Who was used to absolute control.

Goosebumps shot down my spine as he narrowed his eyes and stepped onto the shore, the sea reluctantly letting him go.

His beauty wasn’t fair.

It made a mockery of every other beautiful thing because it turned perfection into a sin. Prettiness was a weapon and a curse. In a woman’s case, it was mainly a curse. In Sully’s case, it was most definitely a weapon.

An annihilation.

Raking a hand through his sun bleach-tipped dark hair, he scattered another rainfall of droplets on his shoulders. He had no towel to wrap around his waist, no way of hiding how supremely toned his physique was.

The girls practically drooled in the sand, never ripping their eyes off him.

Sighing heavily, he stalked toward the treeline, nodding courteously at the goddesses. He didn’t speak, almost as if he had no tolerance or desire to torment.

However, that didn’t stop them.

The ebony girl, Calico, purred, “Well, if it isn’t the Emperor of Sin himself.”

Sully didn’t pause. His smile was polite but cool. “Goodnight, girls.” His long legs ate up sand, prowling closer toward me and the undergrowth.

A flickering tiki torch bathed him in golden flames, highlighting ridges and valleys of his chiselled belly.

“Sullivan…we were just talking about you.” Neptune sidled in front of him, stopping his journey, cocking her hip suggestively and licking her bottom lip. “Care to join us? We’re a few drinks ahead of you…but you could catch up.”

The sexual invitation was so rife in the humid air, I almost choked on it.

Sully shook his head warningly. “Maybe another time.”

“Maybe in Euphoria?” Jupiter fluttered her eyelashes, moving closer to him. “Is it true you’ve never sampled your own creation?”

His jaw worked as if he chewed on his temper. His eyes flickered to the darkness where I hid, almost as if he knew I was there.

He couldn’t, though…could he?

Tension rippled down his back as he diplomatically replied, “This business demands all work and no play from me. Euphoria is for you and our guests.”

“It could be for you too,” Neptune murmured. “All of us. Tonight.”

“That won’t happen.”

“Tomorrow?”

His eyebrows came down sharply, shadowing intense blue eyes. “Ever.”

Calico visibly deflated, then moved to his side with sinuous grace. “But don’t you want to know what it’s like?”

Sully paused for a moment, tasting her question and teasing a reply. Finally, he whispered harshly, “It’s best for everyone that I don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t fuck my staff.”

Calico bristled. “We’re not just staff. We’re—”

His hand lashed out, locking around her chin. “Don’t mistake our relationship, Goddess Calico. You are mine to do with as I please. What I please is for you to obey me, to satisfy our guests, and to stop fantasising that I will one day fuck you.” Jerking her close to him, he bit out, “That will never happen. I have been perfectly clear about that from the start, so stop this charade and save your lust for someone who wants it.”

Pushing her away, he bowed with all the elegance and sovereignty of a paladin. “Now, goodnight. Nep, you’re in Euphoria tomorrow. I expect you to be well-rested and not hungover.”

Neptune lowered her head, staring into the dregs of her cocktail. “Yes, Sullivan.”

“Good.” With a harsh nod, he skirted around them and continued his stalk to the treeline.

Time to go.

Scurrying from my hiding spot, I broke into a tiptoeing jog down the sandy pathway. I got to the first turn, but before I could disappear, his voice lassoed around my waist.

“Stop.”

I skidded in the sand, partly from shock at his command and partly in horror that he’d known I was there all along.

“Turn around.”

I didn’t.

I might’ve behaved and halted, but I wouldn’t turn around. Not while he was mostly naked and dressed in liquid salt. Not while my heart still raced after listening to his stupid goddesses. Not when my insides no longer knew what was up or down, right or wrong, real or myth.

The soft footfalls of his steps sent chills down my back.

The next time he spoke, a gust of his breath tickled my nape. “Looking for something?”

I swivelled around, hating the sensation of him behind me. The vulnerability of it. The submissiveness of being open for an attack.

Our eyes locked. Grey to blue. His skin shimmered with dampness in the dancing fiery torches. His jaw clenched as a breeze swept down the pathway, catching my hair and making it whip over my shoulder.

His lips thinned, his powerful throat rippled as he swallowed, and his thick five o’clock shadow twinkled like tinsel, trapping ocean droplets with tiny prisms.

I straightened my spine, forcing myself to hold his stare even though it felt as if he reached both hands inside me and squeezed all the air out of my lungs with his fists. Even though it reminded me of my abominable behaviour, the fact that he’d seen me naked and unhinged…that I’d seen him equally naked and raw.

No matter how much I wanted to deny it, something linked us.

The unwanted aftermath of need. The unhealthy challenge of hate.

His nostrils flared as our stare became an eternity, creating a painful bond, a strange understanding, a terrifying future. “Well?” he growled, his voice gruff and gravelly.

“Well?” I trembled in the sand. My knuckles ached from clenching my hands so hard. What would he do if I hit him? If I let go of all the snapping, howling fury with physical violence instead of just verbal?

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

Why?

Did you?

His question lingered for far longer than a typical query, almost as if it held far more weight than first heard. Almost as if the hidden message was beyond his or my control.

Did you find what you were looking for?

Is it you?

Is it me?

Who are you?

Despite the tropical heat, my blood cast with snowflakes, and I hugged myself. Raising my chin, I replied, “No, as a matter of fact, I didn’t.”

No, it’s not you.

It would never be you.

Scott was my boyfriend. Scott was family and home.

This man…he was my enemy.

We were polar opposites, destined to clash, foreordained to doom the other.

“Oh?” His voice darkened. “And what is it you wanted to find?”

“A way off this nightmare.”

He froze for a second before his lips twisted into a fox-like smile. “I will personally escort you off my shores. I will be glad to see you gone…in four years.”

Shadows of the retreating goddesses flickered behind him. Two dashed away, obviously heeding his warning not to drink anymore and get their beauty sleep. The last one paused, watching us braced against each other, undoubtedly seeing the blistering tension and intense dislike, hearing the flame next to us crackle with the toxic energy that formed whenever Sully and I duelled.

“How about we save each other a lot of nonsense and agree to go our separate ways now?”

He chuckled under his breath. “Your naivety would be funny if you weren’t such a pain in my ass.”