Page 6 of Vicious Rule

Nico finally tears his attention away from my assistant and turns to face me. “I’ve already found the one I want tonight.”

“Excellent! Which one?” I ask, happy he’ll be distracted by some choice piece of ass for a while.

He nods his chin in Sasha’s direction and grins. “The most beautiful woman in the room. There can be no other.”

For a moment, I wait for him to describe some woman over near my assistant, but he doesn’t and I know exactly the one he means. She definitely is the most beautiful woman here.

He still can’t have her.

“Sasha isn’t available, but you can have any other woman you like. Just choose one and enjoy your time with her.”

Nico’s expression grows dark, and when he turns to face me, I see he’s as unhappy as she was before. “I agreed to be your partner with the understanding that I was to have my say in how things are run. The first thing I want you tell me I can’t have it. This isn’t a good start to a business relationship.”

Quickly, I work to fix what’s already becoming a problem. “You can absolutely have your say. I still stand by that. But Sasha isn’t available because she’s working for me tonight.”

“So she’s yours? Is that why I can’t have her?” he asks sharply.

“Yes. In a manner of speaking, yes, she’s mine. Any other woman here can be yours, though. Take your pick.”

My new business partner nods his head and hums. “What manner of speaking do you mean? Either she’s yours or she’s not and I can have her.”

I feel my patience begin to fail with his need to push this subject. So he can’t have her? Big fucking deal. Find another woman, for Christ’s sake. When it comes to fucking, what does it matter what a woman looks like?

Sure I need to bend the truth to stop him from forcing this issue, I force myself to smile so my anger isn’t obvious. “Sasha is mine. It’s the reason she’s not allowed to be with anyone else at my parties.”

Nico raises a single eyebrow as if he finds my statement curious. “So you do go with other women, but she remains only for you?”

“Yes.”

“And she’s fine with that? I didn’t speak to her for long, but I got the sense she’s not the kind of woman who would tolerate that kind of behavior from a man she’s with.” He stops for a few seconds and then looks over toward her as he says, “Perhaps I was interpreting her signals wrong. It can happen. Women can be challenging to read at times.”

I follow his gaze once more and see Sasha giving him a look that’s unmistakable. Her fuck me look. I’ve seen it myself on those occasions when we were flirting back when I didn’t have to constantly remind her to fucking smile.

After a few seconds, he turns to me and shakes my hand again. “You’re a lucky man, Alex. A little advice? If I were you, I wouldn’t bother with any of these other women here tonight. When a man has the crown jewels, he shouldn’t care about knockoffs and plastic imitations.”

His advice makes me want to crush his skull, so through gritted teeth I thank him and wish him a good night before I begin to make my way over to Sasha. She hasn’t taken her eyes off Nico the whole time she’s been over there on the other side of the room, and even as I walk toward her, she still stares at him like some horny schoolgirl.

I position myself in front of her and give her my angriest stare. “Maybe you should remember who you work for.”

She finally looks at me and rolls her eyes. “I never forget who I work for, Alex. You. The entire Rule family. It’s not like I’m ever allowed to forget, now am I? By the way, you’re making it hard for me to pay attention to what people are doing by hovering over me like this.”

“Nico seems to like you. Don’t encourage that. Do you understand?”

Sasha purses her lips like she plans to kiss me and then makes a smacking noise with them. “Sure. Got it. I’m to stand here watching people, including you, having sex while I do nothing. Am I allowed to watch Nico, or is that off-limits too now that you know he likes me?”

The idea of her watching him fucking some woman sets my teeth on edge, so I shake my head. “Don’t bother paying attention to him. I know what he’s up to. It’s the rest of these men I need to know about, okay?”

Christ, she’s frustrating tonight. Why does she have to push my buttons like this? Does she want me to lash out at her?

“And just what is he up to, bossman?” Sasha asks with a chuckle.

“Don’t worry. Leave that to me. You just watch everyone else.”

She lets out a heavy sigh and shrugs. “Got it. Do what I always do but don’t pay attention to the stunning Italian god, even though it’s likely he’s got a gorgeous body that could please any woman, dead or alive.”

My rage gets the best of me, and I pull her off to the side into one of the alcoves nearby. In the dim light, I see surprise in her eyes but not fear.

It’s never fear with this woman. I swear she wouldn’t give me the happiness of showing she’s afraid, even if she was.

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