What I hadn’t expected was my body’s visceral reaction to the innocent-appearing woman with dirt covering her face and big dark eyes that drew a man in with a simple glance. Or the natural cover-model beauty she possessed with the barest of makeup on her skin.
For nearly twenty minutes, I observed her as she laughed and chatted with Persephone Lykaios, completely relaxed and without an ounce of pretension. Nowhere was the snarky, cutting bitch attitude people in New York reported her as having. She seemed so full of life, joy, innocence, and at times, mischief.
She’d completely captivated me, making it impossible to take my gaze away from her.
If it wasn’t for the signature Mykos onyx eyes, I’d never have believed she was my fiancée. And the sick bastard part of me itched to corrupt every fucking inch of her.
Get it together, asshole. She isn’t for you.
Touching her would come at a price, one I refused to pay, no matter the delicious, curvy, goddess package she came in.
How the fuck had my men thought she was boring? Were they blind?
I made my way through the lobby of the Ida and toward the private suites tower of the hotel. Just as I reached the bank of elevators, Kasen stepped out from the shadows.
The humor in the green eyes that were so much like mine gave me the urge to clock him in the jaw. He’d watched the interplay between Nyx and me and was getting a kick out of it.
The dickhead knew me better than most people. He’d been the one source of fun Pappous had allowed in my life growing up. To this day, he was the only man I could count on to always have my back.
Kasen was the son of Aunt Dalani, my father’s twin. My aunt had done everything my grandfather had expected of her, including marrying the right man from the right family with the right background. And because Aunt Dalani had followed the rules dictated for her life, Pappous considered Kasen a good influence.
Luckily for my aunt, Uncle Steven happened to be her high school boyfriend and not someone forced upon her.
“Were the reports right or wrong?”
They were fucking wrong—none of them remotely indicated she was drop-dead gorgeous.
Instead of giving him my actual thoughts, I thought out loud, “She has to have secrets. No one is that fucking pure.”
Or gave a man visions of everything he wanted to do to her in bed.
Kasen’s lips turned up at the corner. “She’s your type. I fucking knew it.”
Ignoring him, I stalked to the elevator cab, stepped inside, and punched the button to our private floor.
It took all my effort not to wipe the smirk off Kasen’s face.
“I don’t have a type.”
“I call bullshit. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a body with curves in all the right places. The only difference from your regular MO is that she’s smart and has a bunch of letters after her name. Isn’t she some type of doctor?”
“PhD. The women I see aren’t idiots.”
“She’s still a type of doctor, even if she’s not an MD. The women you see put up with your bullshit. Smart women don’t have time for assholes. Maybe that’s why she gets a bad rap.”
Fucker thought he was so funny.
“When did you become her advocate?”
“I’m telling you like it is. I trust our men, and they like her. Plus”—he paused for a second, making me think I was going to hate what he had to say—“I watched your reaction to her. You want her.”
That was the fucking problem.
“You’re an asshole.”
“No, that’s your reputation. You know, ‘the master of fortune and darkness’ shit. I’m the sidekick who cleans up the carnage after you lay down the law.”
If he wasn’t one of the few people I trusted with my life, I’d have killed him years ago.