Page 21 of Beautiful Lies

“Becauseyou’rehere,” he says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“That’s not an answer. How did you even know I was here? Please, tell me you don’t have some tracker on me.”

He smiles wider, revealing dimples. Of course, he would have dimples.

“I have eyes everywhere, Isla Monroe. You can’t escape me.”

My mouth falls open. “You’re kidding.”

“I don’t joke.”

I believe him. He doesn’t need humor when control is his currency. “You think because I signed that contract, you get to have me followed?”

Knox tilts his head, gaze cool and steady. “You agreed to my terms and conditions, Miss Monroe. So, yes—I can.”

“Well, now that you’ve found me, you can leave me alone.”

“I don’t like you in a nightclub by yourself. Drinking and vulnerable. Planning God knows what.” He ignores my request like I never said a word.

I blink at him, trying to process this level of audacity. “I come here all the time. It’s safe. Andplanning? What exactly do you think I’m planning?”

He sits beside me. And he’s too damn close. Close enough that the heat of him brushes my skin, close enough that his scent overwhelms the whiskey and sweat in the neon-soaked night.

A low hum vibrates from his chest. “Drinking alone usually signals one thing.”

My pulse skips. “And what’s that?”

He doesn’t look away. “Hooking up.”

“Hooking up?” I raise my brows.

“Yes. And that would be a breach of clause three of our contract—no consorting with members of the opposite sex, no secret meetings, and no fucking.”

God, the audacity and arrogance of this man. “I’m not here to hook up.”

His jaw ticks like he’s holding back a thousand assumptions. “I doubt you’d tell me if you were.”

“You don’t know me.”

A low hum slips from him, dangerously amused. “I know enough.”

His gaze drifts down to my mouth and back up again, slowly this time and claiming, like he’s already stripping excuses off my skin.

“And if you were here to fuck…” His voice drops to a dangerous murmur, menace curling around every syllable. “It sure as hell wouldn’t be with anyone else besides me.”

My breath stutters. “Excuse me?”

His jaw locks, eyes dark as storm glass. “You signed my contract. Which means if anyone is going to put their hands on you, or their mouth, oranythingelse…” His gaze flicks to my lips like he’s picturing it. “It’ll be me.”

A shiver bolts through me, a deadly mix of anger, shock, and …wanttangled in a single reckless current.

I must have drunk too much, because the whiskey is messing with my head.Wantis the last thing I should feel. Not for Knox Vale.

“You’re insane,” I breathe.

He leans in just enough that his breath brushes my cheek, my neck tingling at the closeness. “Maybe. But I don’t share what’s mine.”

“I’m not yours.”