Taken by the Heartless (HEARTLESS, Book 1) (NOW EDITING)

THE MEETING

   Cassandra agreed to do what Apollo said but loving a man like Eros was going to be a difficult thing to do. She couldn't bring herself to love him or even pretend to love him, but whatever she has to do for their escape. What she didn't bargain for was his charms and the way he was easily claiming her, even though she refused to reconcile with the feeling that was slowly crawling into her soul.

   When he grabbed her hand in his living room, she felt a grab on her heart, not what she had bargained for. He said he was not going to take what she was not prepared to give. What was she prepared to give? Not her body certainly nor her heart. But why does her heart spark whenever he touched her? She was surprised at his attitude towards her since morning. He was no longer that grumpy, arrogant, heartless man she knew, but seeing him opening doors for her and being all gentle seemed strangely creepy to her. Whatever he does will not make her forgive him. He killed her father. She kept reminding herself about that like it was the only valid reason she needed not to let her heart slip to him.

Eros was a fearsome man and he commanded more fear than respect wherever he went, she could see that from the way the staff of the hotel ran around and bowed their heads as they walked past them. She was playing by his rules now and that was why she let him put his hand on the small of her back. She was so aware of his hand on her back and the warmth it sent through her whole body. No doubt she was attracted to him, but she wasn't prepared to give in to that attraction, not when she has an equally attractive man as a fiancé, who has even proved his worth by risking his life to come and save her. If this man holding her waist wanted anything from her, it was her body and she was not so foolish not to know that. It was all over him, from the way his eyes stared at her to the twitch of his lips.

    It was going to be easier for her to get into him and do what Apollo has asked her to do because he looked so desperate to bed her. She was going to play along until she held him down. It was going to be easier with him telling her to act like his woman to reduce her father's debt. She would do everything he wanted and before he would know what was going on, she would escape with Apollo.

   They got out of the elevator without speaking to each other—of course, they have nothing to say to each other. He was a heartless man who knew nothing about holding meaningful conversations, the only conversations he held were commands on how to run illegal shi*ts and how to ask women to spread their legs. But when the elevator opened on the roof and they stepped out, he leaned closer, disrupting her thoughts with his alluring cologne, and whispered those things about the clients finding out if she kept tensing up from his touch. She will eventually loosen up because she was desperate for her freedom.

     Her heart almost dropped to the floor when he mentioned her fiancé, not until she realized that he didn't know him in person. It was a good thing Apollo came in disguise. He was smart enough to think of it. She had thought that everything they did should be in a form of a contract where they were going to set rules and boundaries and she had opened her mouth to speak it out.

    "I will like us to have this in a contact..."

Her words trailed off when he wrapped his arm around her waist, drew her closer to him, and took her lips with his. The world spun in her head as their lips met. Holding her just close enough, she could feel how strong and tall he was. Sweeping his tongue into her mouth, deepening the caress and coaxing her to kiss him back. She didn't know when she slowly wreathed her arms around his neck, leaning closer to him and letting her dirty little mind wander further and seeking more, letting his scent intoxicate her. It was that near debilitating feeling that brought her back to her senses. She broke away from him, panting heavily and giving him a quizzical look.

    
His face drew up in a cocky grin. "Our clients are seated over there and we needed to make it look real."

   They were going to talk about this kiss later!

   She glanced over to where he was gesturing and saw two men in black suits discussing and looking at them, she let her face widen in a smile, hoping it wasn't too fake. She was too flustered to think. Eros grabbed her hand before she could recover and led her towards his guest. It was a miracle that she could still walk after her legs felt like jelly. She was suddenly hot despite the gentle breeze that waved in from the night. It was ridiculous. If he kept touching her like that without warning or permission, she wasn't sure how fatal the spike it brought to her heart would become.

      Trying not to dwell on the memories of the kiss that kept nagging in her mind-eyes, she took in the surroundings. It was an exquisite place, a luxurious rooftop restaurant with a few couches and tables on the deck, designed only for men of Eros' status. Men polished on the outside and maybe savage inside. Strings of patio lights hung with connecting wires around the deck and they were the only source of light. The lights were fascinating and Cassandra let them take her mind far away from what was haunting her memory.

Eros led her to the seat where the men sat, it was by the rail and overlooking the city. The city stretched out miles beneath them and Cassandra kind of felt calm in the relaxed ambience of it. Eros pulled out a chair for her and she sat down, the staged smile still on her face. He had a smug smile on his face when he sat down beside her. The smugness was more of pride that he owned the most stunning and noticed woman in the room. Cassandra had noticed people staring and some turning their heads to look at them from her peripheral vision when they entered. Eros was popular, at least among the caliber of people on this roof and maybe, just maybe they have not seen him treat any woman with such specialness as he treated her tonight, talk much of kissing a woman in public.

   Thinking about that made her heart sink and she unconsciously glanced toward him, she caught his eyes on her, and that smile still plastered on his face. She quickly turned her face to look at the men who were smiling back at her.

    "We are happy to be of your acquaintance again Mr. Castillo," one of the men, the big bald one said.

    "Oh, I am happy about this meeting once again. Please, meet my girlfriend, Cassandra..."

He probably didn't know her last name. She flashed the men her infectious smile as she quickly stretched out her hand, introducing herself. "Cassandra Lopez. Nice to meet you."

"Cassie is my girlfriend," Eros said once she was done talking, giving no one any other room to say anything else.

Did he just use her pet name? Alright, it was all for the act.

     The men's faces creased in frowns. Then the thinner one spoke. "You came with your fiancé the last time."

"Oh," Eros waved him off. "Even you knew it was all staged. I paid that woman to come over because my Tesoro here won't give me a chance." He rubbed her shoulder, then leaned closer to the men. "Can you all believe I have been chasing her for almost a year now and she accepted to be my official girlfriend just a few nights ago?"

     Cassandra fought hard for her jaw not to drop at that moment. Eros had lies running in his DNA. Of course, that was what he was, a liar, a scoundrel, and a cheat, she shouldn't be surprised at all. She still kept her smile broad, not knowing what to say as she didn't prepare for this. She will just let the villain take the lead.

     "I'm sure there would be a touchy, yet romantic story to it," said the larger man as he raised his glass. "Cheers to you, Mr. Castillo."

    Eros took the glass in his front and raised it to the man too. He turned to Cassandra. "What will you drink, Tesoro?"

At this point, Cassandra wanted something to burn the lump in her throat, or was it the knot in her stomach? Whichever one, but she wanted something hot.

"Something hot," she said hoping her voice didn't come out as rough as she felt.

  Eros beckoned to a waitress who was there in seconds and placed orders for more wine. As the waitress left, Eros and the men lunged into their business talk and Cassandra tried to keep up as much as she could, pretending to understand them and flashing them smiles when reference is made toward her. She was more than grateful when the wine arrived. Being really bored with the business conversations, she kept herself busy with the wine, not minding her low tolerance.

Halfway into the meeting, she was already tipsy, by the time the night was finally over, she was dead drunk.