DARKER #2 (Paperback)

A cold and arrogant criminal. A Billionaire’s Daughter. An arranged marriage.

Maria

Being the daughter of a billionaire you would think my life had always been easy.

But no, not for one second has my life ever been easy.

And now I’m being forced into a marriage with my father’s right-hand man, and if I refuse him I stand to lose my inheritance.

And while I find him extremely handsome, it’s the darkness that I sense in him that both frightens and calls to me.

Damien

My boss wants to give me his daughter.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

If only that were true.

His rivals have threatened her life and now he wants me to take her as my wife.

To love, honor, and protect her for the rest of my days.

I want her.

But how can I protect her from myself?

How can I honor her when the darkness inside me demands that I defile and break her?

Each book in the Boyne Valley Club Series is based on a different couple but in the same world.

The cold steel burns under my palm as I push the double doors open. The click of my heels join the beat of my heart. I’m pushing the boundaries with Damien, but I refuse to be ignored.

“Mrs. Callan.”

I suppress a smile as Terry scrambles around the lone counter, trying to stop me with a raised hand.

“Please, Mrs. Callan, just let me tell him you're coming.” I glance over my shoulder as he scours the desk in his panic for the phone.

“He’s in a meeting.” His final attempt to slow me down doesn’t work. Nothing can stop me. I won’t be ignored.

The area grows smaller—and my heart beats faster—as I push down on the gold handles and enter his office. He’s in mid-sentence, talking to three other men who all turn, their eyes take in every inch of me. I hold my pose and let them.

The phone on Damien’s desk rings with persistence.

“I’m in a meeting,” Damien grinds out the words as he leans back in his chair.

“I need to go shopping.” I haven’t released the door handle and it’s keeping me grounded under his gaze. He’s always been easy on the eyes, but as he grew, I found myself appreciating him more and more.

Damien sits forward in his chair. I glance at his other colleagues who haven’t taken their eyes off me. Capturing the attention of men I have mastered, from years of understanding that our bodies are the forbidden fruit they seek. They’ll never have me, but that doesn’t stop me from leading them to believe they could.

The one man I could never entice with my curves, and revealing ways, and too much skin, sits in front of me now with a warning flashing in his green eyes. I read the warning loud and clear, and I have a moment of uncertainty. I raise a brow.

“That’s what I pay Andrew for.” He doesn’t release me from his stare as he cuts off the persistent ring of the phone.

“I know. I’m looking at her.” He places the phone back in the receiver.

“Andrew is out sick.” I pull in my bottom lip and can see the men shift. So easy.

Damien works a muscle in his jaw and I don’t move. I won’t be dismissed.

“Shall I go myself?” I sing sweetly and turn on my high black heels. The short leather skirt doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

Terry frowns at me as I step into the lobby. The three men from the meeting pass me slowly, each one taking a peek. Curiosity and appreciation burns in their eyes.

“Ready?” Damien walks in front of me and I follow his broad back. He’s always been an asshole, but since we married two weeks ago, he’s moved so high on the asshole scale that I barely recognize him.

Once I step out of the hotel, I push a pair of large black glasses up on my face. Damien holds the door open, his fingers dance over his phone. His attention solely on his phone and not on me. I climb in with a sense of dis-satisfaction at how this all turned out. I had planned to storm his office and demand for him to take me shopping, only I had expected some kind of reaction. The car dips as he gets in and places his phone in its dock.

“Seatbelt.” His one-word sentences have me clipping the belt in with a loud click. If he notices, he doesn’t show it as he pulls out onto the main road.

Damien’s fingers dance across the phone again until the ring fills the car. I glare out the window, but I’m aware of everything about Damien: his cologne; the space he takes up; the space that’s empty between us. Yeah, I hate how aware of him I am.

“Terry, get Andrew on the phone and tell him to get to work. If he doesn’t, he’s not welcome back.”

“Yes, sir.” Terry’s shaky voice has me glancing at Damien.

He ends the call and glares at me.

“I like Andrew, you won’t fire him.” I give the command and smile at my husband.

He sneers but the heavy breath holds no humor. “I don’t have time today, Maria, so be quick.”

Silly, silly Damien. Now I’ll make sure I take my sweet time.

We pull into a space near the front of the mall. Damien busies himself with his phone, his fingers moving across the screen again as he removes the keys from the ignition and climbs out.

I unbuckle my belt and get out, fixing my short skirt. I didn’t even want to shop. Closing the door, the car bleeps. Damien’s talking on the phone, rambling off our location.

A group of young people hang out to the left of the door. They must be in their early twenties. One of the guys with a backwards cap wolf-whistles at me. I give him a smile. I appear older than them in my outfit and high heels.

The whistles cease abruptly and I glance back at the group who all look away. Frowning, I peek at Damien who’s on his phone again.

My destination has pink neon signs outside. My lips tug up. If this doesn’t get a reaction, I’m all out of ideas.

I pick up my pace and Damien matches it. When I peek at him he’s looking around him. Not at me. Never at me.

Entering the store, the dim lights make it a very intimate setting.

“Good morning.” I’m greeted when I step in and take off my sunglasses.

“Morning.” I sing back in my chirpiest voice. The assistant’s eyes jump to the looming figure behind me. Her eyes flash with appreciation. I want to tell her he might look like a rising God—or Devil—but he has a personality that could freeze Hell over. Yep, that cold.

I don’t think, but randomly select lingerie. My fingers run across the red lacy material as I check the size.

“Can I help you?” The same blonde assistant who greeted us appears.

“That would be fantastic. It’s my boyfriend’s birthday and I want to wow him.”

The blonde’s eyes widen. I gaze at her name tag. Elaine.

“Red is his favorite color,” I say holding up the red lacy bra.

Elaine gets to work, selecting a red thong, stockings and a black and red suspender belt.

“You can try them on.”

My lips tug up higher. “That would be so great.” I turn to Damien who looks like he’s watching paint dry.

Smiling at Elaine, I take all the goods and follow her to the fitting rooms.

“Oh, I’m sorry sir, you can’t be back here.” Something in me sings. He followed me, that’s what I wanted.

“I’ll be right outside.” I think his words are for me, but it’s hard to tell as he walks out of the fitting room.

“Is he the boyfriend?” Elaine asks as I start to strip.

“No, that’s my husband.” I push down the skirt with frustration.

“Oh.” Elaine’s eyebrows rise into her hairline, before she composes herself and draws the curtain around me. Once the world is blocked off I slump down onto the chair. I refuse to meet my eyes in the mirror.

Irritation has me getting into the outfit. I have to get Elaine in to help me clip on the suspender belt. The end result…I would expect to cause a few heads to turn, but there’s only one in particular I want to turn. I push back the curtain and move back dangerously close to the opening that leads out onto the floor. From the corner of my eye, his bulking form is there.

“What do you think?” I ask while checking out the back in the mirror. My heart pounds a little faster. I glance at Damien and his eyes skitter across my skin. Goosebumps rise in the wake of his stare.

“It’s nice.” He turns away with his phone.

Nice? I glance back at myself in the mirror. Nice? I know sexy and this screams sex. Not that I’ve ever had sex before. My father and brother make sure of that with their overprotective nature.

I pull the curtain around me with more force than necessary and get dressed. I move past Damien quickly as I go to the till and Elaine rings up my purchases. Her eyes keep jumping to Damien. I snort and her cheeks grow red as she focuses on her job. I want to tell her not to bother. He’s made of stone. She smiles at him, and when I glance at him, his lip tugs up slightly at her.

Taking my purchases and card from a very distracted assistant, I slap on my glasses and walk as fast as I can in my heels. Damien manages to move beside me like I’m not speed walking in heels. His phone rings and he answers the device that consumes nearly all his attention. Maybe he should have married his phone.

I exhale as the car bleeps and I climb in. I could demand to go somewhere else. Does it matter? Two weeks of this bullshit and yet he avoids me like he got a raw deal.

When my father told me if I didn’t marry Damien I wouldn’t get my inheritance, I honestly wasn’t that outraged. Arranged marriage isn’t my thing, but Damien has always caught my attention—and I had thought I’d shown up on his radar a few times.

“I have to get back to the office. I’ll drop you off at the house. Nate will be there.”

I stare out the window and don’t answer Damien. He doesn’t seem to care as he drives me back to my gilded cage. My stomach twists and a scream pushes its way up my throat. I squash it as the gates open and we roam up the winding driveway to our marital home. Gifted by my father. The car stops at the main door and Nate appears. The engine still hums.

I glance at Damien and he’s watching me. Green eyes consume me and I’m drowning. How easily he can strip me with one glance.

“I have to go, Maria.”

I blink and he looks away. Grabbing my shopping bag, I get out of the car. The door clicks behind me and the car tears down the driveway.

“Hello, Princess.” Nate greets me.

I take off my sunglasses.

“What’s with the long face?”

I’ll never tell anyone about how I feel. “Nothing, just Damien pissing me off as usual,” I say as we enter the house. Kicking off my heels, I leave them, and my shopping bag, on the floor.

“Could you not find a top in your size?” I tease. Nate’s white muscle top is painted onto his hard chest like a second skin.

“I’m your eye candy. I do this for you.”

I grin at him. “I’m more of a suit kind of girl.” I’m more of a Damien kind of girl.

Everyone in this house knows our marriage was arranged. At first it didn’t bother me. But with each dismissal it becomes more painful to be rejected by him.

“You want a drink?” Nate calls as I take the steps up the stairs two at a time.

“Yeah, a Diet Coke.” I call over the banister and climb to the first floor. Opening the doors to the master bedroom, I don’t look at the unused bed. Flicking on the light, the closet space is illuminated. I shimmy into the black jeans before pulling on a hoodie. Today is a write-off. Swiping my hair up into a bun, I make my way back downstairs.

Nate smiles at me as I enter the kitchen. The tiles are cold under my bare feet. The can is colder as I wrap my fingers around it.

“I see you were shopping.” Nate raises an eyebrow.

I shrug. “Yeah, I needed some stuff.”

He could look in the bag and call me out on my lie, but Nate doesn’t. Instead, he follows me into the living area. I fall back onto the couch and Nate joins me. I’m very aware of how close he sits and how our thighs touch. I can flirt and tease men, but having contact with them, I haven’t experienced before. My brain misfires signals telling me Nate’s closeness is calculated.

“I would have taken you shopping.” I glance at him. His soft brown eyes travel across my face.

I frown. “It’s fine, my husband did.” I take a sip and allow my words to sink in. Nate still smiles and I know my brain has definitely misfired the signals to me.

“Aren’t you sick of babysitting me?” I lean back on the couch and stare at the ceiling.

“No.”

Men and their one-word answers. I get off the couch.

“Where are you going?”

“Where can I go?” I fire back.

“Wherever you want, Maria.”

I glance at Nate and frown again. “No, I can’t.” He knew I couldn’t go anywhere without someone watching over me. I knew my life before Damien had been overseen by my father, and that had been suffocating. With Damien, it felt worse. He was never here, yet someone else always was. At least with my father, I had him or my brother.

“Where do you want to go?” Nate asks.

“Rome.” I fire out randomly. I don’t want to see Rome, but I also want to drive my point home.

“Let me see what I can do.” Nate’s confidence has me laughing as I climb the stairs.

Not a chance.