“Your panties and bra are next,” Lucas announced.

“Can you accept what is expected, or do we need to proceed?” Z questioned. I didn’t want to bare my body for them, but they were giving me a choice to endure their hands or be free of them. Feeling numb, I nodded.

“Good girl. We’ll wait outside.”

I wanted to tell them there was no need. I saw the contents of the box and knew Angel intended to parade me, naked, in front of his friends and company.

They moved to the door and just before the door closed, I heard, “The clock is ticking, Mian Ross.”

Z.

“You have four minutes.”

Lucas.

I wanted to rage and tell them where they could stick their clock and do with their dinner, but I didn’t. I sunk down on the bare mattress and pulled the box closer to me. If they were warning me not to tempt Angel, then maybe, I should do exactly that. Maybe it was time I get my head in the game and play it better than the men who started it.Chapter EighteenOutnumbered but not outsmarted.

ANGELThe wine glassI’d refilled was poised below my lips, and I had to anchor my feet to the floor when she appeared nine minutes and forty-three seconds later. The moment my gaze found her may have been the first time I ever lost at my own game.

She was naked except for a silver mask and the pearls around the tempting column of her neck.I wanted her like this—vulnerable and humiliated. From the rigid way she held her body as she entered the dining room, I could tell I got my wish.

I just wasn’t expecting a rock hard dick for my trouble.Z cleared his throat when my staring bordered on embarrassing. Lucas was too busy staring at her ass to notice the tension.

Fuck me, but she was gorgeous. Everything about her was small from her pouty lips to the tiny pink toes resting on the marble floors. I could probably wrap my hands around her waist and have my fingers overlap. Her tits were small making her dusky pink nipples seem larger than normal. They looked slightly reddened, which made me wonder if she nursed the baby. Her stomach was still as taut as I remembered it, but I could also see the faint evidence of a few stretch marks on her otherwise unmarred skin. The marks didn’t detract from her beauty. It only made me hungrier… and curious.

What would it be like to breed Mian Ross?

“Our food will get cold if you two continue to eye fuck each other,” Z broke in. He sounded bored, but the bulge in his pants suggested otherwise. When he took his place at the table, I turned my attention back to Mian.

“Sit.”

“Why?”

“Because I have three simple rules and doing as I say is number one.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And the others?”

“Don’t test me.” I paused until I could feel her anticipation and fear. “And don’t lie to me.” One of the benefits of her naked state was the ability to see her entire body flush and tremble. There was nothing for her to hide behind.

“If you think—”

“I don’t think, Mian. I command.”

“Command your puppets. Do not command me. My father—”

“Is in prison,” I reminded. She used to wield her father’s influence over mine when we were kids when she couldn’t get her way. When she batted those lashes at her father or even at me, I was reminded that she was my ticket into the business.

“And yours is dead,” she countered, snapping me back to the present. I was out of my chair and moving down the long dining table, but I wasn’t quick enough. She lunged forward and grabbed a knife from the place setting that was meant for her. My jaw clenched. Milly didn’t have the foresight not to give Mian a knife. I doubted Mian had found an ally in the stubborn woman so easily. “Stay the fuck away from me, or I will gut you.”

Lucas had never moved from his place behind her. He moved closer, but she didn’t seem to notice, so I planted my feet and crossed my arms. I could feel a smile trying to break free, and just for the hell of it, I let it free. He was almost on her. I just had to keep her attention on me, which had never been hard whenever we were in the same room together.

“Don’t believe me?” she sneered.

“Oh, I believe you, which is why Lucas here is going to stop you.” I nodded, and he effortlessly grabbed her around the waist, pulling her naked body into him at the same time, grabbing her wrist and tightening his grip until she cried out and dropped the knife.

“Easy does it,” he cooed in her ear. He gently lowered her into her seat and pushed the chair in. He leaned down and whispered in her ear low enough to keep it between them. Whatever he’d said caused her mouth to part and her eyes to lose focus and glisten. I kept my expression blank and made a mental note to ask him what he’d said to her later.