Page 1 of Dominant

Chapter 1

Partners

Jordan

I was late.

I was late and Jennifer was going to be a total bitch about it, but there was nothing I could do. I leaned my forehead against the bus window and snapped the elastic band around my wrist. The sharp bite as it ricocheted off my skin momentarily distracted me from my anxiety. It would be an hour and a half before I arrived at my parents’ winery, Chateau Andilet, for their annual Christmas party, and I was already supposed to be there.

Jennifer had wanted me to come early, but I’d said no because I had to work. I should have gone. But how was I to know I was going to get fired today?

When I’d woken up that morning, things hadn’t been great, but at least they’d been on track. I had a job - even if waitressing wasn’t a career- and a car.

Now I had no job, and a car that was locked into wheel clamps because I had unpaid fines. It was ironic that I was heading to my rich parents’ castle to celebrate a multi-million dollar business deal they’d just made when I was dead broke, but they had never given me money. I had been raised by my mother, unlike my two stepsisters, and somehow this meant I wasn’t a true member of the family.

Chateau Andilet, the family business for as long as I’d known my dad and his wife, was now a partnership, and they were announcing it at the party. My parents had sold nearly half of the company to an angel investor. It didn’t matter much to them, they owned other businesses, but they hoped the investor would significantly grow the business so that they could sell their remaining stock for profit without having to keep working for it.

The company’s greatest asset was its namesake, the actual Chateau Andilet, a sprawling four-storey castle built in the last century by an extremely rich eccentric, and eventually acquired by my parents in a state of some disrepair. Most of the capital they’d put into their business had gone into restoring the chateau, which they used as an event space and had once planned to turn into a luxury hotel.

“I’m late!” I said breathlessly to their event planner, Felicia, when I arrived. She was hovering by the entrance, micro-managing the coat check girls and keeping an eye out for stragglers like me. Catching sight of myself in the hallway mirror, I tried to pat down my bangs and smooth my dark hair behind my ears. I’d hiked across the property from the nearest bus stop, unwilling to spring for a cab, and my hair was starting to curl at the temples from the exertion.

“They’ve been looking for you,” she said warningly, taking my coat and handing it to one of the girls. Felicia was always perfectly neutral, yet I had the impression that she knew exactly how this family worked - and that she was on my side. I gave her a grateful smile.

Walking into the main event space, I headed straight for the bar to fortify myself before I saw any of my family.

“Can you make me a vodka soda?” I asked the bartender. There was only wine on display, rows and rows of Chateau Andilet, but she nodded and reached under the bar for a bottle of cheap bar-rail vodka.

“Don’t you like the wine?” asked a deep, rich voice beside me.

I turned my head to see a tall man with dark, swept-back hair, leaning his elbows on the bar. He was dressed in an impeccable, perfectly-cut suit, and obviously rich. Probably a friend of my parents’, I thought, deciding not to criticize the wine.

A fucking sexy friend of my parents, I couldn’t help but think, with strong arms that were straining the fabric of his jacket and a chiselled jawline.

“I just need something stronger,” I answered diplomatically.

He nodded, and gestured to the bartender. “Make that two.”

He turned around and leaned his back against the bar, surveying the room. “I don’t care for the wine, myself,” he confessed, and I breathed a laugh.

“Then you’re at the wrong party, mister.”

He turned to look at me with a small, amused grin.

“I’m Alexander,” he held out one large, strong-looking hand and I slipped mine into it.

“Jordan.”

His hand felt good wrapped around mine, and his startling blue eyes lingered a little longer than was customary, flushing me with a warm, anticipatory heat. He was much older than I was, I guessed, with a hint of crinkle around his eyes, and a large watch that looked very, very expensive. I wondered if he had a wife in the crowd, but I saw no ring on his finger.

“What brings you to this party, Jordan?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer. I didn’t want to admit it was my family’s winery after he’d dissed the wine, so I settled for the next best thing. “Business.”

He nodded. “Me too.”

The bartender placed our drinks on the bar, and Alexander tipped her.

I eyed him as he brought the drink up to his mouth. He had a straight, sharp nose, and a strong jaw with a scrape of five o’clock shadow on it. I couldn’t help but notice the way his crisp, starched shirt fit him - he was in excellent shape. Maybe it wasn’t going to be such a bad party, after all.

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