Page 6 of Merciful Lies

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And what I want is Sam Keller’s sister.

I might not have a Harvard degree, but I wasn’t born yesterday. I don’t take unnecessary risks.

The day he made his first wager, I had Sam Keller checked out. I know he is technically part owner in the old school bread bakery his sister is practically killing herself to keep afloat.

Anna Keller is a fucking angel. She’s beautiful. Soft, sweet, but she has a backbone, too.

You have to in order to run a business like that. Especially when she has no help.

Sam doesn’t carry his weight, and Anna works too hard.

He’s a little douchebag is what he is.

A selfish leech.

A fucking tick.

But she, well, Anna Keller is something else. She’s tough.

Beautiful.

A flower among the thorns of the hard city we live in. Something about her draws me in and I’m curious.

I’m not the kind of man who walks up to a woman and just asks her out. That’s just not me.

I can’t let anyone in. I have to be strong for my men. I have to be ruthless in order to keep my crown.

Anna is soft.

Precious.

I shouldn’t be thinking about her, but I can’t stop. She works too hard, and I’m not about to make her life harder by pretending I could somehow fit into it.

I can’t.

I won’t even try.

But I’m not a good man, either.

I’m a viper.

So, in my den I wait for the opportunity to strike, to take what I want.

I’m the puppet-master pulling all the strings. I let Sam have just enough rope to get himself caught, but I won’t hang him. Not as long as he plays ball.

And he does. The asshole gives up his sister with hardly a protest when I call in his debt.

It makes me furious. He doesn’t deserve a sister like that.

It also makes me hard.

For her.

Tonight is the night. She’s here.

That sweet little thing is walking right into my trap.

I should feel guilty, but I don’t.

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