That sounded awfully ominous. And what was it supposed to mean? What did they know about me other than I’d been stupid enough to think we were actually friends… something more than friends… which had no bearing on our current situation. I could understand them suspecting that Ezra had sent me because of the recent conflict between our families, but Felix seemed to be insinuating that there was something suspicious about me in general.
“I’m not looking to play games,” I said as I got out a small knife to cut off a few slices of cheese for my scrambled egg sandwich. “I just want to eat some dinner and then get back on my feet. You can all go back to doing whatever you were doing before I showed up.” That was, until I dragged them down into the dirt where they belonged.
“I think you’re playing one right now,” Darius said, his voice low enough to serve as a warning. The next thing I knew, he’d crossed the distance between us and pinned me against the counter, his hands planting on either side of my torso.
The heat of his well-built body washed over me. My fingers curled tighter around the handle of the paring knife. I twisted around, hating that my hip and shoulder had to brush against him while he had me penned in like this—hating that the contact and the crisp, masculine scent of his cologne woke up all kinds of memories I’d rather stayed banished.
“And what areyoudoing?” I asked, gazing up at him steadily, tuning out the stutter of my pulse.
He glared down at me, his expression still cold but his pale eyes—oh, there was definitely more than ice in them now. They burned into me as if they were dancing with white-hot flames. The passion in them, even if it was mostly anger, set amid his brutally gorgeous face sent heat pooling between my thighs.
Fuck. I hadn’t been turned on like this—hadn’t really been turned on at all—in years. For all I’d serviced Clyde, he’d never bothered to get me off. I should have hooked up with a few Noble lackeys while I had the chance back home, celebrated my freedom and gotten my long-suppressed needs sated.
“I’m reminding you who the boss is,” Darius said, as low as before. His breath grazed my face. “Who you need to oblige if you expect to stay here. It won’t be like last time. You’ll jump when we call. We’ll take what we want, when we want it. Our terms, not yours. By the time we’re ready, you’re going to be begging for it.”
I cocked my head, willing down the flush that was creeping beneath my skin. “Begging for what, exactly? I already know what I’d get if I chased after you. No, thank you. Been there, done that.”
“Oh, yeah? We’re not the boys you toyed with back then.” He leaned closer, his head dipping, our faces only inches apart. Every nerve in my body woke up to eager attention despite my internal demands that I stay unaffected. “I’ll guarantee you’ve never had anyone like us. And you won’t unless you dance to our tune. I can tell you’re already salivating for it. Poor little widow.”
Those last mocking words cracked my shell, but it was anger that spilled out. I raised my hand with the knife and held the blade right below his throat, where it’d pierce the skin if he leaned any nearer. “I guarantee I won’t be doing any dancing for you. So back off and let me get my dinner.”
Felix let out a disbelieving guffaw.
“Anthea,” Lucan said, terse and almost chiding, a tone that made me bristle even more.
Darius’s lips simply drew back in a smile so fierce it could have flayed a weaker person open. He raised one hand to close his solid fingers around my wrist. He meant to wrench the knife down, away from him, but I shifted my weight at the last second, and the blade nicked the skin just above his collarbone.
“Oops,” I said, not at all apologetically.
That might have been a step too far. Darius made a rough sound in his throat and slammed my wrist against the edge of the counter. I kept gripping the knife as if my life depended on it, gritting my teeth against the pain that radiated through my hand. But a weird sort of giddiness rushed through me in the same moment.
I’d gone five years without being able to openly fight. Putting up with whatever Clyde demanded or did to me—because if I pissed him off, then the deal fell apart. While Dad was alive, he’d have done even worse to me after Clyde kicked me back to him.
And after Dad’s death… I’d known that Ezra wouldn’t mourn the old man’s passing, but I hadn’t felt I could count on him being okay with me simply leaving the deal in shambles. I’d ensured my way back into his good graces by extricating myself while leaving all business ties intact. I’d kept the money from the personal possessions, and I’d passed all control over Clyde’s professional holdings to my brother.
I didn’t owe these pricks anything. I was here by their father’s grace, not theirs. And if they kicked me out, fuck them. I could investigate just fine from outside these walls if I had to.
With that sense of power surging up inside me, I raised my free hand and trailed my fingers down Darius’s—yes, very impressive—chest. His eyes flashed with something more than fury, and his body pushed into my touch just slightly.
Oh, I wasn’t the only one affected by our closeness, not by a longshot. He wanted to hear me beg because he was dying to use me all over again.
He’d never met a woman like the one I’d become.
I gave him a coy little smile and brought my hand back to rest on my hip. “Maybe you’re the one who’ll be dancing. Seems like I’ve gotten you all hot and bothered already.”
He bared his teeth, and for a second I thought he might ram his hips right against me while his mouth crashed into mine. I wasn’t sure Ididn’twant him to, which was probably a problem, but at least I’d have the upper hand. He’d be the one whose control had broken.
The eldest Rosano brother kept his head, though, and took the other perfectly acceptable option. He pushed away from me, releasing my wrist.
“Only in your fantasies, Lady Noble,” he said, giving his own old nickname for me a savagely mocking lilt. “Enjoy your dinner while you’re getting one.” Then he stalked out of the kitchen, his brothers falling in behind him.
The second they’d vanished out the doorway, I sagged against the counter. An acrid scent told me the butter had burned in the pan. I muttered a curse and yanked it off the heat, but a heady sense of anticipation was still unfurling inside me.
The Rosano brothers wanted to toy with me? I’d just confirmed that the game could go both ways. They could play with fire all they wanted, but it’d be them getting burnt in the end.