“Are you predator or prey, Little Rabbit?”
She flinched as if referring to her by the long-lost nickname I’d given her had triggered something.
A scared little rabbit had been the perfect description for the eight-year-old girl I’d met on the streets of our shit neighborhood. She’d jumped if anyone spoke too loudly and cried at the drop of a hat.
Why she’d followed me, of all people, around had never made sense to me. I was the mean asshole kid who’d constantly told her to get lost and given her the name Little Rabbit to make her cry more.
But instead, she walked around as if it were the name of a tigress.
“I’m no one’s prey, even if I let others believe I am.” She freed herself, picking up her drink and taking a long sip before setting it down.
“I’d have to say that was true. You wouldn’t have made it past the first night here otherwise, and from what I’ve learned, you come here often.”
“When are you available to discuss business?” she asked, as if I hadn’t responded to her earlier statement.
If that was how she wanted to play it. I’d have no problems playing her game.
Picking up my tumbler, I took a slow, healthy swallow and then asked, “What type of business?”
“The kind that will make sure your assets are protected and a mutual enemy is destroyed.”
Shah.
“And I assume you are aware my favors come at a price of my choosing?”
“Yes. What I’m offering is more than ample payment.”
“It doesn’t work that way. I’m the most dangerous of the Kings.” I stepped closer to her. “I will take what you offer and then ask for more. The question is are you willing to ante up the cost to achieve your goal?”
She held her ground and my gaze. “Sex between us isn’t going to be a business transaction. So, don’t try to scare me with those tactics. It won’t work. If and when it happens, we’ll go in knowing the score.”
There she was, the huntress. The woman who seemed to have me in a semi state of arousal whenever I was around her, from the time I was a teenager.
“Oh, it’s going to happen. We’ve circled each other too long. And now that I know you’ve crossed over the threshold into my world and aren’t off-limits, it will happen sooner rather than later.”
“Back to the subject, business. When can we meet?”
The fact she hadn’t denied us sleeping together was a boldness I hadn’t expected.
This woman was one surprise after another.
And my cock approved. Although I could have done without its hard presence in my pants at the moment.
“Wednesday.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a business card, handing it to her. “Be at my office at ten. We’ll discuss business then.”
6
Danika
I stared at the card Nik handed me. It was embossed with his name and an address.
Looking up, I stared into his dark chocolate eyes and asked, “What’s the catch?”
“There is no catch.”
I wasn’t buying it. There had to be a catch. But knowing what I knew about Nik, he’d make me wait to find out.
That left the other part of the conversation we’d had that I’d tried to ignore.
Deep breaths, Danika. Fake it ’til you make it.
“And tonight? Do we go to Connor’s table and see who’s the better player?”
“Cards are definitely on the table but I was thinking to change up the venue.” The intensity of his gaze had me wanting to press my thighs together.
God, I was in trouble. Something about him drew me like a moth to a flame.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning a private game, between you and me.” The change in his voice had my blood humming.
He was trying to seduce me. Out here. In front of the whole club.
I wasn’t that easy, even if my pussy was trying to make a liar of me.
I narrowed my gaze. “Nik, what game are you playing?”
“Besides cards?” He lifted a brow in the arrogant way that should have annoyed me, but instead had my pussy contracting.
Fuck.
“Yes,” I said, trying not to give away how my body reacted to him.
“Little Rabbit, the question is, what game are you playing?”
Fifteen years since he’d called me by that name, and in a matter of minutes he’d used it twice. Why was he using that name now, when he’d never done it before in all the years since I left the neighborhood?
He had no idea the power the name had. And the secrets it held.
I shouldn’t have picked it as my alias, but then again, this was a private name between two people who destiny had decided weren’t meant to be together.
Nik had used it to make fun of the scrawny, frightened girl I’d been. However, I’d also known he’d carried around a small wooden carved tiger his deceased mother had given him named Rabbit. He’d been as much a lost soul as I was and that was probably what made me follow him around and stick with him no matter how much he tried to get rid of the eight-year-old me.
The kids Nik ran with were the ones parents warned their children away from, but they’d become my family, protecting me from the bullies of our neighborhood. And in turn, as I grew up, I protected the boys, especially after Nik took over the crew. I was the studious girl with her nose in a book—the cops would believe me when I said the boys were in a different location than they actually were.
Then everything changed and I lost my world.
Pushing back the memories of the boy I knew, I focused on the man before me. “I have no idea what you mean, Nik.”
He set his tumbler on the rim of the bar and leaned forward, his large body all but blocking out the light around me.
“Why are you here, Danika? Why are you friends with men who have reputations for slitting throats as well as fleecing cards? And why did it seem as if you and Devani Patel were best friends when the public believes you can’t stand each other?”
Straight to the point, I see.
“My secrets are exactly that—mine. I’m here to play cards. You want a private game. Then let’s play.”
“Yes, let’s play.” He offered me his hand.
My immediate reflex was to take it, but a small sliver of sense crept in. If I took his hand, I knew what I was doing. This night was going to end much differently than I’d anticipated when I’d come home from the gallery planning to watch a K-drama.
Hell, it would end in a way that hadn’t even been on my radar.
Tonight was supposed to be about getting a meeting; now I was deciding on a game of poker that would end in Nik’s bed.
I looked into Nik’s beautiful, hypnotizing eyes. He gave nothing away.
Before I knew what I was doing, I slid my palm over his. “Lead the way.”
He stared at me for a brief second before lifting my hand to his lips and kissing my knuckles.
Electricity shot through my system and it took all of my strength not to shiver.
“Follow me.”
Holding my hand, he moved toward a back hallway. Just as we slid into the dark, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Connor, Rich, and Devani watching us. Each of them with a different expression on their faces. I knew I’d have messages relaying their opinions on my decision, but at this point, I was all in.