And why the hell did I find this so fucking hot? I was seriously demented.
“Well, I guess you got what you asked for.”
“Meaning?” I asked, knowing I had to jump into the conversation or Akari would keep adding in her two cents.
Simon set his glass on the bar top without shifting his gaze from mine. Something in his dark green irises had my pulse jumping. It felt almost as if he was readying to pounce at any moment.
“This isn’t one you can scare. In fact, he may be the type to give as good as he gets. Maybe even more.”
Natty’s words felt like a bucket of cold water on my libido, drawing my focus to her and breaking my concentration on Simon.
Shit. Fucker won. Like everything else tonight.
Releasing a deep breath, I stated, “I think we should pay attention to our guests and not my personal life.”
“I guess I touched a nerve.” The humor in her tone told me she’d caught the interaction between Simon and me. “For the record, the sparks flying between the two of you from the moment he walked in could have lit the room on fire.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more, Natty.”
I glared at Akari. “Why are we best friends?”
“Because no one else will put up with your ass.”
9
Simon
A virgin.
At first, I wasn’t sure I’d inferred Akari Ota’s words correctly. Then, when Nyx confirmed them with her dig about losing interest, I felt as if she’d punched me in the gut.
In this day and age, how the fuck had she stayed without a lover into her midtwenties? Then again, she had four overprotective brothers and a father known as the Mykos Surgeon. If that wasn’t a deterrent, I wasn’t sure what was.
Even when I was a virgin, the thought of being with one had never crossed my mind. Hell, my first time was with the college-aged sister of one of my guards who wanted to “train” the Drakos heir for the future.
Now, here I sat, seriously planning to do this.
I swirled the amber liquid in my tumbler.
A better man would stop right now. A better man would give her the freedom she craved and let her find this ideal future husband. Then again, no one would ever mistake me for even a decent man, much less a better one.
Gio Drakos’s bastard replica, yes.
A good man, no.
Something about Nyx Mykos drew me to her, and the thought of not touching her seemed inconceivable.
There was no choice for either of us. For the next year, I had to let it play out.
Maybe it was the way she constantly challenged me or told me to fuck off. Her temper turned me on instead of pissing me off as it would have with anyone else.
Hell, why the fuck was I questioning it? I held the cards in this game. I deserved a little enjoyment with all this bullshit I handled every day.
Nyx shifted her long black hair over one shoulder as she leaned down to whisper something into the ear of an elderly woman decked out in jewels worth as much as the money played at four of the tables near her.
The way Nyx worked the room showed a knowledge of everyone’s likes, dislikes, nuances, and mood.
Many of the players came from backgrounds bound to cause any one of the Mykoses, if not all of them, a heart attack or two.