by Katee Robert
“I think you’ll find that it is.” I don’t know why she’s resisting, but it doesn’t make a difference. No matter what Jasmine thinks of me, I have no plans to keep her walled up in this tower indefinitely. It’s not reasonable. Beyond that, it makes me look weak as fuck to have to lock my woman away in order to protect her. She might not see herself as mine, but everyone else does.
I do.
Life would be easier if that was my only motivation. Bolstering strength and keeping up appearances. That shit I understand. It’s not, though. I want Jasmine to find her feet in a real way. She’s never had a chance before, and I can be the one to give it to her. Is there a whole lot of possessive pride wrapped up in that sentiment? Yes. I won’t deny it. I want her to fly and to know I was the one who gave her that chance.
I want her to choose me.
The thought almost makes me laugh. Since when did I get so goddamn sentimental? “Tell me something, baby girl.”
“What do you want to know?” She sounds so cold, so prim, I want to make a mess of her.
“Are you digging in your heels simply for the sake of doing it? Because you’re wasting both our time.”
She finally looks at me, really looks at me. There are shadows in her dark eyes that I have no solution to. I am not a caretaker, not a gentle soul that will love her into healing. I wouldn’t know the first place to start with that shit. I have the skills I’ve cultivated over my life, and those will have to be good enough. I push off the counter and hold out a hand. “Come on.”
“What?”
“I think this is a conversation better had under different circumstances.” I wait for her to take my hand and then I haul her over my shoulder. She curses and smacks my back, but I like carrying Jasmine. It soothes something raw inside me to know she’s fully mine, even if only for the duration of the trip. I take the elevator down a floor and stride to the little set-up I ordered put together when I realized Ali had slipped through my grasp again. There will be a time where I’ll happily go out on the town with Jasmine on my arm, but it’s too dangerous right now. Ali is a loose cannon, and while I don’t think he’d snipe Jasmine—not yet—he’s riling up others who might not have the same restraint.
Not to mention the man won’t react well when he realizes that he’ll never lay a hand on Jasmine. Not again.
I set her down slowly, letting her body drag along mine. She presses her hands to my chest and glares up at me. “You have to realize that you can’t just lug me around whenever you feel like it.”
“Do I?” I shouldn’t enjoy needling her this much, but she’s finally snapping and flickering at me, exhibiting the fire I know she carries deep inside. I want it closer to the surface. I don’t want her control.
I just want Jasmine.
Fuck, but I’m in trouble. She was only ever meant to be the pawn she describes herself as, except I’m self-aware enough to acknowledge the truth. This woman worked her way beneath my skin a long time ago. Now that I’ve had her in my home, that I’ve seen her wild with abandon and desire, now that I know exactly how hard she gets off on being bad?
I’ve always dealt in cold hard facts. Ambition like mine can get a man killed if he’s not careful, and I worked my way up the ranks using my brain instead of letting emotion get the best of me. That trait is what makes me better than anyone else around me, and it’s the reason Balthazar never saw me coming. For all his power, he was ruled by impulse and anger and, beneath that, fear.
But if I was the type of man to give way to fantasy, to dream up a woman to be my match in every way?
I don’t have to look far to find her.
She’s standing right in front of me.
I sure as fuck don’t know how to feel about that. Wanting something—someone—this badly is like handing my enemies a loaded gun and relying on a prayer to some imaginary god to save me. They’ll see her as my weak point and they’ll come for her. They’ll keep coming for her.
“Jafar?” She slides her hands up my chest, her brows furrowed. “Daddy, are you okay? You’re shaking.”
I lock it down. I don’t have another choice. Confessing any of this shit to her is out of the question. She’s still got her eye on the door, and knowing that she’ll rip me apart if she tries to leave won’t be enough to stop her. I’d be a fucking idiot to believe otherwise. “Eat with me.”
She blinked those big, dark eyes at me. “I don’t understand you.”
“You don’t have to understand to play along.”
No smile in response. Just a searching look. “Is that all this is? A game to play?”
I can’t dredge up a lie. “No, baby girl. That’s not all this is.”
She parts her lips like she wants to pepper me with more questions, but she finally shakes her head and turns to look at the hastily put together set up in the room. It doesn’t look last minute, of course. My people are better than that. A small round table sits in the center of the room with two tall candles and a full array of silverware and plates. If I can’t take her out for the night I had planned, I’ll bring it to her.
Finally, Jasmine looks back at me. “Okay, I’ll put aside my feelings for the night if that’s what you want.”
I don’t want her to put aside her feelings. I want to shift the feelings themselves. I can’t tell her that. She might grab one of the butter knives and try to stab me with it. The thought brings a smile. “Do you often attempt to stab people?”
She moves to the table and I follow to pull out her chair. Jasmine doesn’t answer until she’s seated. “Only when they sneak into my room in the middle of the night.”
I can still feel the prick of the blade against my groin. She’d stood a good chance of hitting an artery and leaving me to bleed out on her bedroom floor. And, sick bastard that I am, all I felt was a sense of pride. “If I’d been Ali, would you have followed through on the threat?”
“Yes.” She takes her napkin and spreads it across her lap. “I assumed that anyone in my room uninvited was up to no good.” She arches an eyebrow at me. “I was correct.”
I chuckle. “Yes, you were.” I lean back as a trio of my men come in, all carrying covered plates. We don’t speak as they set them on the table, remove the covers, and silently leave the room. I watch Jasmine take in the food. “This looks like paella from Rom’s.”
“It is.”
Surprise flares, quickly banked. “You know my favorite place.”
“I think we’ve established that my fascination with you has prodded me to learn all number of things.”
She picks up her fork and considers me. “You say fascination, but if I wasn’t attracted to you, it would border on terrifying.” Another long look at her plate. “I’m not sure it doesn’t border on terrifying.”
“Eat before it gets cold.”
She gives me another of those saucy looks I’ve come to crave and we dig in. She’s correct that this food comes from Rom, who runs a restaurant that I’m reasonably sure has no name, but I’m not about to tell her that I paid the man an exorbitant amount of money to cook for us personally tonight. She’ll accuse me of padding her cage with pleasant experiences, and it’s exactly what I’m doing. I know she’s restless, but I can’t do a damn thing about it until Ali is removed. Even then, I can’t allow her free rein. Not until I can guarantee her safety.
It’s only when she sets her fork aside that I resume our earlier conversation. “Why did you lie to me about college?”
Jasmine sighs. “Do you ever get tired of moving me around the board on your whim? Princess in a palace. Princess in a penthouse. Submissive in The Underworld. Now college co-ed? Why do you insist on pushing me like this?”
I should feed her a line, but I find myself answering honestly. “You’ve been walled up for too long.”
“I’ve been walled up too long,” she repeats, as if she can’t have heard me right. Jasmine picks up her wine glass, seems to reconsider, and sets it down again. “You are such a hypocrite.”
&nbs
p; “Guilty.”
My easy admission seems to set her back. She glares. “I lied about college because I know what comes from playing my hand too openly. You already have all the power and I have none. I’m not going to simply gift you with every piece of me.”
“Too bad. That’s exactly what I want.”
She shakes her head. “No.”
We’ll get there. I have plenty of time to play the long game with this. I ease back. “Tell me about college.”
“Fine.” She smooths her dress and meets my gaze. “I want to major in software engineering.”
Now it’s my turn to blink in surprise. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“Why would you? All you see is a pretty face. All anyone sees is a pretty face. No one bothers to ask me what I want, or what my interests are. They certainly don’t stop to think that my brain might be more valuable to the business than my pussy is.”
I’m guilty of that, but I’m not about to apologize. I saw more of her than either her father or Ali did, but apparently I didn’t see deeply enough. “Talk me through it.”
She considers me, probably expecting me to laugh at her expense, but I genuinely want to hear her thoughts on it. I’ve underestimated Jasmine again and again, and I’m determined to course-correct. Finally, she draws herself up. “Many of our day-to-day operations are borderline archaic. Creating counterfeit paper money?” She shakes her head. “It’s time to step into the future. A large percentage of the world’s wealth is digital now. With the right minds involved, we could take a stake in that with half the manpower and significantly less overhead cost.”
“Paper money works.” It’s also one of the least offensive things we do in our territory.
“Yes, yes.” She waves that away. “I wouldn’t dream of decreasing that operation. My point is that balance is key. Relying only on paper money is like nibbling at crumbs that have fallen from a table piled high with food. We can increase our profit exponentially if we do it correctly.”
We.
I don’t think she realizes what she’s said, the slip of her tongue that indicates the truth—when she looks into the future, she sees us there together. I choose not to comment on it, enjoying this conversation too much to push her on a personal front. “How many people would you need?”
Her smile fades slowly. “I don’t know. The college degree was only the start of it, and I’m already seven years behind where I would be if my father had allowed it when I first suggested the idea. I stopped looking into programs when he cut off that option. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
My offer to send her to college was as much to keep her busy as to help her blossom. This is something else altogether. “Have you considered a less traditional education?”
“Jafar, I haven’t considered anything until an hour ago when you sprang this on me. After my father forbade me from going to college, I managed to learn the basics on my own, but it seemed too cruel to continue when it wouldn’t amount to anything.”
I incline my head to acknowledge her point, but I’m already spinning out possibilities. “It shouldn’t be too difficult to find someone with the skillset you’re talking about. They’d have to come here, of course, but we can arrange that.” I tap my fingers on the table. “I’ll get Jeremiah looking into it tomorrow.” I could ask Hades. He has the kind of connections that ensure he can find anything or anyone, so a person with this skillset should be child’s play. But there is the price of his help to consider. I won’t ask him until I’m sure I can’t do it myself.
“Just like that.”
“Just like that.”
She gives me a look like she’s never seen me before. “I don’t understand you. You lock me up but then you do this. And there’s the sex.”
Amusement flickers through me, but I push it down deep. She might give the impression of a kitten staring at a grasshopper, but I know better. The woman has claws. I won’t undermine her wavering self-confidence, and once I decide that, it’s the easiest thing in the world to relax into this conversation. “Elaborate.”
“I’m sorry, I was assuming you could pull the thought right out of my mind the same way you do with my sexual fantasies.”
Ah. That.
I take a long drink of my wine and consider her. “We’ve spent a long time circling each other, baby girl. Over the years, you’ve given yourself away in a thousand different tells, but the real deciding factor was the night I staged the coup.” My blood heats at the memory. “I would have let you walk out, you know.”
“I know.” She fiddles with her napkin. “I wanted you to catch me.”
“I’m aware.”
She frowns. “You’ve checked in with me a lot, haven’t you? Not overtly, but you’re constantly analyzing and shifting to accommodate my reactions.” Jasmine frowns harder. “It’s hard to tell in the moment, but that’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” I set my wine glass down. “No matter what flavor of games we play, it’s about giving you what you need.”
“And what do you need.”
“You.” The admission slips free before I can stop it. Too late to take it back, to alter the course I’ve just set us on.
“Jafar,” She looks away. “How can this ever work?”
I reach across the table and take her hand. The touch does little to steady me. There’s no convenient map of our path forward. Jasmine might trust me with her body, but she doesn’t trust me with her heart. If I was a better man, I’d respect that. I wouldn’t push her. I’d seduce her slowly until I’m the only one she can imagine herself with.
I don’t know how to do that shit. I can play cultured with the best of them, but the man that emerges whenever I get my hands on her is the true me. Rough. Possessive. Unexpectedly tender at times. I can’t force her to trust me, so I’ll have to wait her out. It’s the only option. I stand and tug her to her feet. “It will work because it’s us.”
“I truly wish I could believe that.”
“You don’t have to believe it, baby girl. I’ll believe enough for both of us.”
Chapter 17
Jasmine
It would be the easiest thing in the world to fall in love with Jafar.
As the remains of our dinner are taken away, leaving us staring over the table at each other, I’m forced to admit the truth—I’m more than halfway there. I wish I could find joy in that knowledge. Love is supposed to be this wonderful, all-encompassing feeling that sends flowers springing to life inside me and has me walking around with a foolish grin on my face. This doesn’t feel anything like that.
It feels like being in the middle of a violent storm, and Jafar is the only thing anchoring me in place. Everything hurts. If butterflies ever existed in my stomach, they’ve been replaced by something with claws and teeth.
These violent delights have violent ends.
Romeo and Juliet is not a romantic arc I wish to mirror, throwing away everything for a man. At least Juliet had something before love swept her away. My family, what little of it there was, has been murdered. Any power I possess is all illusion. Enemies lurk in the shadows.
If I was a smarter woman, I would number Jafar among them.
“I have something special planned for you tonight.”
His low words coax me from my dark thoughts, and I’m only too happy to let his sheer presence wash away my concerns. At least for a little while. Tomorrow is soon enough to worry about the future, about the implications of what Jafar has laid out tonight.
He wants to keep me happy.
That should be a positive. I want to be happy. But my needs and his are forever at odds. He wants me content in this place. I need to be free.
Tomorrow. I’ll form a plan tomorrow.
I finally dredge up a smile for him. “Something special?”
“Yes.” He takes me hand and pulls me to my feet. I tense, half expecting him to toss me over his shoulder again, but Jafar seems content to tug me along behind him. “Under other ci
rcumstances, this would go down at The Underworld, but some adjustments were required.”
Because of Ali.
I should be happy Jafar wants to keep me out of that man’s hands. I am happy about that. It’s losing The Underworld as a destination away from the penthouse that I can’t stand. My cage keeps closing tighter around me, the trap teeth digging in deeper to my limbs. A constant reminder that I have no control of my life.
Jafar leads me into the lounge, and I stop short. “Meg?”
Meg leans against the bar, a wicked smile painting her lips. “Apparently play time came early.” She winks. “You should thank your Daddy for me. I’m truly a gift.”
I turn to Jafar. “You …” He set this up for me, because I expressed interest.
He sinks his hands into my hair and pulls me forward to press against his chest. His dark eyes see everything I can’t put into words. “It’s my pleasure to meet your needs, baby girl. All of them.” His glances over my shoulder and I don’t know what knowledge has passed between him and Meg, but I can hear her moving behind me. “Working up to the other fantasy starts here.”
The other fantasy.
The one where he invites more people. Where we jump from them watching to them taking me up on the invitation simmering in my blood. I open my mouth, but it’s as if all the air has disappeared from the room. It takes me three tries to force out the words. “Thank you, Daddy.”
He tugs on my hair, forcing my attention to narrow in on him. “It’s the same rules. Safe word and it stops.”
Which allows me to resist, to fight them, to drive my desire higher every time they overpower me. I lick my lips. “I understand.”
“Good.”
Just like that, he goes cold, his expression closing down in a way that has my heart leaping into my chest. He releases my hair and grasps my chin. “You’ve been teasing again, baby girl.”
“No,” I whisper. I jerk away, and he allows me to take a step before he spins me around and pins me against his chest. Meg’s moved to the couch and she has a tumbler of amber colored liquid dangling from one hand and her legs crossed. She’s wearing another suit, the gray pants perfectly tailored to her body and the white blouse translucent enough that I can see the faint outline of her nipples through it. Her mass of dark brown hair is pulled back from her face and she’s done something with her makeup that emphasizes the wicked slyness in her blue eyes. Dark red lipstick finishes the look and, yes, my entire body goes tight at the realization that she’s going to do more than look tonight.
