Page 3 of Dominant

“How about Truth or Dare?”

He considered it and nodded. “Okay, you go first.”

“Okay, truth.” I sized him up. Very handsome, clearly wealthy… he couldn’t be single, could he? “Are you here with anyone?” I asked.

He shook his head, and gave me a teasing look. “Why do you ask, Jordan?”

The sound of my name on his lips made my heart thud in my chest. “Just wondering if there’s anyone across the room eyeing me jealously right now.”

“Are you?” He was definitely flirting.

I held his gaze for a second before responding. I was wondering how weird it would be, on a scale of one to ten, to fuck someone who could very well be a friend of my parents.

“Okay, your turn.” I prompted him, trying to clear my thoughts.

“Fine.” He didn’t break eye contact, and it was sexy as hell. “Dare.”

Another thud of my heart. A dare was a challenge of obedience, which meant a suit-clad, muscle-bound older man was going to tell me what to do… and I was definitely on board with it.

He glanced around the room, as if searching for ideas, and I saw his eyes wander up the huge staircase at the far end of the room. “I dare you… to explore this castle with me. Let’s run off and see what they hide upstairs.”

I hesitated. Alexander was sexy and flirtatious, but exploring the castle might lead to explaining that I was a member of the Andilet family, which I didn’t really want to do - at least not yet. I still didn’t know who had invited him to the party. I was flailing for a response when we were interrupted by my youngest stepsister.

“So sorry,” Jackie said to Alexander, coming up beside us and wrapping one arm around my shoulder. “But I need to steal this beauty away from you. Really sorry to interrupt, sir - please excuse us.” I gave Alexander a silly, wide-eyed look, but she turned me around and led me away before I could say anything.

“Whatare you doing?” she hissed at me. “Mom has promised him to Nicki.”

“What?” I was confused. Why would my stepmother be promising older men to my twenty-year-old stepsister?

“Yes,” she continued, releasing my neck and taking my hand instead, pulling me along behind her. “Didn’t you know Nicki’s the heir apparent?”

My stepmother was up ahead of us, and before I could ask anything further we had caught her eye.

“She’s here,” I heard her hiss, and seconds later she was bearing down on me with Nicki in tow - a flutter of jewels, floating silks, and heavy perfume.

“Busy day at the restaurant?” she asked sweetly, for the benefit of the people around us. The tightness around her eyes belied her irritation.

“No, I--” I faltered. I didn’t really want to tell her I’d lost my job and that my car was in wheel clamps. “Uh… It hasn’t been a great day,” I summarized.

She reached for my elbow, pinching a little too hard as she steered me through the great room. “We have a lot of important guests here tonight,” she said through a strained smile. “It’s such a big night for our family. Your father’s going to be so relieved you made it.” She waved her free hand at a couple hovering near the wall. Her hand was the picture of wealth, I observed, as she raised it in front of me - the aged skin of her long fingers evident only because of how thin she was, the ostentatious weight of the diamond my father had given her catching all the light.

The subtext of what she was saying, Do not fuck it up for us, was clear. What exactly she thought I might do was a mystery to me. I was always on my best behaviour around my father and his family. It was almost as if they secretly hoped I would do something awful, so they could finally prove they were right about me.

We strode past guests and a busy staff of caterers towards my father, who was standing at the foot of the sweeping central staircase talking to two other men.

“She’s here,” Jennifer said, with a quiet edge to her voice.

He turned to me with a beaming, jovial smile, and boomed “Great!”, clapping a heavy hand against my arm before turning back to the two men. This was the usual extent of our interactions. For all I knew, he might actually have had no idea who I was.

Jennifer leaned in towards me, her mask of charm gone, and her features bony and hawklike. For someone who’d had so much Botox, she could be remarkably expressive. “I wish you’d been on time,” she said under her breath. “It’s embarrassing for your father when his child looks like the only one who doesn’t care about the family.”

I winced like she had slapped me. Had she just accused me of failing the family? But before I had a chance to reply, her face had transformed once again and she was grinning ear to ear at someone behind my shoulder.

“Alexander!” she crowed. “Wonderful! You’re just in time to meet Jonathan’s daughter. She’s got a very busy job so she wasn’t able to arrive earlier. Sweetheart, say hi to Alexander Abbott, our new partner at Chateau Andilet!”

I turned slowly, still furious at Jennifer’s comment, and my eyes landed on a muscular chest clothed in a crisp, white shirt. I raised my eyes in disbelief to a familiar pair of sparkling blue eyes.

I had assumed the investor was another grey-haired, heavyset man like my father and his peers. I had certainly never imagined it might be the sexy, teasing, extremely hot man I’d been flirting with who was promised to my sister. The man who didn’t like the Chateau Andilet wines.

---