Ruthless Creatures (Queens & Monsters, #1)(17)

He inhales deeply against my neck.

I almost collapse into the street.

A big black SUV pulls to a stop in front of the valet stand. Kage brushes past me and strides around to the driver’s side, hands money to the valet who hops out, and roars off without another glance in my direction.





7





Nat





“He said that?”

“Verbatim.”

“Holy shit.”

“That was pretty much my reaction, too.”

Sloane pauses. “And you didn’t throw yourself to your knees, rip open his zipper, and latch on to him like a sucker fish?”

Rolling my eyes, I sigh. “And they say romance is dead.”

It’s the next morning. I’m at home, where I’ve been doing the same thing I’ve been doing since the cab dropped me off last night. Namely, pacing.

No lights were on next door when I got home. There’s been no movement at his house this morning, either. There’s been no sign of Kage at all. I don’t even know if he’s there or not.

“Seriously, babe, that’s got to be the hottest thing I’ve ever heard. And I’ve pretty much heard everything.”

Chewing my thumbnail, I turn around and pace the other direction.

“I agree that it’s hot. It’s also way over the top. What kind of woman would react with ‘Sure, great, please fuck all my holes, Mr. Complete Stranger, sounds like a totally solid and not at all dangerous plan’?”

“Well, for starters…me.”

“Oh, come on! You would not!”

“Have you even met me? I totally would! If he would’ve been into me, I was ready to leave with him at the bar the other night without even knowing his damn name!”

“I think it’s time you seriously reexamine your life choices.”

She scoffs. “Listen to me, Sister Teresa—”

“It’s Mother Teresa, and stop comparing me to frickin’ nuns.”

“—that man is not the man you pass up when he offers you a ride on his elephant.”

I stop pacing long enough to look at the ceiling and shake my head.

She’s still talking.

“With that level of dirty-talk game right out of the gate, I’ll bet you a million bucks he’d give you thirty orgasms within ten minutes if you slept with him.”

“You don’t have a million dollars, and that’s not even physically possible.”

“It is with him. Hell, I could get off a dozen times alone just by looking at him. That face! That body! Jesus, Natalie, he could melt the polar ice caps with a look, and you turned him down?”

“Calm down.”

“I will not. I’m indignant on behalf of sex-starved women everywhere.”

“Excuse me, but the only sex-starved person on this phone call is me.”

“My point is that he’s a once-in-a-lifetime fuck. You could be having lovely daydreams about him at eighty when you’re in your rocking chair in the nursing home, soiling your diapers. Instead, you’re out here acting like you’re constantly being showered with prime sausages like confetti.”

After a moment, I start to laugh. “Oh god. The mental image. I’m gonna have to search the web for that meme.”

“Forward it to me when you find it. Have you listened to anything I’ve said?”

“Yes. I’m an idiot. You’ve made your point.”

“I don’t think I have.”

“Am I going to need to sit down for this? I have a funny feeling I’ve got a long lecture coming.”

“Let me just paint a picture for you of how perfect this is.”

“By ‘this,’ are you referring to his penis?”

She ignores me. “He’s gorgeous. That’s a given. He’s totally into you. He’s also leaving soon.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning there can be no emotional entanglements. That’s your favorite thing, remember?”

I grudgingly admit that it’s a check in the Pro column.

“Also, it would break your tragic dry spell. It might even help you move on. Think of it like therapy.”

“Therapy?”

“For your vagina.”

“Oh my god.”

“All I’m saying is that I don’t see a downside here.”

She might if I shared the tidbit about him buying the house with cash so he could launder his money and how he equivocated at first when I asked him if I should be afraid of him.

On second thought, that would probably just make her like him even more.

According to what she told me about Stavros earlier in the conversation, it sounds like his tech job is a cover for his real gig as an arms dealer. Nobody needs that many passports or cargo planes.

“I just feel like…I don’t know anything about him. What if he’s a criminal?”

“What are you, running for public office? Who cares if he’s a criminal? You’re not marrying him, you’re just bouncing up and down on his dick for a few days until he leaves. Don’t make everything so complicated.”

“What if he has an STD?”

Her sigh is loud and heavy. “Have you heard of this newfangled thing called a condom? It’s all the rage with the kids these days.”