“You’re such a bitch.”
And the gauntlet has been thrown, I thought. Clearing my throat, I did my best to sound conciliatory, saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean---”
I couldn’t say anything else.
Willa had just thrown herself at me, trying to tear my hair out as we fell to the floor.
What the fuck?
But then she started trying to claw my eyes out, and all thoughts of pacifying her were forgotten. “Get off me!” A hard shove managed to get her off, but just as I tried getting up, she pulled me right back, and I heard my blouse tearing from the back.
What the---
Nathan
An unidentified number flashed silently on Nathan Callis’ screen in the middle of his date, and he frowned. He was extremely meticulous when it came to sharing his private number. He tried to think of any person he had given his number to but whose contact information wasn’t registered in his contact list---
No name came to mind, and a rare sense of curiosity took a hold of him. Glancing at the exotic-looking brunette seated across him, he murmured with a properly regretful smile, “Could you excuse me for a moment? I have a rather urgent call to take.”
Aurora pouted. “Only if you promise it will only be for a moment.” She licked her lips as she spoke. The suggestive gesture had never failed to slay all the men she dated in the past, but to her chagrin, it seemed to do nothing at all for the Greek billionaire.
Merde, Aurora thought irritably even as she couldn’t help watching the billionaire walk away from her. She and Nathan had been seeing each other for a few weeks now, and she had truly thought he would be an easy conquest. After all, he had been described as the nicest of the BBFs, a gentleman through and through.
And they were right, Aurora acknowledged, but to a certain extent. Nathan was the nicest man she had dated. He never made her wait, insisted on picking her up every time they went out, and oh, he was such a beast in bed.
But he was also so frustratingly hard to read.
One moment, she would think she had him eating out of the palm of her hand. The next moment, she would feel like he was silently playing with her like a cat did with a mouse, patiently and cunningly biding his time before he killed her or left her for good.
Across the restaurant, she saw the Greek billionaire stop by the edge of the bar as he answered his call. The look on his face changed as he listened to the person at the other end of the line.
Well, well, well.
In that one rare instance, Nathan Callis had become rather transparent---
And whomever it was he was talking to---
That woman mattered to him.
Aurora’s fingers tightened around the stem of her wine glass.
Not a chance, bitch.
31-year-old Sergeant Ray Morris nervously waited by the station’s entrance, with the chief of police’s warning words still ringing in his ears. Nathan Callis, along with the other members that made up the BBFs, was a long-standing benefactor of the force, and the chief was determined to keep it that way.
Whatever the guy wants, you give him, you got that?
At exactly eight-fifteen in the evening, a limousine drove up, and the sergeant hurried forward to open the door himself.
Nathan Callis stepped out, and Ray struggled to keep his composure. He had seen numerous photos of the Greek scion on the Internet, but it was his first time to meet the younger man in person. He had thought that Callis would appear more…ordinary, but in this he was mistaken.
Now, Ray understood why this man was paid millions of dollars just to have his face show up on an ad or walk several feet down the catwalk. If God had ever created a perfect face – hell, a perfect man even – then Nathan Callis would be it. The man was astoundingly handsome, and even the word ‘pretty’ could have applied if not for the hard angles of Callis’ face and the obvious strength in the billionaire’s tall and powerful build. Ray might be the one who had graduated from the police academy, but even so he couldn’t help feeling scrawny and daunted standing face to face with the younger man.
Ray had to clear his throat several times before he could make himself speak coherently. “Good evening, Mr. Callis.”
“Nathan will do, Sgt. Morris.”
The tabloids actually got that part right, Ray realized, his nervousness increasing. It was said that Nathan Callis didn’t like to smile, which he had thought was an exaggeration – until now.
“I presume Ms. Marshall is still inside?” The tone was ever so polite, but Ray didn’t fail to notice the thread of steel underlining it, and the sergeant gulped. He recognized a threat when he heard one, knew that Nathan Callis intended to have everyone’s heads on a platter if the lady in question was harmed in any way.