First Kiss

DARÍAN

After putting on the outfit Marcia brought, I headed to the bar in the office and poured myself a whiskey.

“At this hour?” Marcus asked in a disapproving tone.

To hell with the time. Was anything left of my sense of time anyway? It felt like a bomb had gone off in the middle of my office.

I took the whiskey and sat down at Luke’s still-open computer. Scanned through all the information again. As if looking at it one more time would magically change the outcome.

I scrolled down and opened a new page. Typed in Belinda’s info. I had to gather everything I could about her. I needed to know what I was dealing with.

“She might be working with those guys. Playing the victim to get money,” I said.

“Didn’t look like that to me, but go ahead, check,” Marcus replied as he pulled a chair beside me.

“How did she not? She was way too calm. Professional. First she acted shocked, and then she tried clinging to me.”

“Looked more like she was terrified of being alone and ran to us for help…”

“You’re both too soft,” I snapped. “Two tears and you idiots melt.”

I opened another page and slipped into the police network. The other info wasn’t enough. If I had to dig through every damn system, I would.

“You’re right. Check properly. If you don’t, you’ll take it out on all of us,” Marcus muttered.

I ignored his jab. Of course I’d check. I’d use every resource I had, even if it meant hacking into places I shouldn’t.

Information started pouring in—and my eyes widened.

“Arrested for prostitution, what the fuck,” I hissed.

Marcus straightened and leaned over the screen. His eyes scanned the lines—first confusion, then something unreadable.

“Wait, wait,” he said, tapping the screen. “She was taken in with a prostitution ring, but she wasn’t even called in for a statement. Charges dropped.”

I clenched my teeth. Just what I needed—prostitution. “It’s easy to get cleared from shit like that. Someone might’ve protected her.”

“Or she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Marcus said.

Possible. She was a singer; she probably hadn’t always worked in respectable places. But I didn’t act on possibilities. Not with something like this. Not when the woman who’d dropped into my life like a nightmare was involved.

I looked back at the screen. She’d grown up in an orphanage. Lost her family in a fire at five. Her parents and brother didn’t make it. No relatives to claim her.

At least she had no criminal record. She’d worked at countless places. When I checked her insurance entries, I saw her last one ended a few days ago. So, she hadn’t lied about that…

Still, everything about her screamed suspicious. Too unashamed. Too quick to move on from the incident.

I shook my head. “No. I’m not trusting this woman. She’s here for a reason. And I won’t rest until I know what it is.”

I slammed my hand on the desk and stood. I wasn’t about to be tricked by a woman.

That’s when Luke walked in. When he saw me at the computer, he chuckled. “Already started digging.”

“Of course I did.”

“What’d you find?”

“Lost her family in a fire at five. Got fired a few days ago, like she said. High school graduate, no college. Oh, and arrested for prostitution.”

His eyes widened as Marcus explained, “Charges dropped. Probably one of her workplaces got raided.”

“And you started drinking early,” Luke added, eyeing the glass.

“Anyone hearing you would think I’m an alcoholic. It’s ONE glass.”

“Anyway,” Luke continued, “pull the records for all numbers registered to her. Then check the logs of her previous one. I doubt it’ll show anything, but the registration is probably fake. See who she’s been in contact with besides Belinda.”

“Oh, sure,” I said. “Like the idiots in that ring are dumb enough to use the one number they gave the cops to talk to each other.”

“Still, check. Doesn’t hurt.”

“You think she’s not working with them too,” I said accusingly.

“She talks without filtering a damn thing. People like that don’t know how to scheme. And considering how she collapsed crying the second she stepped into the office—she seems innocent. Someone played her.”

Says who? She could’ve been acting. While she gave me zero reason to trust her, both of them trusted her instantly.

“She could be faking.”

“Well, good. Let her stay close then. If she’s faking, we’ll see. You’re just pissed you didn’t realize earlier.”

“How the hell was I supposed to know someone got added to my household registry?” I snapped.

We worked all day trying to find something, but it was clear we couldn’t make progress without more info from Belinda. Once I found that ring, I’d tear them apart.

“It’s better if Belinda stays with us until we figure out who we’re dealing with,” Luke decided. He had already taken her to the villa. Even if I kicked her out, I had a feeling she’d sneak back in somehow.

“Fine. If she’s working with them, we’ll figure it out faster.”

“Can’t she stay with you?” I asked hopefully.

Luke’s eyes widened. He shook his head firmly. “We’re newlyweds. Why would she stay with us like we’re homeless?”

“It’s been a year.”

“It hasn’t been a real marriage for that long.”

“Fine,” I muttered as I stood. I didn’t want her in my house either. I hadn’t even allowed a female fly inside. That place was mine. Only mine. “I’ll stay at the other house then.”

“So you’ll dump the woman on us and go enjoy yourself?” Marcus asked. “You’re a married man now. What business do you have out at night?”

“Fuck off. Stop saying married.”

“But you ARE married. And you were married when you were screwing other women. Should I tell your wife?”

I smacked the back of his head. “She was sleeping with her husband, dumbass.” I grimaced. “With my name. And my identity.”

Luke laughed as he walked out. “Are you upset she slept with someone—or that she used your name?” he teased, and I elbowed him.

“I swear I’ll bury you.”

“Why are you hung up on the name?” Marcus asked. “You’re not the only Darian in the world. Who knows how many women are screwing guys named Darian right now.”

“Glad you’re entertained,” I growled. He was right, though. Why the hell did it bother me this much? Probably because she was married to me. The others weren’t at my damn wedding.

“Belinda said the same thing earlier.”

Fuck Belinda…

“Go ahead, I’ll get changed and come,” I said, heading toward my house. I could tolerate Belinda for another ten minutes.

Besides, her clueless little cat had pissed on my shoe. I needed a shower.

The second I stepped inside, I caught a different scent. My brows knitted. She hadn’t been dumb enough to come here before me… right?

I quickly scanned the rooms. The moment I reached the bedroom, the bathroom door opened.

Was it shamelessness or stupidity? I didn’t know. I watched her with blank disbelief as she bickered with me while trying to get dressed. Her ease, her lack of manners, her zero sense of boundaries—it got under my skin.

A woman shouldn’t be that comfortable. Yet she acted like stripping beside strangers was her daily routine.

She insisted on staying. I insisted on not leaving. The room was mine, the house was mine—why the hell should I be the one to walk out? When I didn’t budge, she dropped the towel, standing before me in nothing but her underwear.

I tried to drag my gaze away, but it was impossible. She looked like a handful—wild, unpredictable. But her body fit the shape of my hands perfectly. I could tell from one glance.

Fuck.

Her hazel-green eyes were sharp and bright. I kept staring despite myself. She was tiny but wickedly curvy—temptation wrapped in attitude.

Inside me, the animal wanted to pin her against the wall and teach her a lesson for stepping into my room without permission.

Fuck no. I wasn’t listening to that voice.

When she mentioned she’d seen plenty of bodies before, I started unbuttoning my shirt out of pure irritation.

Of course she had.

Little brat.

She kept watching me without a shred of embarrassment. When I saw the appreciation in her eyes, I threw a jab. “Didn’t you say you’d seen better? What happened?”

“I’ve never seen one this good up close,” she said. No woman had ever been immune to me, but the fact that she said it so boldly—yeah, that I liked.

I lied in return. “Wish I could say the same. I’ve seen much better.”

I wasn’t trying to impress her. The last thing I needed was to fall under the spell of a woman who’d already made a mess of my life.

She narrowed her eyes. Cute. She thought she could spar with me.

“Oh really?” she purred, stepping in close. Pressing her body to mine. Planting dangerous thoughts in my head. What the hell was she doing?

I clenched my jaw. Another second and I’d rip that dress right off her.

She knew it. Just as I knew she was affected, she knew exactly what she was doing to me.

I always chose tall women—ones whose height matched mine. I wasn’t about to walk around with a step stool.

She was the opposite of everything I went for. Tiny. Temperamental. Ferocious.

Wasn’t there anything that would rattle her? Anything to make her regret stepping into this room?

Her recklessness, her brazen behavior—she was driving me insane.

How could someone so small trigger so many damn emotions in me at once?

If there was no bone in the tongue, mine definitely didn’t have one.

“You seem way too eager to get under me. Guess that’s how you’ve gotten through life. I’ll pay the debt. You don’t have to use your body.”

She laughed. Actually laughed. I expected her to claw my face off. Instead, she almost doubled over.

“You asshole.” She shoved me by the chest, pushing me back.

“If that’s how I handled my problems, I’d go sleep with the man I owed money to. I’m sure he’d treat me much better than you.”

I swear, she stepped on every nerve I had.

She tried to walk past me, but I grabbed her arm. If she thought she could talk about other men around me…

I wasn’t letting that slide.

Fueled by anger, I crushed my mouth to hers. The second I tasted her—sweet as honey—I knew I’d screwed up. But there was no stopping now.

Fuck.

How the hell was I supposed to let go of those lips?