Empire of Lies and Flames (Ruins of Power #1)

Chapter 6

JAVIER

I hadn’t wanted to be in this bar. Frankly, I’d have taken just about anything else over this—the noise, the cheap perfume and even cheaper drinks, laughter so loud it seemed to ricochet off the walls. A typical Friday night hellhole filled with people hoping to forget the week. I had no need for that. No desire to drown anything in a glass or trade half-smiles with co-workers too tipsy to remember themselves by morning.

But then Renée appeared, striding straight toward me with that damned fire in her eyes. She had this look, like she was a woman on a mission, and I happened to be the target. The shift of her hips, that focused, relentless gaze—she was all control, and she knew it. My original impulse to leave was now replaced with something different. I found myself staying still, intrigued, almost against my better judgment. Whatever brought her here, whatever had her set on approaching me like this, I was glad I’d shown up to witness it.

As she moved closer, her features sharpened under the dim light, every bit of her beauty becoming clearer, more unguarded. It wasn’t lost on me, of course—her face, her striking blue eyes, the kind of clear, sharp blue that could rival ice. A glance from her could be chilling, piercing, or enough to burn if she chose to look at you a second longer. Those eyes were always full of something: defiance, wit, the occasional flash of anger that she made no effort to hide. Her blonde hair fell loose, framing her face with an easy kind of grace, and her skin had this natural glow that seemed to catch every stray flicker of light around her. She was petite, barely reaching my shoulder, but there was no mistaking her presence when she was close. Her beauty was almost deceptively soft—light, feminine, even delicate in contrast to the chaos she always managed to stir up.

But Renée was never just a pretty face. She made it clear the first day she had set her pretty little feet in the office. She had a fiery personality to back it up, a trait that made her beautiful and infuriating in equal measure. When she set her mind on something, she went after it like a storm, never backing down, no matter who or what was standing in her way. I’d lost count of how many times she’d gone head-to-head with me in the office, refusing to fold under pressure, meeting my demands with her own. It drove me to the edge of my patience, testing my restraint in ways I didn’t entirely care to admit.

It was her fire that made her impossible to ignore. She wasn’t afraid to push my limits, almost daring me to react, and she did it with this confidence that bordered on recklessness. I didn’t know whether I wanted to tear into her for it or let her win, just to see what she’d do next. She was a challenge, a walking temptation with that untamable streak that just made it impossible to keep away from her. She had this way of twisting my calm, reserved control until I was seconds away from breaking, from reaching out, pinning her against the wall, and giving her a different kind of fight. One she wouldn’t be able to walk away from easily. And when she does, she won’t be able to walk at all.

“Hi,” she said, her voice soft but steady, those bright blue eyes staring right into mine like she was ready to take me down. I kept my gaze steady, masking the spark that ran through me, and replied with a simple, “Hi.” Calm. Controlled. Or at least, that’s what I was telling myself.

But as I looked at her—really looked—I saw a crack in that unbreakable armor of hers. It was subtle, a hint of uncertainty that flickered in her gaze before she could push it down. Her friends at the table were stifling their giggles, their eyes fixed on us with an odd sort of anticipation, like they were in on a private joke. It was then I knew something was up. Something big enough to have Renée Margot, the woman who never flinched, looking… unsure.

Before I could piece it together, she leaned in, closer than I’d ever had her. I could see the dark ring around her pupils, the faint flush on her cheeks. She smelled like roses—fresh and heady, with that sweet edge that could drive anyone to ruin. And then, before I could take another breath, her lips were on mine.

Warmth shot through me like a spark to a fuse, igniting every nerve in my body. My mind fell silent, instinct taking over as my hand started to rise, ready to pull her in, to take her deeper, to devour her. But as soon as it began, it ended. She pulled back, leaving me stranded in the blaze she’d just lit.

She gave a quick, mischievous smile and murmured, “That was a dare, Javier. Don’t go overthinking it or reading into anything.” She shot me a look as if to make it all clear, then turned and walked back to her friends, leaving me frozen there like I’d just woken from a dream.

For the past five years, I’d been on edge, wrestling through the tangled mess in my mind, trying to understand exactly what it was that she made me feel. But that kiss—barely a millisecond in the grand scheme of things—tore through me with such force that every answer became simple, brutally clear. Her scent, her warmth, the soft press of her lips, they seared into my mind, burned into every inch of my body, woven into my damn soul. And Renée, Renée Margot—she made me realize without the need to think twice. I wanted her. It became infuriatingly clear that she wouldn’t even need to whisper please for me to make the entire world bow at her feet.