ass rub against his dick.
“I didn’t know you liked to dance.”
“I happen to enjoy it.”
“But the risk it poses doesn’t allow you to do it,” she said, turning in his arms and wrapping one of hers around the back of his neck.
“No, it doesn’t.” He wondered how she knew that.
“You’ve got six guys standing near the dance floor. Your lifestyle is so dangerous that you can’t even enjoy the pleasure of a simple dance.”
She made to move away, but he caught her, holding onto her ass tightly. “Actually, I can enjoy the pleasure of a dance, baby, but I happen to like a different kind. The kind where we’re both naked and my dick is balls deep inside you.”
He saw her eyes dilate, and he’d surprised her.
She was pissed at him for her situation, and that was fine.
“You made sure I had a free pass to get inside this club,” she said.
When he heard the man at the door had turned her away, claiming she was too fat, he’d shot the bastard through the thigh and told him the next time would be through his skull if he said such vile shit to his woman. No one spoke to his woman like that.
To some men Lori was fat.
Not to him.
He loved her curves, loved her confidence in displaying them, and that she didn’t try to hide.
To him, she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen. When she finally got into his bed, he was going to love every single inch of her.
“You like to dance. I have the best club, and I don’t like the thought of anyone else seeing you work your magic.”
She pulled back a little. “You watch me?”
“Every chance I get.”
He was at the club most Fridays just to have the pleasure of watching her. Most of the time she came alone, and didn’t have a problem standing in the middle of the floor, swinging her hips, losing herself to the beat of the music. He often wondered what she was trying to run away from.
There was a darkness in her eyes, a vulnerability that he couldn’t find a reason as to why it was there. No records showed it, and no one had anything but nice things to say about her. Something was wrong though. He was sure of it.
Tilting her back so that her hair brushed the floor, he watched her giggle and smiled along with her.
That’s what he wanted. He didn’t want her submission to him or her to be afraid. From the first moment they met she’d never backed down, and he didn’t want her to. A broken woman was useless to him.
No, when it came to Lori, he wanted the chance to have everything with her. She’d be able to handle him, take on this life, and to give him children. Underneath all the badass, asshole ways, he wanted a family, and Lori was going to be the woman that would give it to him.
****
The night was amazing. Lori couldn’t deny it, nor could she deny the fun she had being in his arms. When he finally allowed himself to relax, he’d been more than just a crime lord, or whatever Dawg called himself.
“You’re not taking me back to my apartment?” she asked, seeing the car going in the opposite direction.
“No. You’re mine now, and that means you stay with me.”
Her mouth suddenly went dry.
There went the fun right out of it as he forced her to come crashing back to earth with a reality check.
Pulling away from him, she stared out of her window and watched the streets go by. Going down one particular street, she saw a scantily-clad woman on a corner. The woman waved at the car, but they didn’t slow down nor did they stop.
“Does she work for you?”
“What?” Dawg asked.
“The woman working the corner. Did she work for you?”
“She better not be.” His gaze fell on her. “You really don’t have a high opinion of me, do you?”
“I don’t know you.”
“I can tell. You wouldn’t be so quick to judge if you did know me.”
Properly scorned, she looked out of the window again and cursed him inside her head. It was another of her mother’s little tricks on how to deal with her pesky anger.
It wasn’t long before they were pulling into the luxury driveway of his home. Again, she spotted more guards, and rather than comfort her, they, in fact, made her even more nervous. Someone who had this many guards was someone very dangerous, and the threat they posed was serious.
He had a gun to my father’s head hours ago.
She had to keep on reminding herself of that, and not allow herself to fall for any of his tricks, no matter how much she wanted to.
Climbing out of the car without waiting for help, she moved toward the door and tried her hardest to ignore the stares or glares coming her way.
Within seconds Dawg was by her side, and the moment they were in his home he slammed the door closed and had her pressed up against it.
“I know you’ve got no problem behaving like a spoiled little brat when the mood takes you, but don’t ever climb out of the car without either myself or one of my men assisting you.”
“What?”
“That’s an order, and you will follow orders.”
“Is your life so dangerous a woman can’t even be independent around you?”
“There are men, and women for that matter, who would be paid handsome sums to get rid of me. The last thing I want is for someone to take that anger out on you, which is why a guard will be with you at all times.”
“No, that is not happening. I have work.”
“Yes, and I’m surprised you didn’t notice Ashley. He started last week at your firm. He’s a guard. Wears a security uniform, constantly walking around.”
She’d spotted him, but had figured he was there as a precaution because of one of the lawyers taking on a high-pressure case.
“You need to make him back off.”
“Not going to happen, darling. You’re mine, and I take care of what is mine. If you want, I’ll stop you working. Keep you here for my amusement, and send in your letter of resignation.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“And I can be an even bigger one if you want to keep this up,” he said.
She snapped her mouth shut, seeing no point in arguing with the man. He wasn’t going to listen to her no matter what she said or did. This was all on him, and she folded her arms, refusing to give him any satisfaction.
“Come on, let’s head on up to bed.”
They moved away from the door, and seconds later she heard the other guards enter. Deciding to ignore them, Dawg showed her to her room, but instead of leaving her and closing the door, he stepped inside with her.
“Do you want sex?”
“Do you want to have sex with me?” he asked.
“It’s part of what I signed, right? You can have what you want, when you want it?”
“I’m not telling you to have sex with me. You’re sleeping here, Lori, by my side. We’re not having sex tonight.”
“No. We can have sex, but we’re not sleeping together.”
“Yes. I’m not here to negotiate. The contract states I can have what I want. I want this, and this is where you will sleep. Final.” He stepped away, and she glared at the bed.
Seeing no other reason to argue, she found Dawg in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. She didn’t want to wait to get ready, and she certainly didn’t want him to think he had any power over her. Turning her back to him, she wished she had a mirror just so she could see the look on his face.
Once she finished removing all of her clothes, she turned on the shower and reached in to test the water, finding it just right.
Stepping into the warm spray, she tilted her head up and washed herself in record time.
Turning off the water, she remembered she had forgotten a towel. Before she could say anything, one was thrust inside the curtain. “Here you go.”
Did his voice sound strained?
Had she shocked him?
“Thank you.” Taking the towel, she wrapped it around her body.
Stepping out of the shower, she saw she was alone.
Brushing her teeth and taking care of her hair, she entered the bedroom and found Dawg waiting for her.
“This side is yours.” He opened the closet door and showed her all of her items.
“You went to my apartment?”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn’t be doing that.”
“I already paid your rent, Lori. As the owner of the building, I had access to the key.”
“You paid for the building?”
“When I realized where you were living, and the bastard who pretended to be a landlord, yes, I saw no other choice. It was either that, or kill the bastard. Guess what? He lived.”
This didn’t bring her comfort.
He left her alone, and she saw out of the corner of her eye that he’d gone to the bed.
After twenty minutes passed of brushing her hair and rearranging things within her closet, she saw no other choice. Quickly pulling a negligee over her head, she moved toward the bed.
Climbing beneath the sheets, she closed her eyes and tried to pretend she didn’t care that he was there, or that she could feel him.
“I’m not going to rape you, Lori. When we fuck, both of us are going to want it.”
“Hell will freeze over before that happens.”
“Well, global warming is happening. I imagine I won’t have to wait long.”
He was too smug for his own good.