Entwined Fates: Dominating Miya (3 page)

“Can you throw a man ten feet across the room with just your mind?” Alex asked.

Miya knew Cara could. “No,” she replied.

“Then you need protection.”

“I don’t have to be able to do telekinesis to protect myself. There are other ways of doing it, you know.”

“True.” Alex sighed before continuing. “Accept it, Miya. Your brothers adore you. As long as they’re alive, you will be babied.”

“Just promise me you won’t tell them about the costume.”

Alex shook his head firmly. “I’m not making that promise.”

“Alex—”

“Don’t Alex me, Miya,” he said firmly. When she opened her mouth to say something else, he growled, “Miya.”

“Don’t tell me what to do. Keep in mind I’m not one of your subs you can boss around.”

“Miya.”

“You’re as bad as they are!” she snapped.

She was so sick of everyone still seeing her as a child and not an adult. She was tired of her brothers and her father butting their noses into everything she did. Now she had Alex treating her like a damn kid, threatening to tell her brothers about the dress.

She sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose. And she probably wasn’t helping matters by screaming like a spoiled child.

Alex rolled his eyes in frustration. “Unbelievable. Miya, I swear, if I wasn’t driving this ship, I’d put you over my knee!”

“Oh please,” she snapped. “You’re so afraid Daddy would be mad at you, you wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me, in anger or otherwise.”

“You sure you want to place that bet?” Alex snarled as he jerked the ship into the parking pad atop her apartment complex so hard she actually gasped.

He stopped the ship and turned to glare at her in anger. He looked incredibly delectable that way, but Miya had a sinking feeling he wasn’t trying to be. She had him where she’d wanted him for so long. They were alone, about to head to her apartment, and she’d flown off the handle and made him mad.

“You’re a handful, do you know that?” he growled in a deep, sexy voice that made Miya shiver.

Licking her lips, she tried to think of something to say that might defuse the growing tension between the two of them. She glanced down at her breasts and shrugged. Trying to get his attention off her attitude and onto her body, she decided to move the conversation in a different direction. “I’ve been told that before, but I don’t think my breasts are that big.” She looked up and smiled sweetly. “Especially with your large hands. I always thought they were a little small.”

He frowned slightly, then shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. And they’re not small, Miya, they’re—”

At the grin on her face, his frown deepened.

“So you do look,” she said.

Growling low in his chest, he opened the door on his side of the ship and slipped out. Miya chuckled softly, pleased she’d actually made the sexy Alexander speechless.

She opened her own door and stepped out. A strong, cold night wind blew her hair, and she shivered as she reached for her jacket and slipped it on. Staring up toward the sky, she wished she could see the stars, but here on Rhinari, there were too many lights that blocked them out and gave it a reddish hue. She sighed wistfully. That was the one bad thing about living here. No stars.

“You couldn’t wait for me to open the door for you?” Alex asked.

“Why?” she asked as she reached around to shut the door. “Is that a Dom thing?”

“No, that is not a Dom thing.”

She eyed him coyly as she passed and headed to the entrance of the building. “Are you always this pissy late at night?”

Alex mumbled under his breath, “I should show you pissy.”

Miya grinned and swiped her card, unlocking the door to her complex. Inside, the guard greeted her with a smile. “Good evening, Ms. Miya. You’re home early tonight.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t feeling well, so I cut my performance short.” She waved to Alex, who stood behind her. “You know Chancellor Dorn?”

The guard nodded. “Yes. Good evening, Chancellor.”

“That’s debatable at the moment,” Alex grumbled as he followed Miya to the elevator.

“You don’t have to be such a grouch, Alex.”

“Miya, I’ve silently counted to ten three times, and I’m still pissed. Don’t push it.”

With a grin, she nodded to the elevator attendant and waited for him to hit the number to her floor.

Chapter Four

Alex nodded to the attendant as he followed Miya out of the elevator and down the hall toward her apartment. He took the key card from her hand and swiped it over the panel, opening her door. He walked through first, looking around her apartment with a critical eye.

Miya stood at the door and crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you expect someone to be here?” she asked.

“Blades in your costume, Miya.” He then gave her a look that clearly said
need I say more?
“Come inside and shut the door,” he said as he strolled into her bedroom.

“Hey,” Miya said.

“Shut the door!” he called from the bedroom. “And lock it.”

She sighed and turned the lock. If she’d known he would be in her bedroom, she would’ve cleaned it up a little first.

“It’s locked. Are you through rummaging through my bedroom yet?” she asked as she headed toward the kitchen.

She needed a little alcohol, but she would settle for hot tea. No sense getting drunk and stupid around Mr. Hot Pants. She walked over to the replicator and hit the on button. “Dragonwell tea. Hot.”

Alex strolled back into the room about the time the replicator beeped.

“Is it all clear?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said as he sat at the island separating her kitchen and living area. “Nice place. Small, neat. Never would’ve pegged you as a minimalist.”

She shrugged. “I’m not really. When I’m on Rhinari, my schedule is so crazy. I mostly just sleep here. Besides, this place isn’t really home to me, so I don’t spend a lot of money decorating it. I made tea. Would you like something?”

“Tea’s good.”

“Hot or iced?”

“Hot.”

She nodded and handed him the tea she’d just made. He took the cup while she ordered another for herself.

“A replicator?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t cook.”

“You should have your mother teach you. She’s a great cook.”

“She tried. I just don’t love it like she does.”

Alex smiled softly as he watched her over the rim of his cup. “Where are the letters?” he asked.

She pointed to the drawer in the island as she grabbed her cup of tea. “In there.”

Frowning, he opened the drawer and found a stack of paper envelopes. He set his cup aside and pulled out the one on top. “Paper?” he said as he pulled the letter out and opened it. “Who uses paper anymore?”

“Apparently, this guy. I think he does it because it’s harder to trace than an electronic one. Plus, he can leave them in odd places.”

ALEX NOTICED MIYA shiver slightly but didn’t say anything. “Where have you found them?” he asked as he skimmed through the letter.

There wasn’t really anything major, mostly typical secret admirer stuff. A little sappy and poetic, but nothing he found to be threatening.

“Most of them have been in my dressing room.”

Alex read through another letter and frowned as the tone began to change slightly, becoming darker, more possessive.

“You said most,” he murmured as he pulled out the final letter.

“The last one I found in my ship,” Miya replied quietly.

Alex glanced at her through his lashes. The letters bothered her more than she wanted to admit. He wanted to hold her, wrap his arms around her, and make her feel safe again, but he knew touching her would be a huge mistake. Hell, it was bad enough to be in her apartment. All he could seem to think about was the large bed she had in the other room and how much fun it would be to see her lying on it naked, her wrists tied to the bedposts.

Forcing his thoughts back to the letter, he began to read the neatly written scroll. The further he went, the angrier he became, both at the author and the pretty brunette standing across from him.

Setting the letter down, he frowned at Miya. “You didn’t show this letter to Sharna, did you?” he snapped.

She flinched and licked her lips. “Why do you say that?”

“Don’t play coy, Miya. It doesn’t suit you.” He tossed the letter across the counter at her. “He threatens you in this letter. Physically!”

She sighed and returned his glare with one of her own. “I know that! But good grief, Alex. When could anybody get to me without a camera being in their face? You know how the media follows me around. I can’t buy an alcoholic drink without it being plastered across the screens Lord Marcone’s charmed princess has a drinking problem, and I have no doubt you taking me home will be all over the news tomorrow. They’re probably out there right now watching your ship to see what time you leave. What makes you think he could do anything?”

“I guarantee he could do something. He gets these letters to you without being seen. And I don’t care about the media.”

Miya rolled her eyes and turned to set her teacup in the sink.

“From here on out, you don’t go anywhere without me.”

She stared at him with wide eyes filled with anger and frustration. She opened her mouth to say something, but Alex held up his hand, cutting her off.

“Miya, you will not fight me on this, so don’t even start.”

“You can’t follow me around everywhere. Don’t you have chancellor work you need to do?”

Alex snickered and raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Chancellor work?”

“I don’t know what it is you do,” she said as she slapped her hand against her thigh. “But you can’t—”

“My
chancellor work
as you call it, can wait. My first priority, at least until your family gets back, is to make sure nothing happens to you.”

She leaned one hand on the island and the other hand on her hip. She looked so adorable pissed he had a hard time not smiling at her.

“You’re not a bodyguard,” she argued.

Alex grunted. “I think I can manage, Miya.”

She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes in a way that gave Alex a bad feeling.

“Fine,” she said.

Alex had a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. She was up to something. Miya never gave up on anything that easy.

“If you go with me everywhere, then that means you go with me to the club SinFire tomorrow night.”

And there it was.

Alex shook his head. “No. I don’t do clubs.”

“You own a club.”

“That’s different.” He gave her a tight-lipped smile, hoping his next words would fluster her enough to drop the club idea. “I have sex in my club. Think I could have sex in this one?”

“Well,” she said and shrugged one shoulder. “I’ve seen people having sex in the darkened corners. I’m sure you would fit right in.”

Alex scowled. “That’s just drunk idiots who are too far gone to know any better. What the hell are you doing going to a place like that, anyway?”

“Don’t start with the whole what’s-a-girl-like-you nonsense. I know the band that is scheduled to perform, and I promised them I would be there. So we’re going.”

Alex didn’t answer her. He didn’t trust himself to, so he did what he’d done most of the last couple of hours…silently count to ten. If she were a sub, he would’ve already put her over his knee. But she wasn’t. He needed to remember that, keep his hands to himself and his Dom temper in check.

He pulled out his communicator and called his assistant. “Johnson, I need you to bring me some clothes.”

Miya’s jaw dropped.

“Clothes, sir?” his assistant asked.

“Yes, I’m going to be staying with Miya Marcone until her family returns,” Alex answered as he watched Miya’s cheeks turn red. “Bring them to apartment 4053 at the Beechor Tower.”

“Anything in particular?” Johnson asked.

“No, just casual stuff is fine. And bring the tablet I left on my desk this morning.”

“Yes, sir.”

Alex closed the communicator and waited for Miya’s blow up. He didn’t have to wait long.

“You can’t stay here! I only have the one bed, and the couch is too small.”

Alex glanced over at the red couch. It really was too small, but Miya couldn’t sleep out here, and he damn sure couldn’t sleep in the bed with her. Talk about playing with fire.

“I’ll be fine, Miya. I’m staying.”

Chapter Five

Miya wasn’t sure whether to be happy or angry. Alex was just moving in, not giving her a choice, claiming she couldn’t go anywhere without him. Talk about bossy.

“I’m not your submissive, Alex. You can’t just move in here and boss me around like some troglodyte.”

Alex stood and leaned his palms on the counter. Bending forward slightly, he brought his angry glare in line with hers. “What’s the real problem here? I know you’re smart enough to realize just how much danger you’re in, so stop fighting me on this before I show you just how much of a Dom I can be.”

Please do
were the only two words Miya could think to say. So instead, she said nothing. There was no point fighting. He was as stubborn and headstrong as her father, and fighting
him
never got her anywhere. But fighting Alex had a much different effect on her body than fighting her father ever did. If only they could go beyond fighting. Doing this with Alex made her think of hot, sweaty sex. Hell, doing anything with Alex made her think of that.

“What’s going on, Miya?” Alex growled. “The truth.”

Miya sighed and stepped back to lean her hip against the counter behind her. Crossing her arms over her chest, she pursed her lips and tried to think of what to say. “I know I’m in danger. I do, but do you have any idea what it’s like living as a female Marcone?”

Alex didn’t say anything, just watched her with those heavenly eyes of his.

“I thought life was bad when I lived at home. I had no idea the prison I would live in once I started singing for the opera. My father doesn’t have to hire security for me, because there’re so many cameras hanging around.”

“Miya—”

“Oh, shut up,” she snapped. “If my father or even my brothers find out just how serious this is, they’ll lock me up.”