Darius
WARM SUN BEAMS ON ME, waking me from my sleep. I stretch, roll over, and smile to myself when I
feel the warm comfort of Katie beside me. I open one eye and watch her sleep as I shake off the
cobwebs. Her lips are slightly parted, her hair all over the pillow, her cheeks flushed. She looks
utterly content, almost childlike. I bend and kiss her forehead.
She stirs, and a small smile plays on her lips, but she doesn’t open her eyes.
“Morning, sunshine,” I whisper in her ear, playing with a strand of her hair.
“Mornin’, handsome,” she whispers with a big yawn, eyes still closed. “Lemme sleep.”
She rolls over, and I can’t help but swat her naked butt. Suddenly she sits straight up in bed, her eyes
wide and dazzled.
“Oh my God!” she hisses. “Get out!” And to my shock, she lifts the sheet up over her chest as if she
just realized she’s naked.
“What?”
“Gran,” she hisses. “If she sees you in here, she’ll think I’m some sort of... hussy or something.”
“Okay, okay, fair point,” I say, stifling the need to chuckle.
“Do you think she’s still asleep?”
“Um, no,” I say with a frown. “She’s up at the crack of dawn. Probably watering plants or
something.”
She kneels on the bed, peeking out the window above the bed frame and gasps. “She’s out there!
Coming in from the barn. Go!”
I gather my things and race out the room, not because I’m bothered about what Gran thinks, so much as
I don’t want to upset Katie. I shake my head and get a chuckle out of the whole thing.
I take a quick shower and get changed. Even though I would prefer a room with Katie, it's so old
fashioned here, and it feels good to be home. I like it. The glamour of Vegas dims a little, in contrast
to the beauty and simplicity of home.
When I arrive downstairs, Katie's stirring a large pot on the stove, and Gran is regaling her with
stories from my childhood.
"And I had to get his poor brother down from the clothesline, and his drawers were stretched beyond
recognition." She rolls her eyes to the ceiling.
"Oh God," I mutter. "Not this again."
"The story that will go down in infamy," Katie supplies. I can't help but smirk.
Rawley and Tiffany join us as Katie and I are setting the table.
"No oatmeal for us," Rawley says, scowling at the large pot of oatmeal Katie puts on the table.
Katie ladles a large portion into her bowl.
Tiffany scowls scornfully at Katie. "Too high carb."
Katie's lips thin and she reaches for the bear-shaped honey jar. She smiles, and it doesn't quite reach
her eyes. "Suit yourself. Carbs are delicious."
I think I might love this woman.
Tiffany’s lips purse as her gaze lowers to Katie’s waist. “You would think that, wouldn’t you?”
The bitch. I open my mouth to say something, but Katie beats me to it.
She gives Tiffany a shrug, narrows her eyes, and swirls honey directly over a spoonful of oatmeal.
“My mother always told me, sweets for the sweet.” She tips her head to the side. She shrugs. “I like
to think it keeps me sweet.” She shoots me a toothy grin. “Wouldn’t you say so, honey?”
Honey? She’s adorable. “Absolutely, babe.”
Tiffany rolls her eyes and pushes away from the table, mumbling to herself. “Sweetness and
cellulite.”
I wait until Gran takes the dirty dishes to the kitchen before I intervene. “Tiffany.”
Tiffany looks my way.
“What?” she snaps.
I rise to my full height and stalk over to her. She shrinks back a little, her eyes flitting over to Rawley,
who’s so engrossed in his phone, flipping through Tinder Twat that he doesn’t even look up.
I shove my hands in my pocket, adopting a feigned air of nonchalance.
“Oh, nothing. Just a warning.”
Her eyes flash at me. “Warning? Like back when we used to play those games and you’d warn me I
was getting” —she makes air quotes with her finger— “punished?” We never went that far, but I hate
that she’s brought this up in front of Katie.
I shake my head. “I don’t appreciate the way you’re treating Katie. You don’t have to be her best
friend, but I won’t let you bully her, and I won’t allow you to be cruel. I want you to remember
something.”
“What’s that?” she throws back, glaring.
“I’m the one who owns this house. And I can escort you off the property any time I want.”
She rolls her eyes.
“And furthermore?” I lower my voice. “I know secrets about you no one else here knows. No one.”
Her eyes widen. “You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I would.”
Her boobs are fake, her cheeks and lips are fillers, and she’s had a tummy tuck. None of which matter
to me, but she sure as hell likes to pretend that her perfect figure is real, using her facade to body
shame other women, natural beauties like my curvy Katie Kat.
And if that’s not enough, she faked half of the entries for the pageants she won, relying on her parents
currying the favor of the judges beforehand.
Among other things.
She opens her mouth, then slams it shut and huffs away, marching over to Rawley.
“Let’s go,” she says.
“To get the cake?” he says. He rises and stretches, then reaches for her, but she stomps off furiously.
He looks at me in consternation, but I only shrug.
Off they go, and I turn to find Katie staring at me, an unreadable expression on her face. Weird. I
thought she’d be happy I just took Tiffany down a peg or two. I sure as hell am.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she says softly. “Just going to... go work on my book for a bit before the party preparations
are in full swing.”
But she’s getting up from the table and not meeting my eyes.
“Katie.”
My voice is a little harsher than I intend. She looks up at me sharply.
“What?”
“Come here.”
She purses her lips and frowns. “I have work to do,” she says, turning away from me.
Walk away from me? Not happening.
“Do not walk away from me, little girl.”
She freezes, her back to me, then glances over her shoulder. “Or what?” Is that my imagination, or is
there hurt in those beautiful eyes of hers. “You’ll punish me? Just like you do with all the girls you’ve
dated?”
Ahhh. Bingo.
Gran comes shuffling in the room with a broom. “Give me a hand, Katie?”
I take the broom from Gran. “Katie and I will be right back, and when we return, we’ll do anything
you need us to. We just need to have a little talk first.”
I reach for Katie’s hand, but she pulls away. She takes the broom.
“I can sweep the room first.”
“You will not.” I take it out of her hand and place it up against the wall. Gran watches the two of us
curiously.
“Hmm,” she says, smirking. “Darius has never been a very patient man.” She takes the broom back.
“You two go have your talk and I’ll see you in a few.”
“Perfect idea.” I take Katie by the elbow as Gran trots upstairs.
“Gonna take me to the woodshed?” Katie asks between gritted teeth. “Wouldn’t that just float your
kinky boat? Hmm?”
This little girl is going to end up over my lap before she knows it.
I tighten my grip and walk her out toward the kitchen and down the steps. She doesn’t protest, though
her lips are thinned, and her eyes are narrowed. I get her all the way to the barn before I let her go. I
point my finger to a bale of hay.
“Sit.”
She flounces down but obeys.
I put my hands on my hips and give her a good, hard look. To her credit, she looks mildly abashed.
“Now what the hell came over you?”
“I heard what she said,” Katie says in a small voice. There’s a catch in her voice. “And I can’t stand
being in the same room with her.”
Is she... jealous? Could it be?
“What did she say that you heard?” I suspect I know what, but I want to hear her say it.
Katie sticks her lower lip out and pouts.
“No pouting, Katie Kat,” I say warningly. “Daddy doesn’t allow pouting.”
Her eyes flash at me, and she actually sticks her tongue out at me like a spoiled little brat. I’ve got her
up in the air and over my knee in no time, sitting heavily on the hay bale as I drag her over my lap. I
give her one hard smack, and she screams.
“Put me down, Darius Morrow. Don’t you dare!”
That earns her another few good cracks.
“Stop being so stubborn and listen to me,” I say, my hand hovered to spank again.
“No! I heard what I heard. You played these games with Tiffany.” She scissors her legs. “Put me
down! Did she call you daddy, too? Hmm?”
I give her another sharp smack. “Stop being so petulant and listen to me.” She bucks on my lap at the
next swat.
“Are you just going to spank me until I listen?” she says furiously. That earns her another spank.
I adjust her over my lap. “Yes.”
She finally slumps over my knee. “Fine, then,” she sniffles. “Fine! What do you have to say?”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
“I’m sorry she’s here. I wish she wasn’t. If I knew she was still as sour as a lemon I never would’ve
brought you. In fact, if there was a hotel within twenty miles of here, I’d take you there right this very
minute.”
She’s sniffling. “You would?”
I rest my hand on the heated swell of her ass.
“You’re damn right I would.”
“I just thought—”
“I’m not finished.”
She sighs, and her voice is softer this time. “Go on.”
“She’s my ex, and of course you know what that means; I don’t tolerate disrespect. But I never did
anything with her like I’ve done with you. Once I brought up the daddy thing. And she called me a
pervert and told me to fuck myself. And I knew she wasn’t the girl for me. That’s when we broke up.”
Katie sighs. “She said that? I’m sorry. What a bitch.”
I actually chuckle at that. “Yeah, baby,” I say. “Exactly.”
I lift her onto my lap and hold her against me. I take her chin between my fingers and lift her gaze to
mine. “What we have is special, baby. I promise you. You’re special to me.”
What are we doing here? I hired her for a job, and I’ve crossed that damn line.
“But I... but you...” her voice trails off, and her eyes are on my lips. She looks summarily chastened
and pleased. “I’m sorry.”
I bend my mouth to hers and brush my lips over hers. She sighs and places her hand palm-down on my
chest. I wrap my fingers around the back of her neck, wild possession thrumming through me.
I want to conquer this woman. She’s shown signs of jealousy, and it’s inspired jealous thoughts of my
own. I want her, all of her, and I don’t want anything to come between us. Not contracts or ex-
girlfriends or fears about what’s next. She trusts me. I don’t want to betray that trust.
“Darius!” Gran shouts from just outside the barn. We break our kiss and scramble to our feet, brushing
hay off of each other.
“Oh, there you two are!” Gran says with a wicked grin. She knows exactly what she’s doing. “I need
some help stringing these lights up. I’ve got the ladder set up and did a few, but I’ve got lots more to
do. Help an old lady?”
“No,” I say firmly. “I’m doing it for you. Don’t you dare get up that ladder again.”
Gran rolls her eyes. “I’m not going to fall.”
“Said literally every person who fell off a ladder, ever,” I say firmly.
She rolls her eyes at Katie. “Always a bossy one.”
“Tell me about it,” Katie mutters back.
I string up the lights while Katie works with Gran in the kitchen. We’ve tried telling her a dozen times
or more that it’s her party and to let us arrange things, but honest to God she likes being busy. She
likes doing things. So I let them, even though a part of me feels guilty.
Is it wrong that I’ve introduced them to each other like this? Will it hurt Gran when Katie goes home?
Will it hurt me? Jesus, I don’t want this to end. But how can a guy like me give someone like her what
she needs? Have I been lying to myself all these years, telling myself that I don’t want to settle down,
that I’m happy alone, and that I enjoy one-night stands and nothing more?
Or was it just that I’d never met the right girl?
That I hadn’t yet met... her.
I tear my gaze from her face, pushing these thoughts from my mind and focus on the task at hand.
Lights are strung up in the back, music filters through speakers, and catered food lines tables. Katie
and I go to our separate rooms to change quickly just before the first guests arrive.
Everyone I’ve known from childhood comes. Friends and family, neighbors and cousins, filling the
large back yard to celebrate Gran.
There’s laughter and music, and the company of friends, as Katie joins me at a little table in the far
back under a string of white lights. She wears a pale yellow dress, her hair in curls. She looks so at
home here, like she belongs. Gazing at her here in the Georgia sunset makes me long for this again. A
simpler life. The comforts of home.
Only this time, there’s a beautiful, brilliant woman who sits by my side and truly enjoys my company,
not just the zeroes attached to my name.
“It’s so lovely,” Katie says, her eyes dancing. She frowns. “It’s just... well, sorry to say, but I like it
better than your fancy penthouse.”
I chuckle at that, lean over and tickle her side. “Oh you do, do you?”
She giggles. “I do,” she says. “It must get kind of lonely in the penthouse. Doesn’t it?”
Lonely? She has no idea.
I feel myself hardening at the thought of revealing too much, of getting too personal. Katie goes home
soon, and I won’t send a part of my heart with her.
Too late, I think. Too fucking late.
“Lonely?” I say with a forced laugh. “In the city that never sleeps? With thousands of people in and
out of my hotel every day?”
Katie grows quiet. “You can be lonely in a crowded room.” She sighs. “Ask me how I know.”
I take her hand and give her a little squeeze.
She sighs and rests her head on my shoulder. “Will you tell me why you left?”
A muscle clenches in my jaw, and I open my mouth to tell her, ‘not today.’ But something comes over
me, then, and for some reason, maybe because I’m bewitched by the evening or her soft, unpretentious
voice, or the fact that I’m home again, I tell her.
“I lost my family in a car accident when I was just eight years old, and Rawley was six. Gran took us
in and raised us.”
“Ohh,” she says in a sad voice. “Darius.”
I push on, wanting this to be pragmatic and brief, ignoring the catch in my voice. “She raised us like
we were her own. Taught us to work hard, educate ourselves, and how to be real men. But I wanted
more than this. I wanted to prove myself. We didn’t have any money, and my dreams and aspirations
of playing professional football went to hell when I was injured.”
She listens quietly, and I rub my thumb over the top of her hand. “I still wanted more and to prove
myself. So I struck out on my own. And I did.”
“You did,” she says softly. “And you did an amazing job. Look how far you’ve come.”
I lean over and kiss her temple. She didn’t judge or question or criticize. She just listened and
understood. And maybe sometimes that’s all that you need. To be heard and understood.
“You’re a good girl, Katie Kat,” I whisper in her ear, but she doesn’t respond. Her eyes are
narrowed, and her body’s gone still. I look on instinct to where she does, and feel my own body
tighten, prepared to defend her. To protect her. To do whatever it takes, for that quickly I know that
something’s gone afoul.
Tiffany stands only a few feet apart from us, waving her phone at Rawley and stabbing her finger at
Katie. Oh no. Jesus. What’s she doing?
I’m on my feet before I know it, when Tiffany stalks over to us with narrowed eyes and a smirk.
“Well would you look at that,” she says, tipping her head to the side, her voice loud and magnified.
“Seems someone got in trouble for hiring an escort. Seems your publicist did her level best to hide
such a story, yet there it is, for anyone to see.”
More and more of the guests are paying attention now. Rawley looks from me to Tiffany. His eyes go
wide, then he takes a step toward her.
“Put it away, Tiff,” he says, but she predictably ignores him.
“Are you that desperate?” Tiffany says with a loud cackle. “You couldn’t even get a real date, you had
to use your billions of dollars to buy one?”
“Tiffany,” Rawley says. He swipes at her phone, but she stalks away.
Katie’s on her feet, her hands balled into fists. “How dare you say that about him! How dare you?”
“Now don’t make a scene, little escort,” Tiffany says in a sickening tone. “Or I will find that pen
name you so carefully hide.” She shakes her head. “I will find it and I will ruin you. I have an army of
social media followers and I am not afraid to use them.”
I take Katie by the hand and pull her over to me. I wrap my arm around her, holding her close by my
side. “We had an agreement, alright—”
Tiffany cuts me off with a point of her long hot pink fingernail. “So you admit it then!”
“But no more. We fell in love. Now she’s mine. You won’t threaten her, and you won’t touch a hair on
her head. If you do, you’ll answer to me. Understood?”
I look to Rawley. “Get her out of here,” I say, barely containing my temper. “Or I will.”
Luckily for Tiffany, my brother drags his witch off to calm down. Turning to Katie, I take her in my
arms and lead her to a private corner of the yard to apologize. She’s trembling. With wide, glassy
eyes she stares at me in disbelief, tears glistening on her cheeks, her pouty lip hanging slightly open as
if she’s in shock. And she must be, after the torture I’ve put her through. She’s probably going to ask
me to drive her to the airport right now, to leave here and never want to see me again.
What have I done to this poor girl by bringing her here?