Blood Rites: (Royal Blood #3) by Amity Cross

didn’t think I
actually had a job at all. My reputation never seemed to include my
business dealings, just the dealings of my cock. I understood the
man’s trepidation of allowing his daughter to associate with the
likes of me.
    “Are you good at it?” he asked.
    “ Gregory ,” Mrs. Lansford exclaimed.
    I offered a smile before
saying, “I am very good at my job, Sir. My role is senior and I am
under consideration for a partnership, if a more controlling
interest in the company is where I wish to climb.”
    “That’s a bit arrogant for a man of your
age.”
    Lorelei’s mouth dropped open
slightly. “ Father ,” she hissed.
    “Age has nothing to do with being good at
one’s job, Sir,” I replied without hesitation. “A talent can be
used to great effect at any age.”
    He glared, his disapproval more than
obvious.
    Lorelei stepped in-between us. “If you will
excuse us, I am assisting Mr. Vaughn in the purchase of a painting.
I’m sure he doesn’t want to be kept.”
    “Of course, darling,” her mother purred as
her father glared at me.
    “ A pleasure,” I said, inclining
my head. For good measure, and a little to piss him off, I extended
my hand to Mr. Lansford. He grasped it a little too tightly than
was acceptable and shook.
    As they moved off to inspect the rest of the
collection, Lorelei turned back to me, her cheeks flushed. “I
apologize,” she said. “My father can be a little…”
    “Protective.” Her eyes widened and I smiled.
“I understand. I don’t have the best of reputations. I was a little
wild when I was younger and it has followed me around to this day.”
It wasn’t a lie, I just omitted the part where ‘a little younger’
was only a week ago.
    She cast her gaze to the floor.
    “You haven’t answered my question,” I
murmured.
    She sighed, glancing at the painting. She
was embarrassed or in the least, self-conscious. There was no need
to be.
    “Will you at least consider having dinner
with me?” I asked.
    Lorelei hesitated, her gaze flickering
across the room.
    “How many paintings would you like me to
buy?” I prodded. “All of them?”
    “Are you trying to get my attention?” she
asked with a scowl.
    “ Yes.” I grinned and her
expression softened as she began to laugh, the sound of it music to
my ears.
    “It’s a bit much,” she said. “I’ve never
been sent flowers or had a collection bought out by a playboy
millionaire before.”
    “Billionaire,” I corrected and she laughed
harder. “And if a man has never sent you flowers then I apologize
for men everywhere. You deserve them every single day.”
    “Smooth,” she said, her cheeks flushing yet
again.
    “Tomorrow evening?” I asked, knowing that
I’d worn her down.
    She sighed, glancing across the room.
“Fine.” Then she smiled a secret smile. “But you have to buy this
painting first.”
    A wicked grin pulled at my lips. “Done.”

Ten
    Lorelei

    I stared at the limousine on the street
outside my apartment and shook my head.
    If Vaughn was trying to impress
me with his wealth, then he was going about it the wrong way. I had
plenty of my own money.
    I’d spent the day at the
gallery getting things back into order after last night's opening.
It’d been a great success with more than half of the collection
already spoken for. I had no doubt that the rest would be sold by
the end of the week. There had already been a report in the Telegraph about it. Our
client was happy, our buyers were happy, the media was lapping it
up… This was the beginning of great things for Space
Gallery.
    Despite all the things I
should’ve been celebrating, the only thing I could think about all
day was my impending date with Sebastian Vaughn. My hands shook, I
was nervous as all hell, I’d spaced out and flushed a million
bloody times thinking about our first kiss. First… Oh fuck. If he
kissed me again, I was a goner.
    The bell on my door rang and I sucked in a
deep breath, my heart flip-flopping around in