Page 16 of Pride: Kneel Before None

“Well, Little Spade, seeing as your luck has finally run out, do you know what that means?” he asked with a taunting edge of condescension.

I tried to shake my head but his grasp continued to prohibit any movement.

“No…” The word sounded foreign to me when it carried less than its typical confident tone.

His mouth came to my ear, the heat of his breath tickling my skin. He uttered words I never thought I’d hear, instilling a chaotic mess of emotions inside me.

“You’re mine now,” he whispered the damning cost of my lost hand, the cost of my pride.

My eyes widened as I struggled to understand what he just declared.

To further emphasize his point, he deliberately drew out the next few words. “I. Own. You.”

Fuck. I actually was his Little Spade now.

CHAPTER 6

The look on my Little Spade’s face was priceless, and it surprisingly surpassed even my wildest visions. Just wait until she found out what else fate had in store for her.

I released her jaw, leaving behind a spread of red marks on her fair skin where my fingertips had applied enough pressure during my demand for her undivided attention. I hadn’t waited two goddamn years for her to get the impression I was a pushover. I was a Knight of Hell, not a seraph-blooded choirboy.

Knights like myself worked hard for their titles—unlike my lazy fucker of a friend, Caz. That asshole’s title was lined up for him as a Prince of Hell the moment his parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. Sidero, shacked up in bed together.

It took decades of grueling training, unwavering dedication, and exceptional service to receive the honor of serving as a Prince of Hell. Some could argue that being a Knight was far more prestigious than being a royal brat with a superiority complex. I sure as fuck was in agreement with that notion, and I had let Caz know as much. Many times. Yet the ungrateful bastard disagreed. Good thing he was too lazy to put up an argument and I was too stubborn to lose one.

If my Little Spade thought she was up against anything other than a man who would scorch all the heavens to hell to get what he wanted…she had another thing coming. Specifically, my cock, when it painted her insides white every morning and every night.

“Here’s what is going to happen. We are going to go upstairs,” I explained, only to be rudely interrupted by that smartass mouth of hers.

“No.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, pushing her breasts up against the low neckline of the dress I had chosen for her.

My laughter rumbled, devoid of any humor. “No?”

Who the fuck does she think she is?

Her face suggested that she also found not a semblance of humor in the current situation. Eve shifted her weight on her feet, planting her stance into something more defiant and unyielding.

“No. It’s a full sentence. You’re not the boss of me,” she proclaimed.

You would have thought that she towered over me the way her eyes blatantly took me under the strictest scrutiny. Instead, she hovered around five-foot-five, and I could bench press her weight with my damn pinky.

I reached out for her face again. However this time, she found her sense of confidence. Her petite hand smacked my own away as if it were a nuisance of a gnat. If I didn’t have other, more time-sensitive things on my agenda tonight, I would have found it endearing.

This time when I spoke, my voice dropped into a darker growl with the warning of a provoked hellbeast.

“You come into my casino,” I stepped toward her, herding her back against the edge of the table. “You steal money from me, take advantage of my hospitality. Then when your luck runs out, you think you have the right to change the rules?”

When she attempted to distance herself from me, my hands clamped down on either side of her on the table, caging her in.

There was nowhere for her to run.

Heat curled around my next few words, reflecting my increasing irritation. “You lost. It’s not my fault you failed to ask what the consequences would be. Time to admit defeat, sweetheart.”

Unable to resist, I pressed my hips up against her, letting her feel how excited my dick was with all this back and forth.

A smile tugged at each corner of my mouth as I witnessed a flush creep over her lightly freckled cheeks. All her flustered squirming against me drove even more desire straight to my aching cock.

Still she didn’t relent. Eve lifted her chin proudly. “I didn’t lose; you cheated.”