“Gentlemen,” I said in greeting.

“Titan, come in. Close the door.”

I did as he asked and crossed the room to the low gathering of chairs around a poker table. There were cards and chips on the table, but no hand in play.

“I didn’t realize we were planning to play.”

“We’re not,” Hendricks said, one of the three Democrats in the room. “We just needed a reason to gather.”

“Afraid of the Gestapo finding you out?”

“Not the Gestapo. Haines.”

The name of the senator who had demanded the open-ended favor surprised me. “Haines?”

Shuman, the sole Republican among them, replied, “He put out the word that if you came around asking for favors, we might not find it in our best interest to entertain them.”

That son of a bitch. “Is that so?”

“Damn right. For some reason he’s gotten very territorial over you.”

What the hell? “Why is that?”

They all looked at me like I was an idiot for even asking the question. “Because you’re a good man to have a marker from. We’re guessing he doesn’t want anyone else to have the chance to get something from you.”

And this was why I despised politics.

“So, why are you here?” I asked. “If you’re not willing to go against Haines, then why even agree to meet with me?”

Winchell spoke up again. “Because we want to know what it is that would get a man like you to start asking for favors.”

“Curiosity. That’s why you’re here?”

They all smiled.

“And yet you have no intention of helping me, regardless of what it is, because Haines put out the word that I wasn’t to be helped?”

Nods went all around the table.

“Why the hell do you think I’d tell you a goddamn thing?”

Truman spoke up. “Because whatever it is, if there’s a chance we can help you behind the scenes in exchange for, shall we say, generous campaign contributions, we might be willing to pull some strings.”

Greed and curiosity. It would have been interesting if it wasn’t so infuriating.

My first instinct was to tell them to fuck off. But the voice in the back of my head—telling me I’d never succeed and I was a waste of a son—that voice increased in volume.

The person I most wanted to tell to fuck off was my father, and it was his voice. A voice I’d only heard in my head for years.

I studied the four politicians, wondering if they’d be able to give me any realistic help at all. If they weren’t willing to push the bill to the floor for a vote and make sure the vote went in my favor, what good were they?

But what if there was a chance?

“Okay, gentlemen,” I started, using the term loosely. “This is what I need.”

DEEP BREATH IN; DEEP BREATH out.

Scan right. Scan left.

Repeat.

I made the circuit of all of the rooms in my apartment for the ninth time, but saw nothing out of place. Nothing moved. Nothing missing.

Maybe the new locks and alarm system had done the trick. It seemed too easy, though, didn’t it?

“Okay,” I said to the empty room. “I guess I’ll just go to bed then.”

I headed into the bathroom to wash my face. My makeup had to be almost all gone, courtesy of the dunking I’d taken in Titan’s pool. Asshole.

I stopped in front of the mirror and froze. “Oh, sweet baby Jesus,” I murmured. I looked like the dried version of a drowned rat. Lovely. It was a miracle Ginny hadn’t demanded an explanation for my appearance, which was more proof of how distressed she’d been. A shower was definitely in order, or even better, a bath.

I eyed the small tub-shower combination in my bathroom and wished for the giant claw-foot tub in the guest room of Titan’s house.

Stop thinking about him, I ordered myself.

After closing the drain, I turned on the water as hot as it would go and watched for a few moments as the tub filled inch by inch. Deciding it had filled enough at three inches, I stripped and climbed in. I let the heat and steam surround me as the water continued to rise.

Leaning my head back, I tried to think peaceful thoughts, and not about the nightmares that Ginny’s warnings had brought back to me. But every time I tried to push my mind to something pleasant, it landed on the black-haired, green-eyed man I wanted to forget.

But did I truly want to forget that night in the kitchen and how he’d pushed me, challenged me, and finally taken me? Jesus.

I’d never come so hard in my entire life. And I might never come so hard again.

Unless you have another fling with Titan, the voice in my head offered.

No. That wasn’t happening again. Because he wanted an arrangement.

But what if I told him to shove his arrangement where the sun didn’t shine and made a counteroffer of my own? I could be the one to use him.

I pictured Titan’s mouth curling up into a smirk as I told him that I wanted to compensate him for the use of his body. Hell, screw compensation. The man was richer than Midas, so what if I just told him that I wanted to use his body freely, whenever the whim struck me. I wanted to be able to say when and where, and for him to make it happen.

Would he be shocked?

Oh God, but the idea of Titan speechless would be worth the potential humiliation if he laughed in my face. The more I thought about the plan, the more I liked it. It was ballsy, cocky, and slightly crazy—which made it seem perfect for when dealing with Titan.

“Why the hell not?” I asked the empty bathroom. “Why not turn the tables a little?”

Determination filling me, I stood, shaking off the water as I grabbed a towel. But one glance in the direction of the steam-clouded mirror made me freeze. A scream ripped loose from my lungs.

I’m watching you.

The words were written in big block letters across the glass, and would have been completely invisible if I hadn’t let the bathroom fill with steam.

Stark terror ripped through me.

He’d been here. Ginny was right. Jay was still fixated on me, and I wasn’t safe.

Fight or flight kicked in harder than ever before. Run! all my instincts screamed. And yet here I stood in the middle of the bathroom, clutching a towel to my dripping body as I forced my brain to start working again.

He wasn’t here, wasn’t in my apartment. The locks had been changed, and the alarm was set. But he’d been here before; I’d felt it in my gut, and I’d been right.