The Playboy's Dangerous Bet

L

e we

g I've been wa

n Chicago playing babysitter to B

tious pastel coffee shops, watching her play house with a golde

ok sociopath with a

masterclass in co

day playing the grounded, patient, cardigan-wearing gentleman for Olivia-right before keeping his

building at nine with a dress and a pre-written note,

er hand, is a walk

kes the degenerates in my club look tame. Yet she walks around wrap

iend in the black mesh top was pr

ke that bore the shit out of me. They're l

a, th

repr

eople always sn

he dark of the observation

at her perfect boyfriend, watching her safe

brain connects the do

dr

ron around her waist, catching her dead

startlingly petite-barely five-foot-four, her waist small en

er trembling spine is ancho

e yo

h brush the shell of her ear

via," I whisper. "T

llow. The denial. The hyperventilating. The messy, hy

e in her body goes r

she t

len

s on her heel, and her hand flies through

with my jaw-a sharp, ringing crack

snaps to

bl

n

ic

ust fucki

the sharp, metallic tang of blood whe

she's already drawing he

at's enou

re faster tha

atching her wrist r

ck the joint and drive her backward until he

er in place with my weight, my fingers locked

is an inch from hers, "and I'll have my bouncers throw you

flinch. She

ok straight down into wide

n, making the furious heat flushi

rick shithouses piss themselves

ke she's plotting how to dispose

gainst mine, her e

ing hands off

t pulse fluttering under her skin is the

her wrist and take

the door and yank

dead flat. "March down those stairs? Tap Ben on

reezes on

en floor out there tonight, and you're already a walking curiosity. The wolves

ing the dark glass, her shoulder

ns her head bac

wide and swimming

u

mediate wave of irritati

despise cr

ng on the waterworks the second she needed to manipul

etic, spine

ck. And it

iting for her to crumble and beg me to

does

urally full bottom lip, biting hard enough to

onizing her own mouth

lows the sob whole, refusing to let

, the devastation in her

e

be da

?" she asks, her voice raw

leather restraints, the silver chains, the glowing two-way mir

ng, Klaus, you don't exactly l

ard me, tilting her

ss to my apartment. And then you dragged me into a BDSM sex club or strip club or

a word. I ju

iding tonight," she finishes, her voice dropping into

ly close

eaking, she

oid me too i

glass door open and storms straight out onto

nging jaw, a dark surge of a

stubbo

e out a

blindly through my club, and I'm not having her c

the main floor, he

nto her winter coat like shar

suit slides off a pink velvet banquette, stepp

I'm half a step behi

word. I don't

the man in the suit ov

and he scrambles backward, nearly tripping

, the sea of pink bodie

the main floor, past my armed b

ight air hits

ncrete between us, yanking her phone o

the screen, trying to

I ask, my irritation

p from the glow of

only person in this city who c

want your

ven told you

akes h

s her head and l

curiosity always override

th her, i

says quietly. "Go fu

block, the yellow headlights of an

steps off the curb, throws her arm

o a halt beside the

, and slams it shut, leaving me standing ther

otionless on the freezing sidewal

throbs where

igarettes and lighter, a restless, madd

naive girlfriend, show her what Ben is doing behind her back,

dn't ask a si

. She didn't b

across the face and

d the fuck

ket, my phone s

n at the bright screen ill

chest hardens into s

button and press t

you wan