Page 24 of Broken Saint

That twisted thought made no sense, but that’s what he did to me.

From the moment it became more than one night, I'd known I had to break it off, but one look, one word, and one touch was all it took to make me forget. When he pressed his body to mine, I couldn't think straight. When he brought his mouth down on mine, I was lost.

Mr. tall, dark and fuck me against the wall had hooked me in good and I didn't want to break free. He might look like a boy scout to the rest of the world, but to me he was anything but. He had a dark side too.

Tonight, however, would absolutely have to be our last. One way or another I would find a way to open my mouth and tell him goodbye. After this morning though, I didn't know what to think. He'd sounded so sure about what he wanted that I was almost convinced. For a few minutes I'd even entertained the idea that I could actually belong to him instead of another.

And then reality crashed into me.

He would have to go. It simply couldn’t be anything but the hottest sex of my life...

That still left me backed in a corner alone.

Unless my fiancé-to-be was willing to negotiate.

I turned away from the sun setting over the strip and walked to the painting on the wall that hid a safe behind it. I twirled the dial backward and forward in a complex pattern that would eventually unlock the door.

Over five years, designing haute couture was not the only skill I had honed. I had also discovered that in some respects I was truly my father's daughter. When I saw something I wanted, I found a way to get it. If that meant I had to bend the rules, I did. Without hesitation.

Opening the safe, I placed the simple bag inside. I wanted my freedom beyond the five-year mark, and to make that work, I had to find something that my father wanted more than my marriage. These, I believed, were it.

It had taken years to figure out the answer and months more to obtain them. But finally, I had my one and only life insurance policy.

A soft sigh escaped my lips.

These right here made the impossible even more impossible. No normal man would ever understand what I had to do to survive. Which left me with no other choice. I had to forget him after tonight.

Tonight, well after midnight when the city that never sleeps slowed to a crawl, he would come for the last time. And I would be waiting on my knees, for the first and last time. It didn't matter if that thought made me want to cry.

Until I found a way to break free from my deal with the devil, I'd do what any other woman in my position would do—rebel.

Feeling resolute and resigned, I jerked when a knock sounded at my door.

My gaze flew to the window, where the sun had not yet completely set, at the same time I slammed the door to the safe closed.

I knew it wasn't time, but I'd had to check. My mystery man would never come to my door this early, nor would he knock. I'd also not given access to my private section of this floor to anyone else.

My stomach plummeted. The hair at the nape of my neck rose, and goosebumps erupted across my arms. My instincts were screaming that plans had suddenly changed.

As I adjusted the painting over the safe—twice, to make sure it wasn’t off kilter, —I tried to force down the rising panic that threatened to choke me. The man most likely at my door would not be happy to see me.

Running would be futile and not my style. I had planned to fight for my life to the bitter end and that is exactly what I would do. I straightened my back and crossed the living room to open the door.

I considered checking the peephole to confirm my suspicions, but I didn't need to. Every instinct in my body had begun to scream.

Time was up.

I twisted the knob and pulled the door open.

And there he stood.

One of the most lethal enforcers in the United States, and he was here for me.

The devil himself.

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