* * *

PRESENT

Dash had once again left me alone with a guard. He practically dumped me in his apartment and took off, only stating he had an engagement. The engagement being a dinner date with his fiancée, who had yet to discover how his ex-lover was practically living with him.

This entire set-up was fucked up, and I was sick and tired of being Dash’s prisoner and damsel in distress.

Thirty minutes after he left, I found that my damsel role was not quite over. I had helped myself to his kitchen and was making a quick spaghetti dinner when the front door opened. The warning beep of the locks disarming disturbed the calm of the empty apartment. I braced myself for Dash’s return but found myself trapped with far worse when Esmerelda walked through the front door as if she belonged.

“What?” Confusion and fear paralyzed me.

“Hello, Little Tree.”

“How did you get in here?”

“Oh, that.” She shrugged her thin shoulders. “Your new guard dog works for me.” Her tone was casual as if I’d just asked for the time.

“Why are you here?”

“Because you’re disappointing me. You still haven’t held up your part of the deal, so now I’m faced with the inconvenient task of killing you.”

Oh, fuck. Think, Willow. I could beg for my life. I could fight. Both would likely get me killed anyway, but I had to try something.

“I need time. If killing Keiran were simple, I’m sure you would have done it already.”

“My dear, I’m not asking you to put a gun to his head or fight him. You have the poison. Why haven’t you used it?”

“I haven’t had the opportunity. If I don’t do it, I’m dead. If I do it and I get caught, I’m dead. I’m working in a pretty tight space.”

Her lips pursed and she seemed to ponder my excuse. When she took a step forward, I took one back. “Do you know why I decided to use you rather than to take care of it myself?”

Because you aren’t a moron? I dared not voice my thoughts. Instead, I shook my head.

“Because if I disagreed with you, and it was simple, I would have already put a bullet in him. I chose you because while you’re not friends as you say, you can get close to him. Close enough to administer the poison to his drink or slip it into his food. I don’t care how you do it, just do it. This is the last chance I give you. You have one week.”

She turned to leave but seemed to think better of it. “Oh and that cute brother of yours? He’s first on my list. The girls appear to like the little man whore a lot. How tragic would it be that one day the girl he takes home slits his throat in his sleep or while she rides his cock?” She beamed at me and shut off the light, plunging the room into darkness. “Think about it.”

Her mocking laughter taunted me as the door closed behind her. Against my better judgment, I rushed for the door and opened it only to find her gone, including the guard Dash had entrusted with my life.

At that moment, it became clear that Dash couldn’t protect me. Esmerelda was too powerful. If she could infiltrate his security team, who knows what she could or would do next.

Buddy’s life was now in jeopardy, and I had no reliable allies. No one who could take on Esmerelda and win.

I knew what I had to do.

CHAPTER TWENTY

WILLOW

I DIDN’T ALLOW myself to cry… at first. I spent the time plotting and only when I had a plan did I collapse and cry. The last thing I remember was falling asleep on the couch. What I didn’t remember was how I’d ended up in Dash’s bed. With him lying next to me.

Anger flared at his audacity to spend a romantic evening out with another woman, his fiancée, and then make his way into bed with me. He had a lesson to learn about respect. I stared at him for a moment before determining that he was sound asleep and ignored the teenaged girl in my subconscious that cooed over how peaceful yet primitive he looked his sleep. His left arm was thrown over his head and his right hand rested over his massive erection. His pecs and abs were splayed out like a buffet, begging for me to feast with my tongue.

No!

Lesson.

Respect.

Payback.

I slipped from the bed and thought of just the thing to bring him to heel. At the door, I stopped to think of what could happen if I pissed him off, but then the image of him touching Rosalyn formed and with renewed purpose, I headed for the kitchen where I made a forty-quart pot of ice water.

I’d seen this done on one of those reality TV shows Buddy liked to watch and never thought I would ever try it. The pot was heavier than I expected, but I managed to get it to the bedroom but not without soaking his expensive carpeting.