Page 2 of The Fixer

Dark brows shot up on his forehead as his alluring eyes lowered to the deep V-line of my dress. The thin, intricate gold chain body jewelry I’d worn while forgoing a bra, jangled, and had those expressive eyes darkening before they returned to my face.

“I already did so for interrupting your lunch, and I don’t apologize often, if at all. So, what else is it you think I should apologize for?” The way he challenged me with his eyes alone had my thighs clenching and squeezing together. How was he unnerving me so easily? No one ever made me uncomfortable, and yet, the way he unbalanced me with his presence left me stumbling for words.

“You . . . you . . .” I paused and inhaled a deep, reassuring gulp of air. “Stop looking at me like that, Raithe.”

“Looking at you like what?” he asked before his lips curved into a smile, revealing dimples. “I like my name on your tongue, Chevelle.” His tone was pure, undiluted lust that slithered over my nipples before wrapping around my throat.

“Like I’m candy and you have a flipping sweet tooth you’re hankering to satisfy.” Had that come out of my mouth? This man was quicksand, and I wasn’t stupid enough to step into it without a rope. “Look, there are others who can do this job. Find one of them and leave me the hell alone.”

“I don’t want them. I want you,” he stated, his smile still in place. “You graduated from high school at thirteen years old. Not even your peers’ guidance or parents’ wishes stopped you from graduating from college by seventeen with a Master’s in Juridical Science. Despite that, that wasn’t enough. You went back and took psychology because you needed to know how to read people. Your first official job was for your uncle, who was a crooked bastard, but you single-handedly saved your family name before destroying him a few weeks later. The next job was for a fortune five hundred, and you made the little prat into a billionaire. Since then, you’ve picked your jobs with calculated risk and only chose ones that challenged your mind. You need the rush that comes with it, and you get wet when you’ve done the impossible. I need you on my side to do the impossible.” Steepling his hands in front of his sinfully full, kissable lips, he waited for me to ask what the job was.

If I said I wasn’t the least bit curious, I’d be lying, but men like Raithe Dravyn didn’t need fixers like me. He had the world eating out of the palm of his hand. People tripped over themselves to please him or receive pleasure from him. He was a notorious bachelor who had supermodels lining up, waiting with bated breath to be asked to go to an event with him. I’d been envious of those women at a time or three. At least I remembered what kind of monster lurked under the expensive suit he wore.

When I didn’t take the bait he’d dangled before me, he exhaled and leaned forward, clasping his hands before resting his chin on them.

“Five million dollars if you can pull this off,” he offered.

“It’s a tempting amount of money, but you already know I don’t take jobs for the money. You’re dangling incentives before me like chum thrown to a shiver of starving sharks. The issue is that you’re a monster. You don’t just have blood on your hands. No, you’resoakedin the blood of your enemies, and you’ve spilled enough of it to fill the all lakes in Michigan twice over. There’s not enough salt in this world to protect it from the hell you’re seeking to unleash on it, is there? No. Because you get off on fear, and causing others to tremble in your presence. Your cock gets hard as steel when men who are goliaths in their field drop to their knees and beg for mercy at your feet.” Leaning forward to mimic his pose, I smiled wolfishly. “It seems neither you nor I will get what we want this day.”

“If I am such a monster as you claim, you shouldn’t speak to me with a look of triumph burning in those pretty blue eyes. Monsters take what they want, don’t they?” he queried as he rose and stepped toward me as my heart thundered in my ribcage.

“What are you—” He pulled out my chair, pulled me to my feet, and turned me around until our chests touched. Smiling wickedly, he ran his fingertips over the exposed flesh between my breasts, toying with the chain. A dark chuckle escaped his lips as he released it and then seized me, tossing me over his shoulder. “What are you doing? Put me down this instant! Oh!” I exclaimed as his hand landed on my backside hard enough to sting. “You’re insane! I demand you release me immediately!”

“I’m a monster, remember? Miss Reed, I take what I want, and in case I wasn’t clear, you are what I require. You and I? We’re going to do big things together. I’m going to be the next president of the United States of America, and you’re going to be the one who gets me there.” A shiver raced up . . . or maybe down my spine. It was hard to discern which it was as the blood pounded in my eardrums. “Call ahead and have them ready the jet for takeoff. I want to be away from here with my feisty captive before anyone notices she’s missing. Can’t have kidnapping charges if I’m to become the next leader of the free world and the most powerful creature in it,” he rumbled huskily, running his palm over the curve of my ass.

“You won’t get away with this,” I seethed between clenched teeth.Had he just said creature?

“Who is going to stop me, Chevelle?”

“This is going to be disastrous,” I muttered.

“That’s very optimistic. Put my pretty new plaything to sleep, Samir. I don’t want her freaking out when I stash her in my duffle bag to avoid the competitions watch dogs seeing her boarding the jet. I intend to enjoy their shock when she appears beside me as I announce my bid for the White House.” The largest male who’d entered the club came closer, smirking as he whispered in a strange language.

My eyelids grew heavy before the world spun around me. My hands twisted in the crisp, white shirt Raithe wore as I fought against the darkness threatening to swallow me whole. It was useless to fight it, and with a gasp of shock escaping my lips, I gave in to the velvety black wings as they drifted around my mind before pulling me into oblivion.

Chapter Two

Thesensationofslippingprovoked me to jerk upright. Forcing past the heaviness of slumber, I blinked around the darkened room. Shoving myself up, I tuned in to the noises, glowering. Had I gotten drunk and ended up in another one-night stand? The last thing I could recall was a pair of dazzling, mind-consuming azure-blue eyes with golden flecks, so maybe I had.

Driving the remnants of sleep from my mind, I pushed my hair out of my face as I slid from the bed.

My bare feet settled on the lavish carpet and sank in, which caused my eyes to narrow suspiciously. In the corner, a wide, dark duffle bag sat unzipped, but before I could look too closely at it, I had to brace my hand on the wall to keep from stumbling as my head swam with dizziness. The laughter from the other side of the door sparked fury to simmer in my abdomen because, in that moment, I also remembered exactly what had happened. I hurled the door open and glared murderously at the presumptuous, cocky bastard who’d dragged me aboard his private jet.

“You motherfucker!” I snarled, already making a beeline to the prick to erase the egotistical expression from his sensual, generous lips.

My eruption caused the entire compartment to go mute. Several pairs of eyes settled on my bedraggled appearance, which made me acutely aware that the bodice of my dress was gaping open. No man had ever dared manhandle me in such a way as he’d done. It left me confused, incensed, and if I were being honest, a little turned on.

I didn’t react to men like I had Raithe Dravyn. Normally, their confidence and authority struck a nerve, and I ended up loathing them. Raithe’s presence as a whole left me weak in the knees and churning with murderous rage. Balling my hands into fist, I breathed slowly to calm the raging inferno of fear, anger, and angst churning through my emotions.

“You dolt! What the hell were you thinking?” I enunciated slowly in a frigid tone. I pointed one cherry-red jeweled fingernail at him and jabbed it at his remarkably firm chest. “Did you wake up and think, hmm, I crave to be the president, and my first order of business should be snatching a bitch up without her permission? I guarantee you this, asshole, I could ruin you with one call. One call and all your exalted ambitions would collapse into nothing more than a pipe dream! Who the hell do you think you are?” My chest rose and fell with each outraged breath that left my trembling lips. Those bedroom eyes of his dipped to my heaving breasts, then slowly climbed back up to fix a frosty, determined visage trained on me. Crossing my arms over my breasts, I refused to flinch or back down.

“I think you’re in a slightly precarious position, and I’d tread carefully, Miss Reed,” he purred.

“Let me off this plane, now!”

“You’re welcome to get off any moment you choose or in any way you elect to do so,” he offered. One step forward and he’d devoured the distance between us and towered over me. I’d forgotten just how much bigger than me he actually was. Swallowing past the knot of fear ripping its way up my esophagus, I tilted my head, fighting for words to form. “However,” Raithe whispered as his finger traced the contour of my exposed globe, “I’d like to be present when you do so.”

Dumbfounded, I felt my jaw slowly dropping at the audacity of the prick. His finger danced over the hardened tip of my nipple, and a breathy whimper left my lungs. Casually, he adjusted the strap of my top, concealing my half-uncovered breast from the others.

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