Page 33 of Hostile Takeover

“I wake up with music, at four-thirty sharp,” I told her, earning another eye roll. “Don’t fuck up my routine.”

“I thought I’d seen the depths of exactly how insufferable you are,” she said, shaking her head. “Clearly I was wrong.”

I chuckled, pushing the door open. “I look forward to us getting to know each other.”

NINE

NALANI

My alarm wentoff at four a.m., and I sat up immediately, with a mission in mind.

Shi—who was way too pleasant to be right-hand-woman for a man like Orion—had shown me everything about the room that would be mine for the foreseeable future, so I knew exactly what to do.

I’d slept beautifully on the luxury mattress and sumptuous sheets, so there was no lethargy clouding my movements as I gathered things for a shower, chose my clothes for the day, and then connected my phone to the Bluetooth speaker in the room.

A private smile crept across my face as I navigated to my “Wrong Bitch”playlist and started it up, cranking the volume to an obscene level.

It was four-fifteen.

Perfect.

The same speakers were connected to the bathroom, so my “you got me all the way fucked up”tunes were loud and clear as I stripped down to get in the shower. Moments later, I was enveloped in the embrace of what Shi had referred to as asauna shower, rapping or singing at the top of my lungs to match every word.

It wasgreat.

But I wasn’t surprised, not even in the slightest, when my music abruptly shut off.

A new grin spread across my face as I tried to finish up my shower, but I heard the bathroom door thrust open while I was still mid-rinse.

“Why are you fucking with me?”

Oh.

I knew Orion wouldn’t be able to avoid such an aggressive summons, but what I hadn’t accounted for was the sleep-imposed rasp and depth of his voice at this time of morning.

My traitorous nipples offered an immediate response, but my mouth offered nothing. I finished rinsing the soap from my body, then shut the shower off.

Before I could reach for it, the glass shower door swung open, letting out enough steam to give a bit of visibility in the cloudy room.

Orion wasdefinitelypissed off.

It was all knit into his deep scowl, furrowed brows, arms crossed over his bare chest.

Internally, my confidence faltered. I was nobody’s definition of small and his body still easily dwarfed mine. I was inhishouse, no matter how indignantly I insisted otherwise. I was naked and wet. And really, any certainty I had that he wouldn’t resort to actual violence against me was more of ahopethan anything.

I was entirely too vulnerable to keep poking at him.

But much too stubborn not to.

“Good morning, Orion. Can I help you with something?” I asked, coyly crossing an arm over my bare breasts.

“You’re not funny, Nala.”

“What makes you think I’m trying to be?” This time, I didn’t hold back the smirk, held his gaze with it while I stepped out of the shower, despite him not leaving much room to get around him.

I just stood toe to toe with him, not backing down from his glare.

“Keep your fucking… ‘girl power’music to yourself moving forward. I don’t want to hear that shit.”

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