With more enemies lining up to kill him than he can count, a playboy billionaire must hire the only woman capable of keeping him alive, even if she hates his guts.
Gabriel Gerard's life is full of gorgeous women, expensive cars, and infinite wealth...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Gabriel let Tarek and the group guide him out onto the street where they were met by the cool night air. Harper led the way with her cheeks getting rosier by the second. Mira kept Asher occupied by quizzing him about the city's place in American history. Tarek lagged his steps so that he and Gabriel fell out of earshot.
"My dad wants you to come to our hotel tonight," he murmured. "He didn't want your mom to know, so that is why I let her think that you were going with us. You can duck out as soon as we get to the bar. I will cover for ya and say that you met a lass you couldn't resist."
"Harper will be pissed," Gabriel said.
"She'll get over it." Tarek then said in a much louder voice with a bad American accent, "I can't wait to meet some chicks, man!"
Inside the bar, Gabriel surveyed the crowd for a suitable girl to take outside to make out with and ditch. The place was packed with all kinds of them. Short, tall, light, dark. He wished that they came with a warning about how much drama they were going to be. Jade should have had a massive sign. He settled on a pretty redhead with wide brown eyes and a gymnast's build. Not his type at all. But she was separated from her friends that were trying to get her onto the dance floor.
"Would you do me the honor of breaking your heart?" he asked, sliding his hand into the small of her back and signaling the bartender to refresh her drink.
"Excuse me?" Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't pull away.
"If you fall for me, I'm only going to tear you apart." Gabriel smiled and took a sip of her drink before handing it to her. "But I can guarantee you that I'm worth it." He moved away and started for the other end of the bar where his party was. He counted the steps and was afraid that he had lost his touch when he almost made it to seven before he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see his beautiful prey eyeing him suspiciously. He took her hand, kissed it, and said, "You enjoy pain, don't you?"
"I've just never met such a blatant asshole before," she explained but made no move to go. "I just wondered how you could possibly function in normal society."
"I must be the best at what I do." Gabriel led her to the bar waving off Harper when she beckoned him over. "Do you want to find out?"
"Fuck off," she said the words without malice and laughed taking the shot in front of her. A few more and she was more than ready to go outside and smoke with him. He was leading her to the door when his little sister caught up with him.
"And just where do you think you are going, Gabriel Steven?" Harper said loud enough to embarrass him if he cared.
"Go ahead, baby. I'll catch up." Gabriel handed the redhead his silver-plated lighter. She eyed Harper but must have decided that she wasn't a threat and left them alone. He turned back to his sister and pretended to be upset. "Harp-er. You're ruining my game."
"Please. You don't have any game." She glared at him. "Tonight is supposed to be about family. You can go get some ass another time. Like when you're back in New York tomorrow night."
"But, Harp." He hated lying to her but continued, "This girl is special. She is the first girl that I have had real feelings for since Bri. I want to see where it goes."
"What about Jade?"
"That was just sex."
"She said the same thing." Harper sounded disappointed. She and Jade had been best friends in the short time that they had spent in high school together. No doubt, there were some fantasies of being sisters-in-law there. "But I'm not as dumb as you think, Gabe."
"What? I don't think that you're dumb, Harp." He knew she wasn't and was afraid that she could see through him. "This girl is different, though."
"You can just tell me that don't want to be around Ash," she said quietly. "I know what he did to you to get possession of GIG. I don't blame you for being upset with him."
"I just didn't want to put you in the middle." The conversation was getting too real, and he was feeling so slimy that he couldn't get out of there fast enough. "Thanks for understanding why I want to go."
"Just promise me that you will forgive him." She had a death grip on his wrist. "Someday."
"Sure."
"Not sure. Yes."
"Yes." Gabriel hoped that he wasn't still lying.
"Good because you two are the only family that I've got." Harper kissed him on the cheek goodbye.
