Page 31 of Collide

“Because you deserve the world, Star.”

Her eyes widened at my candor before drifting to my mouth and Iwondered if she was waiting for me to kiss her.

And fuck, did I want to.

But now was not the time.

Coming to her senses, she stepped back and out of my embrace. Ittook all of my willpower to let her move out of my touch, I wasn’t used to playing this kind of game.

If I wanted something, I took it.

And I never had to bribe a woman to fuck me, they usually threwthemselves at me. Not that I was bribing Riley to fuck me, I wanted so much more from her than just her cunt, but being patient and waiting for her to grow to want me was going to test my resolve.

She turned to look at the still form of her sister who was sleepingsoundly, oblivious to the turmoil going on around her.

“What did you give her?” Riley asked as she turned back to face me.The tears had stopped, for now at least.

“A sleeping sedative. It was a small dose and will wear off in an hour or so, she’ll be fine.She was asleep when my men broke in and she stayed asleep when they administered it. She has no idea what happened to her.”

She raised her hand again and for a second I thought she was goingto try and slap me again but instead, she sighed and scrubbed her hand down her face.

“Riley-” I started, but she held up a hand, silencing me.

I didn’t allow many people to do that, or rather most people knewbetter than to try and silence me. If she agreed to my offer, she’d learn.

But for now, I kept quiet.

Riley walked over to Angel and leaned over her sister who wassnuggled under the covers and smoothed a hand down her face. Angel didn’t stir, her breathing didn’t change, she just slumbered on.

After a minute or two of gazing lovingly at her sister, Riley stood backup with a determined look on her face, and I knew I had her.

She folded her arms, gone was the weepy girl who had stood beforeme moments ago. Now stood Riley the protector, fiercely courageous when it came to doingwhatevershe had to for the sake of her sister.

“What exactly would I have to do as yourpersonal assistantif I was toaccept?”

She sneered the words describing the job title I had offered her as ifdisbelieving it was a real job. She was perceptive, I’d give her that.Of course the job was made up, I didn’t need some fucking secretaryto manage my appointments, it was nothing more than a way of getting Riley to be by my side every day.

“Whatever I ask you to do,” I stated simply, shrugging my shoulders.

“That’s a bit ambiguous, don’t you think?” she challenged with araised eyebrow.

God, I loved how she didn’t give a fuck about questioning me, it mademe want to take her over my knee and spank the shit out of her, and drop to my knees and worship at her feet in equal measures.

No one ever challenged me, even Theo when he had been alive, andI found myself enjoying it.

“Not really, it’s simple,” I cleared my throat and tried to focus on thematter at hand, not the image of Riley over my knee with her juicy ass exposed and red from my palm. “I ask you to do something, you do it.”

“And what if I don’t want to do it?”

“Riley, if you agree to my terms, that’s it. There is no gray area, youwill do what I ask, when I ask.” I used the tone of voice I used in most business meetings, my no-room-for-arguments tone. “But if you refuse, there will be consequences, I’ll make that very clear now.”

Slowly, she moved away from the side of the bed and came to standin front of me, the cogs turning in her head, weighing up the risks of my proposal versus the life her sister could have.

I won’t lie, I felt like a royal prick for making her choose. I could haveeasily paid for all the things I had promised for Angel. I could have taken my time to get to know Riley the right way, dated her, and made her fall for me the way people do in normal relationships, but that wasn’t me. I didn’t date and do all that romance bullshit.

I was Kai Wolfe, and I did thingsmyway.

“Before you make a decision, you need to know the full terms of thedeal,” I said.

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