Page 53 of Prince of Control
He gives me a mock innocent look. “Some do.”
“So are you allowed to have fun at this party, or are you just working the whole time?”
His expression clouds again. “These things aren’t playtime for me. They’re business.”
I look at my new husband—a twenty-two-year-old who seems to have entirely missed his youth. A man in a perpetual state of self-sacrifice for his father, for the cause, for others. He’s clearly a natural born leader but one with the weight of responsibility for everyone who falls beneath him.
I want to lighten that load for him.
I kiss him. It’s the first time I’ve initiated a kiss, and Baron doesn’t miss the occasion. He holds perfectly still through my kiss then throws me back against the wall, his fingers wrapped around my throat in a gentle hand necklace as he delivers his own searing version of a lip lock.
It goes on and on until we’re both breathless, and he breaks away and rubs his lips together, his gaze locked on mine.“Thank you,” he says reverently.
I practically hear my walls come crashing down to rubble around me.
My husband deeply values the gift of my affection. It couldn’t be more clear. And it couldn’t be more of a turn-on.
The music suddenly turns off.
“Pakhan!” Anya calls out, taking off her headphones. “They’re trying to get you on comms. There’s a line at the door of people waiting to get in, and they wanna know if they should open up.”
Baron’s hand slides from my neck up to grip my jaw, and he gives me one more rough kiss followed by a feral smile
My knees go weak.
He reaches up to his ear and flicks a button in his comms device.
“Let the party begin.”
Chapter Fifteen
Baron
We’re close to capacity by 10 p.m., which is about two hours earlier than when most campus parties fill up.
Anya has the music popping, and the dance floor is packed with sweaty, moving bodies.
Everyone’s trying to work me from every angle, but I am the no-man tonight.
I press through the bodies, looking for my gorgeous wife.
“Boss,” Phoenix speaks through the comms. He’s working the door collecting the twenty dollar cover charge because he is my money man. He handles the accounting for our enterprises. Alex works with him as security. Feliks acts as bouncer inside, at the base of the stairs to keep non-house members from trying to go up them.
“Baron, Melinda Tracy is at the door. She says you told her she could come in.”
I groan. I told her two parties a year, and she had to pick tonight? I shouldn’t have made that concession for her.
“Tell her it’s a waste of her time because the dungeon is closed tonight.”
A moment later, Phoenix’s voice returns. “She says she still wants in.”
Christ, why? Well, whatever.
“Then let her in. I told her she could come to two parties a year so keep track. This is her first entry. She only gets one more. Remind her of that.”
Phoenix returns one more time. “She’s in.”
I note Anders, who is presently playing host and will alternate jobs with Leo during the night, moving toward the front of the house. I imagine he’s going to personally welcome Melinda.
