CHAPTER SIX

      Damian

      SHE LOOKED DELECTABLE, lying back on my desk in front of me with her legs spread, the black curls of her pussy all slick on her bare flesh, her inner thighs glistening from my mouth and her own arousal.

      She was also totally unguarded, which made it the perfect time to get the truth out of her.

      Because of course she was here for the Red Queen. Nothing else made sense. I had plenty of other jewels, but no one had tried to take them before, and I’d only just got my hands on this necklace. The timing was right.

      Besides, no one but a thief would have had the skills to open the lock on my door. And I knew thieves. I’d met plenty of them back in Sydney while I’d been working security at various different clubs. The best knew how to deal with security systems and how to move around unnoticed. They were fast, patient and also incredibly observant.

      Very much like this woman, in fact.

      Because she was fast—she’d certainly disappeared into my office fast enough—and she had the skills to bypass my security systems. There was also that guarded, watchful quality to her. As if she was noticing things to file away in her memory for future reference.

      Yeah, I’d lay money on her being a thief.

      I stared at her, lying there on the desk, her breathing fast, echoing in the silence of the office. The scent of aroused woman and the salty-sweet taste of her in my mouth was making my cock start to get interested again. My cock didn’t care that she was a thief. My cock just wanted that gorgeous pussy all spread out before me.

      Too bad. She might have nearly made me lose it against the windows not ten minutes ago with that sweet mouth, but I had control of the situation now, and she wasn’t getting it back.

      I’d spent months tracking that necklace down and I wasn’t about to let some sweet-faced pseudo-waitress take it from me, no matter how sexy she was.

      You didn’t get to be the head of a multi-billion-dollar company by being complacent, after all.

      I felt her muscles tighten and I firmed my grip on her thighs, holding her there, because I wasn’t going to let her get away.

      Slowly, she sat up, her eyes dark and shocked in her flushed face. Strands of glossy brown hair stuck to her forehead and cheek, the mouth that had nearly made me lose my goddamn mind full and red and pouty.

      My cock got even harder.

      ‘What did you say?’ she asked faintly.

      ‘I think you heard me.’

      ‘I don’t know what you’re—’

      ‘Don’t even try to deny it, Sugar. You might have blown my fucking mind with that gorgeous mouth and sweet little pussy of yours but my memory is fully intact.’

      Her mouth opened then shut. She looked away, smoothing down her uniform and pulling her legs together to cover herself. Her hands trembled, the way they had as she’d undone my fly, but this time I didn’t touch her.

      The expression on her face gave nothing away, but that shake of her hands told me all I needed to know.

      Of course she was here for the Red Queen.

      The only question now was what to do about it.

      She was good—she was very good; that was for sure—then again, she’d have had to be in order to get into my apartment.

      But I couldn’t have thieves thinking they could just waltz into my place and take whatever the fuck they liked. Everything I had I’d worked hard for, and what was mine stayed mine. It was something this pretty little thief needed a lesson in.

      I stared at her, the taste of her lingering on my tongue and the scent of her in my nostrils. Sweet, musky and delicious.

      What the hell made her think she could steal from me? And why did she want the necklace? She must have known this would be a dangerous job, that the risk of getting caught was high. Was this for herself or was she a contract thief, stealing on behalf of someone else? I had my share of enemies and there had been a fair few anonymous bids on the Red Queen at the private auction where I’d finally bought it.

      Whatever her story was, there was an air of vulnerability to her. The thieves I’d come into contact with in my previous life were generally tough and harder than bulletproof glass. But she looked neither tough nor hard, not with her lashes lying all silky and black on the fragile curve of her cheekbone.

      I hadn’t thought I’d be into vulnerable, but right now I wanted to run my fingers along that curve, feel the fine grain of her skin.

      Curiosity shifted inside me. Letting her leave wasn’t an option, not now she knew the layout of my place and how to get into my office, not to mention how to bypass Everett’s security measures. No, I had to keep her here, find out more about her before I did anything else.

       Sure you do. You just want to fuck her.

      That was true also, though that could wait. I needed a few answers first.

      ‘I suppose there’s no point in telling you I couldn’t find the bathroom?’ Her voice was cool and guarded.

      ‘Like you couldn’t find the kitchen?’ I didn’t move from where I sat, my hands resting on the desktop on either side of her hips, ready to grab her if she ran, because she sure as hell wasn’t going anywhere, not now. ‘No, we’ve been through that, and I didn’t believe you the first time around. And a blow job, no matter how good it is, isn’t going to make me change my mind.’

      She gave an irritated sigh.

      I pushed myself up out of the chair and reached forward, putting one finger beneath her pointed chin and tipping her head back, making her meet my gaze. ‘I want answers.’ I let a hint of authority edge my voice to show her I meant business. ‘And I want them now.’

      The look in her eyes was impossible to read. Normally I had no problems figuring someone out; the years spent in boardrooms across the globe had only sharpened those skills. But I couldn’t get a bead on her, not one.

      And that made me want to get beneath that dark, watchful gaze, see what lay beneath the surface.

      ‘And if I don’t give them to you?’ Her tone was level and she sounded only mildly interested, not at all concerned.

      Well, shit. Normally people fell over themselves to give me what I wanted. They certainly didn’t argue or ask what would happen if they didn’t, and I didn’t like punishing people. Sure, I was firm when I had to be, I had no problems with that, but making threats to a pretty little thief? A vulnerable pretty little thief?

      Yeah, I was reluctant. I preferred to make women feel good, not frighten them.

      So I did what I always did when faced with a potential conflict of interest: I smiled my usual smile, the one that made both men and women blush and fall at my feet, ready to do my bidding. ‘Let’s just say I have ways of making you talk.’ I released her chin and let my fingers trail lightly down her neck, enjoying the way her pupils dilated as I did so and noting the goose bumps that scattered all over her skin.

      She swallowed and for a second I thought I had her. Then her straight dark brows lowered and I caught a glimpse of something steely and stubborn in the depths of her eyes. ‘I don’t have to tell you a thing. You’ll get rid of me either way.’

      Damn it.

      She shouldn’t push me, not when she had no