Page 9 of Breaking the Rules
“You didn’t have to. Your father took care of that.”
It brought her to her feet and the anger masked the pain enough that her scowl was all for him. “We arenotdoing this again.”
Xavier stood, and she felt the prey drive jumpstart her heart. She was always the prey with Xavier. He closed the distance between them. “Oh, but we are, Angel. And I’m looking forward to it.”
“How did you find me?”
“There’s my girl. I could bore you with the details like flight manifests and Marisol Cote’s spontaneous family vacation to the Dominican Republic only with a ticket to Belize City. Then there are the property records… clever girl buying this place under a corporation name, by the way. But the important thing is I’m here to help you.”
“Help me?” she couldn’t think. Not with his fingers toying with the edge of her silk robe. Not with anger and lust roiling within her to create one emotional volcano.
“Your parents and everyone else in the world think you’re in rehab after an accident that didn’t happen.”
Her eyes must have betrayed her because he stepped in on her leaving no room for escape, no room to breathe.
“That’s right, Waverly. There’s no police report of you and a DUI or you and a traffic accident in the United States or Canada. And I highly doubt the media was reporting on a fender bender with a golf cart in Belize.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You flew here from Reno, Nevada, on a private jet five days ago. And judging from your wardrobe,” he paused to look her up and down, “it wasn’t a scheduled trip. So why don’t you tell me, Angel, why exactly you’d be willing to let everyone, including your five years sober mother, think that you were going to rehab after hurting yourself in a wreck?”
“It’s none of your fucking business, Saint.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Everything you do is now my business.”
“My father hired you?”
“He did.”
“Then I’m firing you. I’m twenty-five now, X. I make my own decisions.”
“Try it, Angel, and I’ll be on the phone to your father in ten seconds telling him that his little girl isn’t getting her life together in rehab. She’s sunning herself on the beach in Belize. And I won’t stop there. I’ll get our pal Gwendolyn Riddington-Macks to draft a statement for the media, and I’ll have your lawyer file a suit against every publication that printed the story and the unnamed source at Target Productions who confirmed it.”
He was blackmailing her. And ironically enough, he was blackmailing her with the truth. But the truth was what could do the most damage right now.
“What do you want?” Her voice was calm, almost bored, but inside she was seething.
“A whole lot more than you’re willing to give me right now. But I’m a patient man.” Xavier ran a thumb over her lower lip, and she didn’t bother stifling the urge to bite it. Her teeth sank into the flesh. Xavier tossed his sunglasses onto the cushion and backed her up until she found herself pinned between him and the thick trunk of a palm tree. “God, I missed you.” His mouth was on hers, and her last coherent thought fled her mind as the ghost of flames long extinguished consumed her.
She refused to open for him, refused to yield. She stayed cold, at least until his tongue teased the seam of her lips. On a sigh, a moan, she opened to him. But she wouldn’t yield. She fought to be the aggressor in a tangle of lips and teeth and breath. It was violent, beautiful, cruel. The pain of the last five years reared its head and poured itself into the kiss. She wanted to brand him with the hurt that had scarred her so long ago.
Xavier whispered dark promises against her mouth that had her shivering with desires rekindled. He was hard and throbbing against her. Her breath came in jagged pants.
His hands skimmed down her sides toward the curve of her hips, and she yelped in pain as he cruised over her wound. That quick slice of pain brought her back to earth faster than gravity. She shoved against him, needing space more than she needed oxygen.
“Did I hurt you, Angel?” His hands were suddenly gentle, his voice soft.
Yes.She wanted to shout it through tears. Yes, he’d hurt her. He’d destroyed her, and just looking at that gorgeous face was killing her now.
This couldn’t be happening. She’d promised herself, vowed, that she would never again let herself be gutted by Xavier Saint or any man. She was Waverly Sinner. She bowed to no one. Remembering the hurt, clinging to it, she drew herself back.
She looked at him coldly. “You’ll never be able to hurt me again, Xavier.”
“Waverly.” Her name on those lips brought a new pain blooming to the surface.
“What? You’re on the payroll again, so you think sex with me is one of your benefits?” She wanted to draw blood, to hurt him the way he’d hurt her.
His hands dropped to his side and she felt victorious… and guilty.
