Chapter 4

Her apartment was nothing like I expected. The dressing room back at the club was always in disarray. The girls often left changes of clothes strewn about and their makeup scattered all over their vanity tops.

Here, it was the same but different.

There was a white stone sculpture of a naked female body sitting on a pillar between two open bedroom doors. It had someone's bra tossed over it like they couldn't be bothered to make it to their room before taking it off.

The paintings hanging around the apartment were mostly erotic nudes, and a couple of them also had lacy undergarments dangling from them.

Over on the wall next to what looked like the bathroom were little frames containing a packet of birth control pills, a condom, and what had to be an IUD, each with a pink outline of a uterus behind them.

It was messy, yet tasteful.

Chaos, yet controlled.

I heard Carina say something to me, but my attention fell on one of the nude paintings. A thousand fantasies played out in my mind as heat flooded my body. The woman in the picture had short black hair, ruby red lips, and large tits that were barely contained in a white lace bra, the straps falling free from her shoulders. She sat, legs splayed, fingers split into a V between them, revealing a pretty pink pussy that seemed to glimmer with wetness in the light shining down from above. My hands ached and my dick throbbed in my pants, and I knew I had to get out of there before I did something I'd end up regretting.

Turning to tell her I was leaving, I found Carina missing. She wasn't in the kitchen, nor in the living room I'd been standing in. I was half-tempted to walk out of the apartment and never look back, to find some way of erasing the memories of this place and the painting that made me want to palm my dick and jack off right where I was standing.

Instead, I walked around the apartment, peering into the empty rooms while looking for Carina. Ruby, Evie, and Sienna lived here too, and though I didn't know which rooms were theirs, I could see their touches everywhere. From the bold colors Sienna favored, to the pink palette Evie adored, to the wild patterns Ruby lived in. The three girls weren't home—were likely at work where I should have been—but I could feel their presence stamped across every inch of the apartment as if they were standing right there.

I pushed at the half-open door to the final back bedroom and was caught off guard again. Partially by the perfect organization and spotlessness of the room. But mostly by the half-dressed woman in front of me.

In place of the T-shirt and shorts she'd been wearing when I arrived, she now wore a short, silky black robe. One side had slipped off her shoulder, and it was clear she didn't have much on underneath. Those fantasies hit me yet again, until I was clenching my fists at my sides to keep from doing the one thing I promised myself I'd never do.

"What are you doing?" Carina straightened but she didn't bother covering up. One of her areolas was peeking out of the open neck of her robe, and I was having trouble pulling my gaze away.

When I finally did, when I found my control and forced myself to look at her face, I got distracted by the perfect bow of her ruby red lips.

"I came to find out where you've been," I finally managed, my voice coming out all wrong. Even to my own ears, I sounded angry, and Carina reacted as if I was.

"I already told you, I had some days off! Can't you read a calendar?"

Spinning away from her, I shoved my hands through my hair, tempted to pull it all out to keep from touching her. But I'd done a 360 degree turn and was facing her again. She was right there, so fucking sexy, so goddamn beautiful it drove me insane.

"I was worried." I clenched my fists as Carina put her hands on her hips.

The collar of her robe shifted, showing off too much of her chest beneath the missed buttons. "You were worried?" She took a step forward, getting in my space. "Let me guess: you thought I'd brought someone home with me from the club? Or maybe you thought you'd come waltzing in here and find some guy's cock in my mouth? Or maybe"—she stepped closer—"you thought you'd catch a show? See someone railing me from behind, their dick shoved so far insi?—"

"Carina, stop!" I stepped away, scrubbed both hands down my face to wash those images away—to wipe thoughts of her lips wrapped around my dick, of my cock shoved inside of her, out of my mind. "Would you let me speak?"

"Of course." She crossed her arms over her chest. It caused the hem of the silky fabric to ride up, baring more of her tan skin and the swatch of black lace covering her pussy. It caused my brain to short-circuit and nearly miss what she said. "By all means, barge into my apartment and don't bother seeing yourself out when I tell you to. I'd love to stop speaking for someone who shows so much respect for me and my wellbeing."

Sharp laughter pounded through me in time with the harsh beat of my heart. I spoke through clenched teeth. "I was worried about you, Carina. After…"

She narrowed her eyes. "After what?"

Raising my hands to my face, I pressed my palms into my eyes. I couldn't look at her. Not if I wanted to maintain control. "After our fight…"

"Our fight?" I heard her move, so I held perfectly still. "Do you mean when you barged into the dressing room without so much as a knock and yelled at us for doing our jobs?"

"Doing your jobs does not mean sucking cock!"

"Not anymore, it doesn't. You made sure of that, didn't you? You've always had an agenda, and you've finally pushed it through. Does it make you happy, ruining our livelihoods and taking money out of our pockets?"

Dropping my hands, I spread my arms wide, damn near hitting her in the face as I did. "I'm not trying to ruin your livelihoods, dammit! Can't you see I'm doing this for your own good?"

"My own good? I'm sorry, when did you start giving a shit about what I do with my life? And what makes you think you have any say in what I do in my bed?" She tossed her hand out toward the giant bed that took up more than half the room.

It was a glaring reminder that I shouldn't be here. This was her bedroom. Her personal space. The one place I should have stayed far, far away from. I could barely control myself. Couldn't stop my body from shaking as I stared down at her fucking gorgeous scowl. I gritted my teeth, fisted my hands at my sides.

"I'm doing this for you, Carina. You should be thanking me."

She stepped closer, encroaching on my space. "Thank you, Kingston. Thank you for taking money out of my pocket and dictating what I can and cannot do with my own body." She took another step closer, and I could feel the heat radiating from her skin. "Thank you for treating me like a child who doesn't know how to take care of herself."

Another step, and she was so close I couldn't breathe without brushing against her.

"Thank you for making me feel like I have no value unless I'm serving you. Does that make you feel better? Is that what you want?"

She pushed and pushed and pushed, and I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed her by the arms, just like I did in the dressing room three nights ago, lifting her toward me until our chests were touching, until her face was mere inches from mine. "That's not what I want."

"You could have fooled me." She shifted like she was trying to get away, but it only made her chest rub against mine. I loosened my grip, but I couldn't force myself to let her go. Not when her silky skin was against my palms. Not when her breath warmed my face.

My thumbs smoothed over her arms while my eyes were locked on her fucking enticing lips. "That's not what I want," I repeated, both because it was true and I didn't know what else to say.

I couldn't tell her the truth. Couldn't tell her why this was so important to me. It may have made me look like an asshole, but I was okay with that if it meant she'd be safe.

All of them.

They'd all be safe.

"What do you want, King?" Carina asked, her voice losing its vicious bite. In its place was a rasp that stirred something inside of me stronger than that picture in the other room.

I knew what I wanted, and I knew exactly why it could never be mine.

Carina hated me. I'd never given her a reason to like me, and that was the bed I'd be forced to lie in. Even touching her like this, with her chest against mine, with her smooth skin under my palms, was more than I'd ever have the right to.

She was too good for me. Always had been, always would be.

Nothing would ever change that.

I was about to open my mouth, to tell her to forget it, that I wouldn't fight with her over this anymore. But before I could, Carina leaned forward.

And she pressed her lips to mine.