Page 35 of Break the Ice
I drag it out on purpose just to make her life hell. I drop by her office and make her believe I’m about to tell her, then abruptly change my mind. I invite her to drinks at Puck and Pint only to decide against making my reveal again. She does her damnedest to put on an act like the PR professional that she is, but I know better—a planner, plotter type like Sugar Tits needs the details. She can’t stand being left in the dark.
It kills her that I’m refusing to let her in on what I have planned. Disturbs her deep down in the core of her being.
Which only makes it that much more amusing. I’m that much more satisfied with the game we’re playing.
Marisse really believed she was going to bypass me and forge some alliance with Quigley Blackman. It was a savvy move, proving why she’s the PR expert she is. She’s clever and creative and that’s what makes her dangerous.
But also much more fun to play with.
Most people are boring and predictable when you fuck with them. They fall into one of three categories. The obedient one that rolls right over and does whatever you say. The tattletale that tries to involve the law before inevitably complying once they realize they’re fucked. And the emotional one—they often explode in anger and go on the attack only to make their situation ten times worse. The Phil Morascas of the world.
Sugar Tits is different. She’s decided she’ll play my game with me. She’ll outmaneuver me. That’s what the dinner with Blackman was all about.
I have to make sure I stay several steps ahead at all times.
A decision I learn leaves me even more fixated. For the first time in my life, I’m in the middle of a crowded club surrounded by available women and I’m preoccupied elsewhere. My mind’s on what my next move with Marisse will be. If I’m ready to start the next level of my game.
“Let’s go back to your place, Alpha,” purrs Felicia Harding. The Ice Girl licks the shell of my ear and grabs my package. “I miss your big fat cock.”
Any other night I would’ve been deep in dirty talk with Felicia. I would’ve been telling her all about how I was going to fuck her and tan her ass with my belt.
Tonight, I’m oblivious and tuned out.
She wraps her arms around mine, hugging herself closer. “Alpha… are you going to fuck me?”
I rip my arm out of hers and don’t hold back my scorn. “If I wanted to fuck you, Felicia, I would’ve already had you in a filthy bathroom stall. Go chase after some other Wolf who’ll fuck you. Pretty sure whiskey-dick Foley is here tonight. Try him.”
Felicia’s offended cry follows me out of the club. I step onto the curb outside of Axis and peer down the crowded city street.
The night carries on around me. The music from Axis thumps the air. People out for a good time wander the sidewalks, coming in and out of the bars and clubs on the block. I’m missing nothing if I walk away.
For once, I check out of the party scene and go down a different path.
A funny feeling creeps over me. Half surreal, half hypnotic, I’ve made up my mind without realizing I have.
The standard Seattle weather migrates into the city in a stream of showers. Traffic everywhere feels backed up. I ride the light rail a few blocks from Alki Beach and walk the rest of the way. I turn down the block that leads to Marisse’s high-rise. Coming up on the tall apartment building, I pick out her window among the rest.
All the way up at the top. Her sheer curtains flutter in the cool night drizzle and wind. She hasn’t closed her window the rest of the way.
I reason away what’s on my mind. I have an innate ability to talk myself into anything, no matter how chaotic and troublesome. Yes is always at least a maybe. It’s both a blessing and a curse.
How easy would it be to make my way up and find a way in? How hard would it be to sneak around and then surprise Sugar like I did the other night in her hotel room?
She’d looked so fucking gorgeous in such a private, normally unseen moment—unzipping her dress and gathering lotions and loofahs for her shower. I was hiding in plain sight behind the hotel’s floor-length window curtain. She had no damn idea.
Then she paused. She stopped where she was and glanced around the room as if she suddenly sensed my presence. Like some part of her felt the heat from my gaze.
I could’ve kept the game up. Stayed hidden inside her hotel room. But I chose to reveal myself because she had to know she was caught. I knew exactly what she had been trying to do with Blackman.
She was under my spell from the moment I showed up. She let me invade her space and tease her lips. Tension crackled. Passion intensified.
I pried her towel away and groped the soft naked curves beneath. She trembled in my arms and sought out more of my mouth. We kissed every last thought away.
At the last second that I remembered what I had to do. I couldn’t reward Marisse at that moment. She had gone against my offer and sought to outplay me. I had to make her pay for that little stunt.
Time becomes relative like it does when I’m lost in a workout. I don’t know how long I lurk outside of Marisse’s apartment building. Probably longer than most people would say is appropriate. Except I’ve never given a fuck what most people deem appropriate.
Marisse has no clue how often she’s on my mind. I helped her for a reason that night and it wasn’t out of the kindness of my heart. My help came with an explicit cost and she’s going to discover what that means firsthand.
