Page 18 of Restrained

“Positive.” Her teeth are clenched, and it’s clear she’s rattled. The fact that I’ve managed to jar her, when she’s normally so composed, is a thrill I can’t explain.

“Do you want me to ask more about you?”

I can’t. I don’t want to get close to Lola. Plus, I know, without a doubt, she’ll tell me to fuck off. “I want to get back to work.”

“Always about work with you.”

Her pretty eyes roll in her head as she drops her arms to her side. “You’re one to talk.”

I want to ask her so many things, but most of them revolve around Penelope. “I’m the one trying to find out information.”

“About Penelope. Who is taken.”

“By your brother.”

She’s irritated as she walks out of the bathroom and into the private bedroom area, but as I follow her, she turns around to face me, her finger pointed up at my face. “Listen, I’m not playing your fucked-up bored, little rich boy games. If you have some sort of agenda involving Penelope, you tell me right now.”

“She works for me.”

Maybe I should have been more subtle, should have asked about Lola too. Shit, I'm fucking this entire thing up.

“Not anymore.”

She exits and starts for the main door before I block her from leaving. “We have a contract.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“That doesn’t void the agreement.”

She folds her arms again as she stares up at me. “Why did you choose us?”

She looks vulnerable, and I have to look away from her beautiful face and focus on the window in the suite. “You’ve built a good reputation.”

“We’re still new.”

I shrug my shoulder, my eyes meeting hers. “Maybe I like new.”

“You don’t do anything that isn’t calculated.”

That’s accurate, but how could she know that? “You don’t know me.”

“And, despite your little background check, you don’t know me.” She takes a deep breath, letting her arms drop again and her back straighten. “Penelope isn’t a mystery. She loves my brother with everything she has, and he loves her unconditionally. And he’ll snap your neck just for asking so many questions about his precious P.”

I nearly growl but hold back. I’d like to see the fucker try. I’ve never backed down from a fight. “I’m not interested in her that way.”

She moves away from the door, giving up on leaving. “What else do you need to know to feel comfortable working with us?”

She’s giving me an opening. “How long have you known each other?”

She smiles. “Penelope was nine when my brothers met her and brought her home for dinner.”

Nine. They’ve known each other for a while. I also know from my private investigator that Colt Sterling died at eighteen in an accident, but I'm not sure if he was one of the brothers she’sreferring to or not. Although he was Penelope’s age. “And it was love at first sight?”

“For all of us.”

I take a deep breath, approving of that answer. “And your parents just took her in? A kid off the street?”

That sends a flash of anger my way, but she manages to keep her cool. “She wasn’t just a street kid. She isn’t a piece of dirt beneath you or me because she wasn’t born with money like we were. She’s a phenomenal person, and my mother fell in love right along with us.”

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