Chapter 8
E’s discussion of her research lasted until they pulled into her apartment.
Plutus said there was something he needed to do, so he would leave her for two hours, when they needed to leave for their early dinner reservation at some fancy pants restaurant she didn’t know.
She sagged in relief at the idea she’d have a few hours by herself to think through things.
And think she did. Maybe obsess better described it.
E took a full hour to go over what she didn’t know, what she needed to know versus what she wanted to know, and how she could get those answers from the eight questions she had left in their little game.
Then she took an hour to get ready, all the while tweaking the questions in her mind as she put on makeup, did her hair, and got dressed.
Her mind also wandered to their kiss. The way she felt whenever he touched her. The need she sensed driving her. She decided she’d slate her lust with Plutus. Dial back the sexual tension by giving into it. Or at least she hoped that’d be the way it’d play out.
When a knock sounded at her door, she startled out of those thoughts and strolled over to open the door. Leading with a little snark, she said, “I figured you’d just come on in.”
Her mouth snapped shut when she saw him standing there, perfectly tailored charcoal suit molded to his massive body.
His hair looked tousled and his blazing green eyes moved up and down her body.
She wore a little black dress Plutus had added to her closet with all the other new clothes earlier that morning and the strappy pink mules he’d given her the night before.
She’d been unhappy about him pushing expensive things on her when she hadn’t asked for them, didn’t need them, but knowing she’d be in a fancy restaurant made her happier he had done it.
Given how Plutus looked like crisp money in front of her, she’d made the right decision.
The lust in his eyes didn’t hurt, either.
“Would you like to come in?” she asked, her voice husky to her own ears.
Plutus tucked his chin in, his eyes hard and heated. “If I do, we’ll miss our reservation.”
She didn’t think that was a bad thing at the moment, but before she could say so, he grabbed her hand and tugged her into his body.
The sear of heat made her breath go out in a rush.
Her mouth hung open as she craned her neck to look up into his face.
A growl came out before he dipped down and kissed her, swift and hard, his lips a promise.
E knew with certainty they’d have sex. Very soon.
But with each second his lips explored her mouth, she lost confidence in the idea it’d take one night to get him out of her system.
After a too-short minute, he pulled away. “You look devastatingly beautiful, E.”
When she caught her breath, she quipped, “You don’t look too bad yourself.”
He laughed full and deep, which made her heart pound to a different beat. More mellow, less lustful, but no less profound. “Come. We have places to be.”
Plutus led her through the restaurant. Because of the name, she’d known it was on Park Avenue, but until they pulled up in the car, she hadn’t realized it was in Billionaire’s Row, taking up an entire floor in a tall complex.
The expense of it made her want to cave in on herself.
It was too much. For anyone, but definitely for a girl who was only a few years removed from the trailer park.
When Plutus let go of her hand so she could take a seat at their cozy table with a view of Central Park, E felt unmoored.
Nervous. Maybe even vulnerable. Like people could look at her and know she didn’t belong.
It was a feeling she was familiar with. One she hated but couldn’t escape. Or hadn’t yet managed to escape.
She tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear as she took her seat and trained her eyes firmly on the exquisite tablecloth and gleaming table setting. She sensed Plutus seating himself across from her, but she didn’t look up at him. He called her name.
Clearing her throat as if it would help steel her nerves, she asked, “Yes?” She still didn’t look at him, though. She looked out the window. Took a sip of water the felicitous waiter brought over as soon as they sat.
“Look at me, little one,” he huffed out on a low whisper.
She finally looked up into his face to see worry etched there.
“What’s wrong? Do you not like the restaurant? We can leave.” He half stood before she could stop him.
“No. No. Please, sit. Sit down.” She rushed out, hoping no one noticed.
“Okay,” he said, easing back down in his chair, though a deep v still stood out between his slash of dark brows. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
She leaked air like a balloon, before she looked around to see if anyone looked their way. No one did, so she leaned deep across the table and whispered. “I don’t belong here.”
Plutus smirked. Right in her face. “Of course you do.”
The dismissal made her bristle, and she clung to her annoyance. “I’m a pink-haired girl from a trailer park in Ohio. So, no, I most definitely don’t belong here.”
He studied her before he said, “There is no need to be nervous, E.”
Of course there was.
“You see the couple two tables over on our right?”
She quickly looked over to take them in and shifted her eyes back to Plutus. “Yeah.”
“The man is up to his eyeballs in SEC trouble. And the woman knows they are drowning in debt but keeps on spending.”
“Plutus!” She hissed out, afraid they might’ve heard him.
However, he kept going. “The table closest to the kitchen is new money made from exploiting labor laws in East Asia, and they’re seething they don’t have a better table.
” He threw his head back slightly, indicating a group of men laughing a bit too hard behind him.
“They are all hedge fund managers who bought up a mass of single-family house in various areas in the country, driving up prices so they could make more money and fewer people could afford their own homes.”
She couldn’t help the way her nose crinkled in disgust at all this information.
“However, it’s not all bad,” he said, sliding his eyes to her right so she saw two old women, heads bent low together. “Those two used the old family money they got from long-dead husbands to help them live a life together, long before such things were acceptable in your human society.”
“You shouldn’t know these things.”
“I am the god of wealth, E. I can look into the mind of any person I choose and see their wealth. As well as how they got it and how they keep it.”
“Handy trick,” she snarked, taking another sip of her water to hide her discomfort.
“E,” he called again, the command she couldn’t seem to ignore in his deep voice once again.
“What I am saying is I see what everyone in here does and does not wish to hide when it comes to wealth, and I can say with absolute certainty you belong here. Not because of wealth, but because of who you are.”
“It’s hard for me,” she admitted.
His hand shot out to take hers and the touch soothed. “E, listen to me. The rich are no better than you. Many are in fact less than you.”
She didn’t exactly agree with him, but his words helped make her slightly less nervous. “Come, E. Let’s have a lovely dinner.”
“I can do that,” she said, partly to answer him and partly to assure herself.
“Then we can go back to your apartment, and I can peel that delicious black dress from your body.”
If she’d taken another drink of water she would’ve spit it out. As it was, she gawked, mouth open.
“Please, close your mouth, E. It makes me want to do wicked things.”
She snapped her mouth closed. Thoughts of not belonging fled at the heat rushing over her body when she instantly imagined the wicked things he could do to and with her mouth.
She no longer cared about the other people in the restaurant.
She only cared about when they could leave and explore some wickedness together.
They ended up having a lovely dinner. Between random sexy comments from Plutus, they had tasty food.
Except for the wagyu. She’d had American wagyu before, but they had the Japanese real deal at this restaurant and Plutus ordered it.
When he offered a bit she took it, ready to be wowed.
It tasted like a stick of butter in her mouth.
She managed to push it down and Plutus laughed at the expression on her face.
Other than that, everything had been perfect. Including Plutus.
When the waiter brought out a folio and Plutus signed something without having to even give a card, he looked over to her.
“Your place?” It might have been a question, but it felt like an assertion to her.
She nodded, ready and more than willing to take Plutus home.
Her body had buzzed with lust since she’d opened the door to him earlier, and she was ready to find out if the promise of him rang true.
They rushed through the restaurant and into the waiting car, his hand on her lower back the entire time, tracing maddening circles there. They didn’t speak in the car, but he held her hand tight.
Plutus nearly burst from the back seat when they pulled up to her curb, dragging her along with him as he stalked up her stairs. He let her slip in front of him, but he kept close, hot on her back, as she unlocked her door.
She stumbled in but caught her feet. Only to be pushed back, back, back by Plutus.
His stomp ate the ground. The tie came down and the necklace came off, transforming him in front of her eyes to the monster she’d first met in that exact spot.
His horns reached high, his claws flashed on his hands, and his fangs bit down into his full lips.
Her back hit brick, and he pinned her between his massive arms, his claws tapping against the wall in a steady rhythm as he studied her face. His dipped down and he took a long, deep sniff of her neck. “You are intoxicating, E.”
“Same,” she breathed out.