Page 6 of Bitter Arrangement

“They pay well, and I figured you’d want me to maintain a healthy professional relationship with them.”

“That’s smart,” he says, nodding slightly, but he looks uneasy. “Still, be careful. The Mantis are goddamn ruthless. I hear they flayed a man alive for losing them a few thousand dollars last year.”

Which is genuinely no worse than what he’s done, but I don’t say that out loud.

“It was twelve thousand, and he already owed them thirty on top of that.” But Tigran does have a point. The Mantis are a secretive criminal organization based out of Taiwan with a focus on cybersecurity. If the scheme involves hacking, blackmail, illegal tech, or anything digital, they likely have their fingers in it.

And they don’t tolerate failure.

Lucky for me, I never fuck up.

I put the car in gear and get the engine warmed up. We’re parked outside of Arsen’s house, thepatronof the Brotherhood. It’s an enormous, sprawling mansion on the very outskirts of town. They were in a meeting for the last hour while I knocked off that simple hack on my satellite wireless. As I pull out into traffic and head back toward the heart of the city, Tigran glances at me, and his smirk is back.

“We were talking about the McGraths today,” he says casually. “It’s been quiet on the war front ever since our agreement was put in place.”

Our agreementmeaning my arrangement with Riley.

A flash of her lying on my bed. Her legs spread, her fingers gliding up and down her pussy. Her gasps and moans, the top buttons of my shirt undone, her hand massaging her breast, fingers rolling over a pierced nipple.

Fuck, that girl’s been trapped in my head ever since she broke into my house last week.

“That’s good,” I grunt at him, focusing on the drive.

“How are you feeling about it?” he asks.

“I’m feeling…” I tail off, considering how to answer. Then decide on the truth. “Uninterested.”

Tigran’s eyebrows raise. “You’re uninterested? That’s an odd answer, even coming from you.”

“The marriage is irrelevant. We’re only doing this to force a peace between our two organizations. It’s not like I care about the girl or even know her.”

Except I know the color of her lips as an orgasm rips through her pale skin. I know the way she smells, like lilacs and grass. I’ve been unwilling to wash my comforter for the past week, obsessed with that perfect scent.

It’s maddening. Insane, really.

I spent that night watching and rewatching the footage from her visit, over and over again, stroking my cock and obsessing over every little detail of her body, from her perfect auburn curls to the way she walks on her toes.

I had to delete everything and smash the hard drive to keep myself from spending the rest of my life staring at her.

“I understand what you mean,” Tigran says, looking back out the window. He seems subdued and unhappy. “That’s how I thought of my arrangement with Dasha at first. But you might find yourself changing your mind.”

“That’s unlikely.”

“Have you ever been in a serious relationship before?”

I shake my head. “No, and I still won’t be.”

“You’re getting married to her.”

“On paper, yes. I’ll be faithful, and I’ll treat her well, but she won’t really be my wife.”

He makes a noncommittal grunt and glances back at me. “You’re forgetting something though. The most important part of the agreement.”

I grind my jaw. I haven’t forgotten that at all. Only I’ve been trying very hard not to think about it because the second I do, all I want is to close my eyes and imagine Riley’s moans.

“I know what I have to do,” I say quietly.

“Getting her pregnant won’t be easy. From what I hear, the girl’s got a mind of her own, and that’s putting it lightly.”

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