“A way off this nightmare.”
He froze for a second before his lips twisted into a fox-like smile. “I will personally escort you off my shores. I will be glad to see you gone…in four years.”
Shadows of the retreating goddesses flickered behind him. Two dashed away, obviously heeding his warning not to drink anymore and get their beauty sleep. The last one paused, watching us braced against each other, undoubtedly seeing the blistering tension and intense dislike, hearing the flame next to us crackle with the toxic energy that formed whenever Sully and I duelled.
“How about we save each other a lot of nonsense and agree to go our separate ways now?”
He chuckled under his breath. “Your naivety would be funny if you weren’t such a pain in my ass.”
“I can be a pain in your ass for four years or…” I shrugged. “You can cut your losses and let me go tonight.”
He crossed his arms over his naked, sea-gleaming chest. “The fact that you’re trying to tell me how to run my business is mindboggling.”
I scowled. “Why? You don’t think I know how to run a—”
“I know you don’t.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you’re young and have no experience with a company like mine.”
“Your company is just like any other. Some investments are a loss and best removed before they cause even more issues.”
“You’re saying you’re a loss?”
“I’m saying I’ll cause you untold problems if you keep me here.” I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not afraid of you.”
He stepped toward me quickly, crowding me, bringing naked, masculine flesh and scorching body heat.
I backpedalled, losing ground, hating myself the second I tripped.
He laughed coldly. “Not afraid? I think you’re fucking petrified.”
Digging my toes into the sand, I cocked my chin. “I meant what I said, Sully Sinclair. Keep me trapped against my consent and I will make you pay. I’ll find some way to curse—”
“Curse me?” His arm shot up, his hand sinking into my hair. In a single heartbeat, we went from apart to linked. His fingers curled tight around the strands, tugging my scalp, sending more chills scattering. “You’ve already cursed me. You cursed me the second you arrived.”
I tried to pull away, but his hold turned aggressive.
“Let me go.”
His eyes flashed navy in the darkness as his tongue ran over his bottom lip. “Let you go? I should, shouldn’t I?” His stare landed on my mouth, and lust became a sapphire fire in his gaze. “Too bad I’m not going to.”
I squirmed in his hold. “I don’t want to be here.” I scratched fingernails over his wrist, doing my best to loosen his fingers in my hair.
He didn’t even flinch.
So many swear words littered my mind. So many angry promises and violent vows varnished my tongue, but I needed air to transform thought into voice. I needed sound to switch silence into shout, and unfortunately, Sully Sinclair had successfully sucked me dry of everything.
“I don’t want you here either.” He narrowed his gaze. “But we’re both going to have to deal with it.” His other hand dived into my hair, cupping my head, holding fistfuls of length and keeping me trapped. “Whatever this is…whatever exists between us…it will die soon enough.”
His gaze locked onto my mouth, his lips parting. “Maybe if I kissed you…we’d both figure out that this addicting connection is nothing more than—”
“Kiss me and your tongue will be in pieces.”
He jerked me forward, pressing his forehead to mine. “Bite me and I’ll bite you back. I’ll bite so fucking hard…you’ll bleed.”
I gasped, lightheaded and furious.
“Let me go.” I fought harder, not caring I caused myself pain, tearing a few strands in my struggles.
He just held on, his face steadily growing more dangerous, his features more stark, his hunger more acute. “I wouldn’t keep moving if I were you.” His whisper was so quiet it barely registered above the cicadas, but it was the most malignant thing I’d ever heard. “I’m a moment away from fucking you…right here.”
I froze.
The only thing that moved were our chests, pumping hearts and lungs failing to administer oxygen. I swallowed hard a few times, searching for retaliation, trying to understand why his touch was as viperous as a tattoo. His fingers were the gun, his heat the ink, his possession the permanence that ensured I’d always have a mortal mark.
“Go fuck one of your other girls,” I snarled. “You’re right. They’re extremely willing and would welcome you to do anything—”
“I don’t want them.” He pulled me closer; our hips collided. His hardness against my softness. My purple dress didn’t protect me from the scorching dampness of his skin.
My cheeks flushed. My stomach knotted. I couldn’t breathe as his head bowed, bringing his lips to hover over mine.
If he kissed me…God, please don’t kiss me.
I couldn’t let him.
Not here with galaxies reminding me how insignificant I was, he was, all of this was. Not here in paradise that had an uncanny way of removing any other reality.
I gulped and shook my head, trying to prevent his mouth from claiming mine. “Why me? Why not them?”
“That’s a question I keep asking myself,” he muttered, brushing his nose on mine. His eyes bored deep into me, so close, so vivid. “Why you?” Jerking me nearer, until our entire bodies pressed tight, his lips skated on mine.
I held my breath, locked in place for a savage kiss.
But instead of plundering my mouth, instead of crippling beneath the skin-crawling intensity between us, he shoved me away.
My hair tangled around his fingers as I stumbled in the sand, leaving sheets of length strewn from me to him, tethering us together even though he’d let me go.
He looked down at his hands, still stained with my hair, and his face clouded with terrible dark things, then, with gallant grace, he arched his wrists and sliced his fingers free from my clinging strands.
Once the final length tumbled from him, returning to me and breaking us apart, he rolled his shoulders, readjusted his impressive erection, then stalked around me to disappear down the pathway and into the night.
Chapter Twenty-Two
TO: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: An alternative
Hello,
The recent employee you sent is not suitable. Please send the exact opposite...so I can stop making such a goddamn fool out of myself—
Nope.
I punched the delete button over and over until all that remained was a blank message.
I couldn’t even send a fucking email without my lust making me sound like a pussy. I doubted the traffickers would appreciate or sympathize that the girl they’d sent me filled the brief I’d given them far too well, and I’d been in a state of permanent insanity ever since.
They’d just tell me to fuck her and get it out of my system.
Simple.
It’s not fucking simple.
No matter my fucked-up decisions, I wouldn’t break my rules.
For anyone.
I didn’t do weak, and I didn’t do dangerous. And I wasn’t such an egotistical maniac to know where Eleanor Grace was concerned…she was dangerous. I wasn’t on the market for a goddess who had the power to make me forget about work, science, and all the other balls I juggled in my day-to-day life. I didn’t want the mess of the aftermath.
All I wanted was a fuck toy to help relieve some stress.
TO: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: New Addition
Hello,
If your recruitment agency becomes aware of a short, blonde, preferably foreign employee who doesn’t speak much English, and confirm that she is amiable, submissive to authority, and a diligent worker, please advise at yo
ur earliest convenience.
The other girl you sent is straight from Hades, and I’m probably going to have to kill her because she’s the first to make me—
Delete.
Delete.
Delete.
Sighing hard, I left the email short and to the point. The exact opposite of Jinx would be a frumpy blonde who kept her eyes cast on the floor, her temper non-existent, her obedience in check, and her attractiveness not hardwired to affect me.
Whatever fate Eleanor had found upon my shores was my own affair, not the men who’d sourced her. I didn’t like the thought of killing her just because I had a visceral reaction. I wasn’t cruel without cause—even though humans had no such qualms with slaughterhouses. The methods of death and dismemberment used behind closed doors made me seem like a prince of philanthropy. Therefore, I had to decide if I was going to be a monster or magnanimous.
Eleanor was in sound health. Her value topped any of my current stock. She had plenty of years of servitude in her young body, and it would be a waste to destroy her, all because I couldn’t keep my dick in my pants.
So…starting today, I would behave myself.
Starting today, Eleanor fucking Grace would never ask me ‘why her’ again. Instead, she’d be asking why she suddenly meant nothing.
Nothing more than a girl purchased by ill-gotten gains.
A goddess who deserved a safe home, a merciful master, and firm guidelines to keep her world from colliding with mine.
Chapter Twenty-Three
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
I stretched in annoyance where I lay beneath the sun sail on the deck outside my villa. I’d spent a leisurely morning hiding from giggly goddesses and tormenting assholes, doing my best to once again plot a way free.
I’d commandeered the stationery provided in the bedside drawer and sketched a map of the island from memory. So far, I’d found the central hub where the restaurant and main facilities lived—also the place to avoid, thanks to its welcoming nature for guests to mingle and Sully to reign like a tyrant.
I’d set out at dawn this morning and jogged down the remaining sandy paths, finding forks leading to more accommodation, dead-ends into the jungle, lanes to the beach, and a few tracks leading deeper into the island.
I had no interest in going into the heart of this prison. My freedom wouldn’t be found there…it would be found out here.
I looked up at the bright horizon.
Home called to me past the watery cage and miles of twinkling sea.
The knock came again, wrenching a reluctant groan and swinging my legs off the lounger where I’d sprawled. The black bikini I wore winked beneath the open-style kimono. The lacy ivory material dappled my skin with sun patterns, browning a stencil onto my flesh the longer I stayed outside.
The knock rapped again, this time with impatience.
The urge to ignore whoever it was kept my body heavy and locked on the lounger, but the knowledge that ignoring the summons would just bring possible pain ushered me up.
This wasn’t the real world where I had a choice. I couldn’t keep hiding behind a locked door because the lock belonged to someone who had a key.
A man who had all the keys.
To everything.
My happiness.
My health.
My hope.
Dammit.
The floppy cream hat I wore blocked one eye as I stood and padded my way from the deck and across the pristine floor of my villa, leaving breadcrumbs of golden sand behind.
My heart skittered from its normal rhythm, worrying that my visitor wouldn’t be the friendly girl who brought my breakfast this morning. I’d yet to ring for lunch. I’d cocooned myself in an oasis of loneliness and had no desire for an interruption.
Of course, I knew who it was before I opened the door.
Bracing myself for the inevitable buffeting of awareness, hate, and heat, I wrenched open the thick barricade and came face to face with my nemesis. “You.”
He jolted, his gaze instantly devouring my body.
My nipples pebbled despite myself. My stomach melted against my control.
I should’ve changed.
Despite the tropical temperatures, I should wear jackets and sacks to hide myself as much as possible. I didn’t want him looking at me. I didn’t want him anywhere near me.
Ignoring the need to cross my arms and hide my figure, I snapped, “Leave me the hell alone.”
His eyes found mine again. A lazy smirk twitched his lips rather than the fiery snarls from last night. For a moment, we locked in another battle of piercing proximity. The hair on my nape stood up. Whenever we were together, the island seemed hotter and cooler all at once. My body became overly sensitive and totally troublesome with its responses.
I blamed the first morning and the memory of elixir.
I blamed him for all of it.
With a noble incline of his head, he bowed graciously. “Good afternoon…Jinx.”
His suit of choice today was light grey with the finest chalk pinstripes. His tie was silver. His shirt white. His shoes as polished and as perfect as any CEO who worked in a city rather than one who ruled over an atoll.
I hated that he once again managed to steal what little air I had left. I loathed that despite my rancour—that only increased the longer we interacted—I found him indescribably attractive.
Once again, his perfectionism made me detest him all the more. “It was good until you appeared on my doorstep.”
His eyes flashed, but he swallowed back his temper. “You and I…we need to get something straight.” He cricked his neck as if I’d interrupted his script on how this meeting would go. Whatever cordial response he might’ve delivered died beneath a whip of anger. “I dislike you as much as you dislike me.” I froze as he planted his hand above my head on the door frame. “Actually, dislike is too gentle a word. I’d say what I feel for you is more like—”
“Disgust.”
He clucked his tongue in reprimand. His gaze snagged mine, blazing blue. “If I disgusted you, I wouldn’t be able to make you wet.”
I sucked in a breath. “We discussed that. Don’t mistake biology for—”
“I made you wet because there’s something going on between us. Just like you make me hard because, for some reason, I have a morbid fascination with fucking you.”
I struggled to stay standing and not punch him or run into the sea. “There’s nothing going on between us.”
He signed condescendingly. “Such a little liar.” His hand slipped from the doorframe and traced gently down my arm.
Instantly, goosebumps sprang, shivers attacked, dampness gathered.
No.
Just no.
I was mortified.
I was horrified.
I hated myself…not just him.
Removing his touch, he raked his hand through his hair and leaned back, giving me space to breathe and room to drown in despair.
“Something is going on between us, and neither of us are interested in the mess it’s causing.” He swallowed hard. “Contrary to what it seems, I despise arguments. I much prefer smooth waters, Eleanor Grace, and I’m willing to make a compromise to ensure our co-inhabitation doesn’t end with one of us killing the other.”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
His jaw clenched as if battling against his next phrase, but he pushed on anyway. “I’m…sorry for giving you the elixir without a proper welcome on my island. It was reckless and has blurred lines that I won’t fucking cross.”
I would’ve choked if I had any saliva in my mouth.
Did he…did he just apologise?
“You are here to work for me. I won’t jeopardise the value you’ll bring to my business by…making you unhappy. These fights have to stop. This lust has to end.”
I hugged myself, unable to stop the need to curl close and protect. “And how do you propose we do that? Are you going to let me go?”
He shook his head, his canines fl
ashing as he smiled. “No, I am not going to let you go.”
“Then…what are you saying?”
“I’m saying, I will no longer torment you, and you will no longer be given liberties to talk back to me. I am your owner. You are my belonging. I will treat you with civility and respect as long as you obey without question.” His voice lowered. “Believe me…this proposition is much better for you, Jinx. I suggest you stop pissing me off, stop antagonising me, stop making me so fucking hungry, and we can return to a simpler relationship.”
I laughed once. “You expect me to bow to you? To never answer back…even when you’re wrong. To never question your behaviour, even when it’s morally corrupt?”
“Yes. This is my island. You obey my laws.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I increase your contract from four a month to four a day.” He delivered the sentence with such coldness, it glittered with icicles.
I froze.
Four a day?
Four men in a single day?
I wanted to throw up.
My stomach actually clenched to evict my morning breakfast of mango and perfectly cooked nasi goreng.
Sully slipped his finger beneath my chin, raising my gaze to meet his. Before, the blue held streaks of animalistic desire. Now, they were clear with ruthlessness. “Respect me, and I’ll leave you alone.”
I arched my jaw away from his control, narrowing my eyes to slits. “How can I respect you when you trapped me here?”
“Find a way.” Clearing his throat, he commanded, “Now…I’ve failed in my welcoming duties. Instead of enlisting a member of my staff to show you around, I will personally ensure your orientation is complete.” His voice turned arctic. “After all, today is your last day on vacation. Tomorrow, you begin work as an official goddess.” Taking my hand, he jerked me from the villa, making me stumble beside him. “Might as well become familiar with your home before you enter Euphoria.”
I twisted my hand from his, rubbing at the prickles left behind from his touch. “What’s Euphoria?”
Once a Myth (Goddess Isles Book 1) Page 17
