Sin Her shoulders stiffen and every part of her goes rigid. "You heard me." She pivots around. I glare at her. Her cheeks redden, but she holds my gaze. Impressive. My little bird is trying to flex her fledgling wings, huh? Why should it matter to me the she’s dismissing this relationship as a pretense? It is, isn’t it? I was the one who’d initiated it, so why am I so angry that she’s insisting that it is all a fake, huh? Because that’s all this is ever going to be. Another lie in a long string of dec eptions, which is what I excel at, after all. I prowl over to her. Closer, closer. Her chest heaves; her breathing grows shallow. I pause when I am right in front of her. She tilts her head back, all the way back, to look at me. "Actually, I don’t think I did." I raise my hand and she flinches. She’s afraid. Good. I drag my finger down the side of her cheek. "Say it again." "You mean play it again, Sam?" "Huh?" "Casablanca." She gulps. "That scene where Ilsa—" "Asks Sam to play 'As Time Goes By’?" She nods "You have it wrong." "No, I don't." Her eyebrows knit. I smooth the crease between her eyebrows, and she turns her head away. "Listen," she huffs, "you may be the boss in the office but when it comes to movie trivia—" "—I am always right." I curl my lips. "You can’t be perfect about everything." She huffs. "Oh?" This should be good. "What will you give me if I prove you wrong?" She sets her jaw. "Well?" "What do you want?" "You." "Excuse me?" She whisper-screams. "You heard me." "You already have me right under your thumb, agreeing to every sneaky plan you’ve no doubt spent the last many years—" "A decade, actually." Color smears her cheeks. "—thinking about. You made me agree to this pretend marriage—" "That’s where you are wrong." I lean forward until my chest almost grazes her chest. Almost. I don’t need to glance down to find out that her nipples have puckered. (Expected.) Or that my pants are suddenly too tight at my crotch. (An unfortunate byproduct of our proximity, one that I'm going to alleviate as soon as I have
called her out on her mistake.) "That’s twice in as many minutes, by the way." Her gaze widens. "You are such an arrogant know-it-all. It’s not possible to have a single straight conversation with you." "Right?" I allow my grin to broaden. A pulse beats to life at the hollow of her neck. I want to drop my head, nuzzle that space where her scent would be the most concentrated. Fuck, why would you want to do that, huh? I start to raise my arm, then lower it; my fingers tingle. How can I ache to touch her again? Feel that silky smooth softness of her skin under my palm, cupping her, palming her arse, thrusting knuckle-de ep inside the soft core between her legs— "Hey." She claps her hands. I tip my chin, up. "Don’t raise your voice." "I’ll do whatever the fuck I want." "Summer!" A new voice sounds within the space. I glance past her, spot the woman Summer was talking to when I entered. "Who’re you?" "Hi." She moves forward, "I’m Karma." "Karma?" She blows out a breath. "Excuse my parentage, and hers." She jerks her head toward Summer. "We are what happens when you cross a flower-chewing hippie with a loser ex-millionaire with a penchant for gambling." No kidding! And isn’t that the root of this entire fucking problem. "Good to meet you by the way," she holds out her hand. I glance at it, then at her face. "The jury is out on that." She blinks, her features taking on a stunned countenance, then she chuckles, her shoulders shaking. She bursts out laughing, a full-throated giggle that’s oddly infectious. I find my lips twitching. "You must be the sister." "You must be the alphahole." She grins. I frown, "Alpha—?" "Shut up, Karma." Summer pivots, and I pull her against my side. She struggles and her hip grazes my side. I wind my arm around her tiny waist, dig my fingers into the curve of her butt. She shudders, then falls still. "So, that’s my nickname, huh?" I smirk. Summer snorts, "Only you would take it as a compliment." "I’ll let that pass." "Why do I find that so difficult to believe?" "You’re right to be suspicious." She huffs, "Why don’t you say what’s on your mind?"
"Where’s the fun in that?" Karma Chameleon’s gaze darts between us. "Guess you two get along quite well, eh?" "What are you talking about?" Summer throws her arms in the air, "We hate each other." "Right." Karma’s eyes gleam. "My sister is rather good at believing her own lies." "It’s the first thing I noticed about her, though in this case, I hate to admit she is right." Summer turns on me, "OMG, are you feeling feverish or something?" "Eh?" "You agreed with me. That’s a first? Is it raining outside?" "It always rains in London, haven’t you noticed?" She makes a noise de ep in her throat. I chuckle. "By the way," I tug on a strand of that pink hair, "completing what I started earlier—" "Do you always have to have the last word?" "Definitely getting to know me better." I tilt my head, "Be careful, you may end up liking me." "Never." She wrinkles her nose. "I’ll hold you to that, and as I was saying earlier, I was right." "About what?" "What you quoted was a misquotation of the line “Play it, Sam”." "No." She blinks. "Look it up." I smirk. She scans the room, pats the pockets of her skirt. "You searching for this?" I produce her phone and she snatches it up, stares at the screen. "You called me—?" "What’s the point of a phone if you never ke ep it with you?" "Twenty times?" "I expect you to be at my beck and call at all times. Have you forgotten?" I shoot up an eyebrow. "It’s the weekend." "You work for me, twenty-four-seven." "How can I forget!" She sets her jaw. "Well?" "What?" "Are you going to look it up?"" "I’ll save you the bother." Karma st eps forward, "He’s right." "So, what else is new?" I can’t ke ep the slightly victorious tone from my voice. Cheap shots. For some reason, when I am around her my control seems to slip, and hell, if I am not going to take every single opportunity to come out on top. Literally.
Summer glances between us, then pulls up her phone. Her fingers tap on the screen, then she stiffens. Tucks her elbows into her side. "Told ya." "Yeah, yeah." She blows out a breath and the hair on her forehead flies up. "That’s a first. I’ll give you this one." I lower my voice, "You'll give me every one of your firsts." Her chin comes up, and she whips her head around to look at me. "Happy?" I shake my head. "What more do you want?" "We made a deal at the start of this conversation, have you forgotten?" "I am losing count, asshole." I lower my head, nuzzle her cheek, then whisper, "Much prefer alphahole." "I think I’m going to call you pain in the ass." "At least wait until I’ve stuffed my cock into that hole too," I murmur. Her breathing hitches. I pull back, survey her features. Pupils dilated; creamy skin of her neck flushed with color. My dick instantly lengthens. Her mouth opens, and that’s when, cunt that I am, I move in. I close the distance between us, drop my head and close my mouth over hers. She stiffens; every muscle in her body solidifies. I swipe my tongue between her lips and a small sigh es capes her. I nibble on her mouth, suck on her tongue, and her spine curves. I bring her firmly against my side. She literally seems to melt into me. My cock hardens, my balls throb, an answering pulse flares at my temples. Fuck. The sound of a throat being cleared reaches me. I lessen the intensity of the kiss, move back, and she follows me. I can’t stop the rumble of pleasure that vibrates up my chest. She must have heard it too, for she stiffens. Then pulls away. I let her put some distance between us. Not too much, for I ke ep my arm about her waist. "So." I turn to Karma. "Glad you could make it." "Wouldn’t miss helping my sister plan her wedding." "Wait." Summer shuffles her feet, "You're the one who invited her?" "He did," Karma confirms. Summer shoots me a dirty glance, "Did you hack the password to my phone?" "Didn’t need to. I used your favorite number." "How did you know...?" She purses her lips. "You had my laptop rigged so you could figure out my patterns?" "You give me too much credit. Turns out, you are predictable."
She snarls low in her throat. Damn it, those little sounds she makes? I’ll ensure it’s an all-out cry when I have her spread out on my desk and— "It’s an invasion of privacy." She hisses. "That’s not the only thing I’m going to invade." She reddens, and her chest heaves in the way that implies that she’s seriously turned on. Bet her panties are soaking wet, not that I am complaining. I wish we were alone so I could shove my fingers between her legs and confirm my theory. My fingers twinge and I fold them into a fist at my side. "Are you going to use every word I say against me?" Summer mutters I arch an eyebrow. She swipes her hair back, "Forget I asked." "Mr. Sterling," Karma interrupts. "That sure is a generous offer, by the way." "What is?" Summer frowns. "He didn’t tell you?" She blinks, "How many men would give carte blanche to their bride to organize the wedding their way." "Only the cunning, conniving, obnoxious ones." Summer mumbles. So fucking feisty. This woman, she hasn’t a hope in hell of ke eping up with me. Still, I have to give her full points for trying, which is more than what I’d acknowledge with any other opponent. She is turning out to be nothing like what I had expected. Surprises, I hate them. Challenges... Yeah, I can definitely credit her as a puzzle to be solved, a game to be played, safe in the knowledge that there will be one winner—me. "That all you’ve got?" I allow my lips to curl. "And you..." Summer glowers at Karma, "I can’t believe you are ganging up on me with him." There’s a loud bang on the front door, which flies open. "Are we too late?" Summer blinks. "Isla, Amelie?" "I took the liberty of inviting your closest friends too."