Black had always been my favorite color. Silent. Deadly. Impenetrable. I felt at home in it, like shadows merging with the inky wells of night. Yet in the span of a second, she’d upended that as she had every other thing in my life. Heat poured through my blood as Stella walked in front of me and slowly turned, taking in the lavish decor. The museum’s long-running elephant display served as a thirteen-foot-tall centerpiece while projections of marine life danced on the walls, giving the illusion that we were underwater. Black-clad servers circulated with champagne and hors d’oeuvres, and a stage sat at the far side of the room, waiting for the host to climb on and congratulate everyone on how much money they’d raised at the end of the night. The seats for this event were eight thousand dollars a pop. I’d spent more than that on her dress, and it’d been worth every cent. “This is beautiful,” Stella breathed, her attention resting on something behind me. Green eyes. Green dress. Symbolic of life and nature. Green. Apparently, it was my new favorite fucking color. “Yes, it is.” I didn’t turn to see what she was so enraptured by, nor did I pay attention to the curious stares people sent our way. I hadn’t been spotted with a woman on my arm in over a year. By tomorrow morning, the city would be abuzz about the date I’d brought, but I couldn’t care less. From the moment Stella had stepped into her living room wearing that damn dress, every other thought had crumbled into dust. A soft flame of resentment burned in my chest. I hated the hold she had on me, but still, I couldn’t stop looking at her.
A turn of my head in the car ride over. A last-minute flight to a far-flung country to keep myself away. Scattered weeks and months when I’d thrown myself into work to forget her. No matter what I did, something always drew me back—the gentle lilt of her voice, the scent of fresh florals and greenery. A turquoise ring that burned a hole in my pocket long after I’d vowed to toss it in the trash. It wasn’t love. But it was maddening. Stella’s gaze slid over to meet mine. A soft exhale parted her lips at whatever she saw on my face, and the urge to push her against the wall, fist her hair, and coax her mouth open until I claimed it completely ignited in my chest.
Tension twisted between us like an invisible rope, so tangible I felt its abrasive scrape as it snaked around my chest. The moment stretched a second into eternity before Stella averted her gaze. Her knuckles turned white around her clutch, but her voice was calm and even when she spoke again. “You never told me what the event is for.” She avoided my eyes as she looked around the room again. “Ocean conservation?” The stranglehold around my chest had loosened, but the release left me oddly dissatisfied. “Close. Baby turtles.” My mouth tipped up when her head whipped around. My answer eroded some of the earlier tension, and Stella’s grip on her purse visibly loosened. “I didn’t figure you for a turtle lover, Mr. Harper. What’s next?
Feeding ducks? Adopting puppies?” Her playful questions coaxed a wider smile from me. “Don’t hold your breath. I watched a lot of Franklin growing up.” Her face glowed with laughter. “Ah, that explains it. I was an Arthur girl myself.” I filed that away for future reference. There were no unimportant details when it came to Stella. “Aardvarks are underappreciated, but sadly, they’re
not a pet cause for Richard Wyatt’s wife. No pun intended,” I added. A knowing gleam entered her eyes. “I assume Richard Wyatt is important to your business. Potential client?”
I hid another smile at how quickly she pieced it together. “Yes. Big private equity guy, big money, looking for a new security team. His wife is his weakness.” I’d lasered in on the Wyatts the minute we entered. They held court in the northeast corner of the room, surrounded by fawning admirers, including the human equivalent of a lump of coal. Mike Kurtz, the CEO of Sentinel Security. My good mood faded at the sight of him. The bastard went after every account I did. There wasn’t a single original thought rattling beneath that overly gelled hair.
Kurtz looked up, and an oily smile spread across his face before he broke off from the group and strode toward me. We were both in our early thirties, but I already spotted the touches of cosmetic surgery propping up his fading looks—a chin augmentation here, some Botox there.
Beside me, Stella eyed the new arrival with curiosity, which deepened my foul mood. Kurtz didn’t deserve an ounce of her attention. “Christian! How nice to see you again.” He smoothed a hand over his tie, oozing as much sincerity as a commission-starved car salesman. “I’m so glad you’re not licking your wounds over the Deacon and Beatrix accounts. I hope you’re not too upset with me about poaching your clients.” His chuckle scraped against my skin like nails against chalkboard. “It’s nothing personal. Just business.” Irritation flared. I’d lost two accounts to Sentinel in one week. Deacon and Beatrix were trivial compared to the VIPs topping my company’s client list, but the losses pissed me off nonetheless. I didn’t like losing. “Of course not,” I said easily. I’d be damned if I showed even a smidge of weakness in Kurtz’s presence. “I don’t blame them for testing other services, but quality always wins in the end. Speaking of which, how’s the system rebuild going? It’s awful what can happen when your systems are subpar.” Kurtz’s face tightened. He was a bottom feeder, but he was smart enough to recognize I’d had a hand in causing the system failure that wiped millions off Sentinel’s market value last year. He just couldn’t prove it. “It’s going great,” he finally said. “But the strength of a company is measured by client retention, not by freak failures. I’m sure Richard Wyatt would agree.”
“I’m sure he would.” He smiled. I smiled. A bullet hole in his forehead would be the perfect complement to his vanity. He would die young and unravaged by old age. Forever thirty-three.
It’d be an act of mercy, delivered with the swiftness of one silenced gunshot. 40320 Eastshore Drive. Security code 708. So easy. One bullet in the middle of the night, one rival snuffed out forever. Temptation licked at the edges of my consciousness before I doused it. Sentinel and Harper Security were well-known competitors. If foul play befell Kurtz, I would be one of the first suspects, and I didn’t have time for the fucking paperwork that would bring. “Speaking of quality…” Kurtz turned to Stella, who’d been watching our exchange with a bemused expression. “Who is your stunning date?” She answered after several beats of hesitation. “I’m Stella.” She graced him with a tentative smile. Something dark and volatile burned in the pit of my stomach. “I’m Mike.” He oozed sleazy charm as he held out his hand. She didn’t get a chance to shake it before I cut in between them to whisk two glasses of champagne off a passing server’s tray. “I almost forgot to give my condolences,” I drawled. I handed one glass to Stella and twined my free hand with hers. “I heard about the…unfortunate incident with one of your clients. It’s a shame there aren’t more reliable bodyguards these days, but at least the client has most of his fingers left.” Stella slid a glance in my direction. She was the type of