Saintwood Chronicles

Fiesty and beautiful

Dante

Two things make a woman dangerous—her beauty and temper. When you combine the two, you have a worthy opponent. Ava proved that when I used an underhanded tactic on her. How she slipped through the cracks with us is beyond me.

I had Ezra dig into Ava's background before confronting her. It took a minute before he cracked the security of her files and discovered she had three siblings, but not by blood. Was opening closed files ethical? Nope. Was it legal? Not one bit.

Ezra had to work quickly before anyone discovered the breach and left without a trace. We uncovered the truth about Ava and her siblings.

Avalon, Remington, Jolene, and Basil Marks landed in foster care under different circumstances. They aged out of foster care at eighteen and changed their last names to Marks, so they left their past behind. It wasn't until we discovered their little family inserted themselves in our business that our attention was alerted. Each one had a set of skills that proved them worthy opponents. Ava was the group leader when she infiltrated the Feds without people suspecting what she and her siblings were doing. She and her family would become an asset to ours.

Now, I needed to convince them to play nice with us.

I pulled up to my apartment building, and we got out. Using my thumbprint, I unlocked the door to the building and led Ava to my apartment. After scanning my eyes, my apartment door unlocked. Ava entered first before me. I hung up my keys and removed my shoes before glancing at her. She looked at me before rolling her eyes and removing her shoes.

"I don't allow people to wear shoes in my house." I shoved my feet into a pair of house slippers before handing her a pair. "You can use these."

Ava put on the slippers. "I've never known someone to be anal about wearing shoes in the house."

"I prefer a clean house. Shoes carry bacteria. I also don't like people walking around barefoot. Socks are preferable."

"Do you wear socks to bed?"

"No. Only when I'm up and moving around."

"The ladies must have a field day with your aversion to feet when you bring them home."

"I don't bring women home to my apartment."

Ava stared at me before I walked toward the kitchen to cook dinner. "Wait. You've never brought a woman home to your apartment like ever?" She walked into the kitchen and stopped.

"It's better if I don't. Fewer problems when I satisfied a need."

"So, where do you go to satisfy a 'need?'"

"I either use my office or their place. I don't stay, or they don't when I'm finished. It serves a purpose." I shrugged while chopping vegetables.

"That's so odd."

"What's odd about it?"

"Everything."

"I prefer to separate business from pleasure. It makes things less complicated."

"Or you prefer not to let anyone get close to you." Ava folded her arms and arched her brow.

"I haven't met anyone worthy of getting close to."

"Says the man who let a woman suck his dick in public."

"It served a purpose."

"Yeah, a stupid one."

I looked at Ava as my dick twitched in my pants. Most women would be on their knees with their lips wrapped around my dick if I let them. Ava seemed immune to my presence. That made her more enticing to me.