She nodded, yet she didn’t completely believe him. Why else would they want her to stay with them?
“Dinner is at six o’clock,” Drew explained. “We will see you then.”
“Are you dismissing me?”
“Did you need something else?” he asked. “Douglas is in the hall. He will escort you the house. He will show you to your room. You’ll find everything you need there. We will see you at dinner.”
Alison rose from the chair in disbelief. “I’m taking the wine with me.” She clutched the wine and marched out of the office. She had no idea what in the hell had just happened.
Four
Hunter
He spun around to face Drew. He didn’t know if he had the words to describe what just happened. Shit like that didn’t happen to him. Never.
“Fuck, did you see her?”
Drew shook his head. “Yeah, I saw her.”
“She hates us, doesn’t she?”
“What did you think would happen? You bought her in a poker game. Why couldn’t you stick with gambling for cars or horses? Cash? Why her, Hunt. Why?”
Hunter pushed off the couch and paced around the room. “Damn. She’s perfect. More than perfect.” He hung his head. “She is incredible.” He’d never seen more beautiful lips on a woman. Her hair was golden—it almost shimmered as if she were an angel. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
“You wanted an empress.”
“Instead I got a caged panther.”
Drew stood next to him. “I’d say back out of the deal, but…”
He cut him off. “No. We can’t let her go.”
Drew shook his head. “No. We can’t. On this, I actually agree with you for once. Even if I completely disagree with how she came to us.”
“Are you ever going to stop giving me shit about it?”
He knew he gambled too much. He knew sometimes it got out of hand, but this was the one time it had paid off. His bet brought the most amazing woman into their lives. A sassy spitfire with gorgeous tits and an ass that was round and soft. And there was an entirely unexpected side—she was an artist.
It was a part of his life he had never been able to share with anyone before. He had collected for years. Toured the world, visiting the most prestigious collections he could find.
“She isn’t going to go for this, Hunt.”
“Then, we do it the old-fashioned way,” he decided.
“Old fashioned way?” Drew questioned.
“We seduce her with everything we have. We will be relentless. Put everything on the table. Everything.”
“I don’t know that Alison is the kind of girl who is going to fall for that. You saw that look. It’s clear Leo Rossi isn’t her favorite person, and I’m certain she has added our names to that list.”
“That may be so. But we have thirty days to make her ours. And I plan on using every second we have to make sure that happens.”
It took everything he had not to kiss her when she was here. He had taken one look at her and wanted to know what those plump lips would taste like. What kinds of sounds she would make when he kissed her. How her eyes would light when he touched her.
“Are you with me?” he asked his friend.
Drew ran his fingers through his hair. “For a chance with her? Yes I am. I’m all in, if we can make this work.”