Owned by Fate (Serve #1)(3)

She felt a shiver pass down her spine when his baritone voice filled the space between them. “Are you going to suck it? Or just play with it all night?”





Chapter Two


“Excuse me?”

Jonah Briggs felt a punch of satisfaction when the woman’s eyes flashed up at him dangerously from her lower, seated position. Not quite so indifferent now, are you, sweetheart?

He jerked his chin toward her drink. “The lollipop. When are you going to give in and suck it?”

When her lips parted, half in comprehension of his meaning, half in indignation, Jonah had to bite back a groan. Her mouth. It’s what had brought him downstairs in the first place. On Friday nights, he always remained upstairs, watching the operation run smoothly on several high-definition monitors, making sure his customers behaved themselves and left satisfied. Even now, he could hear the curious whispers floating around him. Patrons wondering what had brought him downstairs when the real party raged three floors above their heads. It was where he should be. He shouldn’t be bothering with this clearly uptight, disapproving sightseer. And yet, here he was. Trying to get her to suck a goddamn lollipop.

His fascination with the curve of a woman’s lips couldn’t necessarily be considered a fetish, per se. It had never been quite that extreme. Until now. She sat there, prim and righteous in her seat, tortoise-shell glasses perched on her button nose, melted-caramel hair straightened to perfection at her shoulders, with no inkling of the mental fantasies he’d already acted out with that mouth. Both of her rosy lips were plump, but the upper one was somehow bigger, more sensual. It rested on its counterpart like a lazy goddess lounging on a silk pillow.

He wanted to taste the f*ck out of that mouth.

Jonah reined in his riotous thoughts, still irritated with himself for riding his private elevator down to the first floor just to see her up close, without the artificial glow of a monitor to detract from the shine she gave off. He knew her type. She’d been dragged here by a friend or otherwise coerced into coming. When he’d first noticed her from the comfort of his security room, her image picked up by one of more than a hundred cameras, he could practically feel her disdain through the electronic feed. He’d had more than enough judgment to last him a lifetime. He certainly didn’t need to seek it out. In his own club, especially.

At the reminder of just how sharply he’d been stung recently by the judgment of specters from his past, those who found his chosen profession repulsive, Jonah quickly shifted his attention to the girl’s toned, tightly crossed thighs. As if a hint of daylight between them would cause her to burst into flames. Jonah almost laughed out loud. No fire play down here, sweetheart. We restrict that to the third floor.

Jonah rubbed his knuckles along his jaw. He’d made it a rule never to engage with the willing women inside his own club, so why was he wasting his time on a decidedly unwilling one? It made little sense, and now that he stood inches away, Jonah could admit coming downstairs had been a huge mistake. Because now he wanted, desperately, to bring her back upstairs. With him.

He watched her tongue glide over her bottom lip, leaving it coated in slick moisture. Dear God, just one kiss and I’ll let this one go. I swear on a stack of Bibles. Again, he almost laughed. His name might be Jonah, but it was the only biblical quality he possessed.

“Thank you for reminding me why I avoid places like this and people like you.” She pulled the dripping lollipop out of her drink and bit it in half with a crunch, keeping her eyes deliberately locked on his. “Now go try that line again on someone with a bustier and leather pants. I’ll pass.”

Jonah dragged his gaze up from her mouth, knowing he’d be looking again within seconds. He’d gone rigidly hard when she’d sunk her white teeth into the lollipop. Not only because her spirit turned him on like hell but because it had felt like a transgression. She’d gone against his long-indulged wishes, and his dominant instincts made him want to chasten her for it, have that fierce spirit at his command. Not her. Not yet, anyway. “See, that was unwise. Now I’m just picturing you in a bustier.”

Her eyebrows lifted innocently. “Well, knock it off.”

“The bustier?”

She hummed in her throat, sizing him up as if for the first time. It wasn’t, but if she wanted to delude herself into thinking she hadn’t checked him out thoroughly minutes earlier, he’d play along. While she mounted her next attack, Jonah nodded at the bartender to pour him a drink. This was going to take a while.

Caroline watched the action with interest, not missing a thing. Her smile turned smug. “All right, I think I get where this is going, Johnny Pickup Line.”

Jonah sighed at his bartender’s jerky reaction to the girl’s disrespect, something he never tolerated under any circumstances. No doubt the entire staff would know by the end of the night.

It’d better be worth it.

“You’re obviously a regular here and know what goes on a short elevator ride away. So I have to ask myself, what are you doing moving in on me? Possibly the only woman at the bar who isn’t dressed for whatever evil torture goes on upstairs.”

“And what conclusions have you drawn?”

“Either you’ve already gone through every woman in the joint—”

“I think there might have been a compliment in there somewhere.”