Page 101 of The Bonds We Break

“He’s not home yet,” I say.

Niro rubs a hand along his jaw. “You and I got off on the wrong foot.”

“We did.”

He nods once. “I’ll wait on the porch.”

I hold on to the door, vacillating between slamming it in his face and realizing I probably shouldn’t be shutting it on a man who clearly came to help my ... boyfriend ... fix my office.

I don’t know what to do with this mixture of fear and gratitude.

“Listen,” Niro says, “you don’t have any reason to be scared of me.”

I huff at that. “Do you remember what you threatened when we were in my bedroom while you watched me pack?”

“Vaguely.”

“It was something about if I played my cards right, I could have youandKing. And that you’d enjoy killing me if King asked.”

He at least has the grace to look embarrassed. “Yeah. That was before ...”

“Before what?”

Niro looks out over the gravel drive alongside the house. “Before I knew you were going to become important to Prez.”

I raise an eyebrow in his direction. “You do realize that how you treat a woman shouldn’t be dependent on her relationship to a man?”

He rubs a hand over his jaw as if considering what I said. “Might have to agree to disagree on that one.”

“What is it about judging a woman on her own merits that scares you so much you need an arbitrary male opinion to set the tone for your own response?”

“Erm ...”

I let the non-word hover in the air between us. Silence is a phenomenal tactic in a conversation like this. Because the person will have to fight the urge to fill it. So I stay quiet, even as I see King’s bike approaching.

He’s pure masculinity sitting astraddle some silly amount of horsepower. He’s not wearing a helmet, which irritates me, but I’m picking my battles. I’m focused on getting him to quit that smoking habit of his.

Confident in who we are to each other now, I let his arrival cause tingles in places I’m pretty sure are not going to get taken care of until after Niro has left. I’m a long way from fixed, but I’ve realized I don’t actually need fixing. Just last night, I failed to orgasm while King was fucking me. Of course, afterward, he placed my vibrator in my hand, with his hand over mine, and said watching me get off was hot, no matter how it happened.

“Everything okay, duchess?” he says as his boots eat the steps between us.

He cups my cheek and kisses me way too intimately considering his treasurer is standing less than six feet away. But I find it hard to care if it reinforces to Niro that I’m untouchable.

“I was just asking Niro a question,” I say, when his lips leave mine.

“Did he answer it?” King asks before looking at Niro.

“Not sure I want to, Prez.”

King’s blue eyes meet mine. “What did you ask him?”

“He was trying to reassure me I’m safe in his presence, seeing the last time I was alone with him he made some suggestions best forgotten.”

Niro blanches. I’m sure King knowing that he basically suggested they could both have sex with me wouldn’t go over well. Not now. Not when we’ve become ... important to each other.

“Stalling, Rae. What did you ask him?”

“I asked him what it is about judging a woman on her own merits that scares him so much that he needs an arbitrary male opinion to set the tone for his own response.”