Page 164 of The Dragon 2
“And it won’t be in your hoe pad.”
I groaned and leaned back in my chair. “It will not, but I must stress that it is an elegant suite—”
“Negative hundred points.” She pointed at me.
I leaned over and kissed the tip of her finger. “Give me those points back.”
“Absolutely not. Now, you will have toearnthem back.”
Stunned, I stared at her.
Earn? Negative points? Did she know who she was talking to?
I’d taken a lot in this life—through silence, through blood, through strategy. Fear was a tool. Force, a language. Finesse, the signature I left behind.
But Nyomi. . .
She told me I had toearnher.
No woman had ever told me that. No one had ever made me pause before claiming, before possessing.
Naughty Tora.
I glanced at Hiroko, who lingered in the shadows, smiling like a woman who had seen this kind of power unfold before.
But, how much had Hiroko heard?
Even more important, how much of this had Hiroko taught Nyomi?
There couldn’t have been enough time for Hiroko to teach this much defiance to Nyomi. No. . .I don’t think this is Hiroko’s doing.
That fire in Nyomi’s eyes and strength in her tone wasn’t performance or imitation. This must have already been rooted deep within my Tiger. It was the thing that triggered her to knee me when we first met.
Maybe it was the Bronx in her. That fire-forged grit masked beneath a curvy body.
Or maybe the thing flowing within her was older. Wiser. Something passed down by her grandmother with every wooden spoon and side-eye.
Whatever it was. . .she was making me want to set down the blade. Tame the storm in my chest. Smooth the edges of a life carved by violence.
Just to be worthy of the way she looked at me.
Earn. . .What is she doing to me? What is she saying?
Still, I had to show her that I was the fucking Dragon. I pointed at her. “You will be in my mansion tonight, and no woman has been there. Not one. That must erase the negative points.”
“First of all, I’m keeping score. Not you. Second of all, I will not be in your mansion tonight as I’ve already explained.” She lowered her hand. “But I would like to know something.”
“What?”
“Why won’t you bring women to your mansion? You said it was too quiet."
I tapped a finger against the glass. "I’ve never brought women there because. . .it’s mine.”
“Meaning?”
“That bringing someone there means more than sex or company. It’s. . .sharing."
"And you didn’t want to share yourself with them?"
