LOGINTANISHABetween Christof’s gate closing behind the car, and the city swallowing us whole, it occurred to me that I could be getting kidnapped for all I knew. Perhaps I was being shipped off to some faraway country to become a sex slave, I wouldn’t put it past Christof. The car glided onto the road, it had to be the most luxurious car I’d ever ridden in.Luxury, I learned, did nothing to calm paranoia. If anything, it sharpened it. Everything was too smooth, like this wasn’t my life, and it was just some sick fairytale. The leather seats felt warm, the low hum of the engine sounded more like a purr. Even the vanilla scent in the air felt curated. I sat perfectly still, hands folded in my lap, spine straight. I looked composed, even though I was anything but.The driver hadn’t spoken beyond getting my address. There was no small talk, he didn’t even turn on the radio. Just forward motion. I caught my reflection in the darkened window, my jaw tightened as I replayed the last hour.From t
CHRISTOFI went back inside and closed the door, the quiet returning all at once. Whatever tonight was, it was no longer my problem. I’d delivered on my end.Pepa. She still wasn’t home. I checked my phone, even though I knew nothing would be there. No text, as expected. She didn’t disappear often, and when she did, it usually meant she wanted to be left alone until she returned. That bothered me more than if she’d been dramatic about it.Was she really that upset?The thought pissed me off, and then, uninvited and unwelcome, another one slipped in right after it.Had Tanisha always looked like that?I stopped walking.“No,” I said aloud, to the empty room. “Absolutely not.”I rubbed a hand over my face, cursing at myself. This was ridiculous. One mediocre makeover, and suddenly my thoughts were wandering where they had no business going. I straightened, forcing my mind back onto the correct track.Pepa. Think about Pepa. I repeated it like a mantra. The woman I loved, the woman I cho
CHRISTOFI had no idea what my expression was doing. Whatever discipline I usually had over my features abandoned me completely. She didn’t stop when she reached me. She passed without speaking, only acknowledging my presence with a brief glance.I turned, because I wasn’t in control of my movement and reflexes in that moment. Then I saw the back of the dress, it was open, exposing a long stretch of skin from shoulder blades to waist, smooth and without blemishes. Her spine curved subtly as she moved, the silk pooling and lifting with her stride. The dress didn’t hide her figure, it acknowledged it. Her hips moved with a natural ease, responding rather than resisting.Her ass was ample, it moved like fluid, undeniably real, shifting with each step. Jesus Christ.Before she reached the last step, I caught myself. That moment, that stupid pause where the house had gone silent around her, I buried it. I drew in a slow breath and let it out through my nose, the way I did before board meet
CHRISTOFI stayed at the bar because it gave my hands something to do other than curl into fists. I’d already gone upstairs once, to find Pepa, and, to change. I rinsed the day off my skin, but I’d come back down like the problem might be waiting for me at eye level. It wasn’t. The problem was still not back home.I didn’t enjoy having to explain myself, and tonight would require exactly that. The office, Tanisha’s impudence, the timing of it all. Pepa’s calm questions, the pauses she used like scalpels, the moment she decided whether I’d annoyed her or merely disappointed her. I preferred fury.I told myself I’d wait and deal with it when she walked through the door. Roman’s driver had arrived five minutes ago. I’d watched the headlights through the windows like an accusation. What the hell was taking Tanisha so long to get ready. I needed her, the damn team, the driver and the car, out of my house, and off my property. Strangers lingering here always made me uncomfortable.At the ea
TANISHAI finished the shower feeling like I’d just pressure-washed myself. There was a robe waiting for me, thick, white, folded just so on the edge of the marble bench, not tossed. The placement was intentional, in a way that said “put this on.” I wrapped myself in it and stepped back into the room.They were all still there. For half a deranged second, I’d hoped they’d vanish while I was in the bathroom. Nope, they didn’t. Sane faces, same calm professionalism, same unsettling readiness.“Please, have a seat,” one of them said, gesturing to the chair in front of the dresser.I sat. The mirror was enormous, framed in warm wood. It reflected a version of me that still looked like myself, damp hair, bare face, eyes alert in the way people get when they know they’re about to lose control of the situation.Then they started. It wasn’t frantic or invasive the way I’d expected. No chatter, no “trust me, you’re going to love this.” Just movement, purposeful movement. Two people worked at o
TANISHAI’d only ever seen Christof Gustavo’s house from the outside, through the tinted windows of his SUV, or from the driver’s seat of my Corolla when I pulled up every morning and waited. From a distance, it always looked the same. Quiet, composed, heavily guarded. Walking into it was something else entirely. The doors were heavy, but it opened smoothly. The first thing that caught my attention was the space, real space. A space like that would either let you breathe, or suffocate you. Well, depending on your mood.The ceilings were high but not dramatic about it, the walls a soft palette of stone, warm gray, muted cream. Nothing flashy.. Just comforting. The floors were polished wood, not glossy, not trying to reflect anyone’s face back at them.Rugs lay where they made sense, thick enough to soften footsteps. The air smelled clean, like the house was cleaned by the hour. It didn’t smell like cologne or candles. It smelled managed.I stepped in slowly, half-expecting to be told







