The Billionaire's Secret Kink Box Set: Knox: Secret Alpha Billionaire Romance Bundle (Rosesson Brothers Book 1) (16 page)

Knox grimaced. It didn't have to be that way. Some couples made it work, all of it. He—

Movement caught his eye and his head snapped towards the kitchen. Mica stood there, her hair curling around her shoulders. She'd changed into sleep clothes. Skin-tight yoga pants and a tiny tank top. Knox's breath caught in his throat. She looked like a beautiful siren sent to lure him. To happiness? Or to destruction? He almost felt like he didn't care as long as he got to touch her again.

"I can't sleep," she said. "I keep hearing noises and I'm afraid he's back with another ladder."

Knox stood up quickly. "I'll check."

He walked past her into her bedroom. It was large and open, a simple bed in the center, with artwork on the walls as bold as in the living room. The light was still off and moonlight shone in the window. Knox crossed to the window and looked out. Nothing. He opened it, then pushed against the screen to see the ground directly below and the rest of the building. Everything was quiet. Good. He had sent Daxton and the other men home for the night, except for one in the hall outside the door. His instincts told him Bailey wouldn't try to get in through a window again, although he was afraid Bailey had something bigger planned for his next stunt. He stared out over the quiet slice of grass behind Mica's place, his eyes traveling along the buildings behind it, and wondered if Bailey had ever wanted money, or if his sole purpose from first contact had been to terrorize Mica. To make her pay for what she had done. Fierce anger for what the man had done to Mica spiked in Knox's head and he had to put a steadying hand on the cool window. He wondered what Bailey's ultimate plan for Mica was now. How bad were things going to get?

Knox swallowed his anger and walked back to where Mica waited in the kitchen. She looked at him with large eyes that made him want to wrap his arms around her and shelter her from every storm in the world.

"Nothing there," he told her, stopping a foot from her.

"Thanks," she breathed, not moving.

Knox felt a rush of emotion as her complete vulnerability became clear to him. He'd been hurt, but she'd been hurt worse. She didn't deserve anything that had happened to her, and she'd gotten through it as best she could. She had been trying to survive, and she'd had no way of knowing that not all men were like Bailey, that some men would sooner die than hurt her.

He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to the couch. "Come sit with me."

She went with him easily, sinking into the crook of his arm as he sat down, then pulled her down next to him. The movement stirred the scent of vanilla and lilacs that surrounded her and his cock twitched at her nearness, her softness, her goodness. He ignored it. Now wasn't the time.

She took a deep breath then let it out and relaxed into him, tucking her legs underneath her in that timeless way that women had of sitting that he thought was sexy as hell.

Knox relaxed, and stared out the window again, but this time with a warm, soft woman pulled tight against his chest.

He'd found Heaven, but he had a monster to thank for it. A monster who was still loose and hungry.

***

Mica slept against him, even as the morning light filled the sky and entered the big window. Knox watched her chest rise and fall, and the way her pouty lips quirked as she dreamed. He dozed lightly, but never let himself fall all the way into sleep.

The sounds of the day crept in the apartment and slowly Mica began to stir. She opened her eyes, looking startled for a moment at where she was. Knox smiled at her, loving the puffy, sleep look in her eyes.

"Hi," she told him, smiling back.

A large crash sounded in the back of the apartment, then a huge thud.

"Sonuvabitch," Knox growled, pulling his arm out from behind Mica and standing. "Stay here," he ordered, not expecting Mica to do anything other than what he told her too. He took one step when another crash tore through the room, making Mica scream and cover her head with her arms.

Glass showered Knox and something whizzed by his head, ruffling his short hair as it went. It hit the dining room table and bounced off. "Goddamn!" Knox shouted, dropping to his hands and knees and eyeing the arrow that had almost pierced his head.

He jumped for Mica and pulled her bodily behind the couch, then threw himself on top of her. All was silent for a few moments. Knox peeked out cautiously from behind the couch. The window was shattered, but nothing more was flying in at them. Shouts and a scream floated up from the street below. A pounding sounded at the door and Knox heard his man out there yell for him.

"We're going to run for the kitchen," he whispered to her. There were no windows in the kitchen. He didn't know if more attacks were coming but they couldn't stay in here forever.

"Just stay behind the couch."

"Ok," she whispered back, her arms still over her head.

He didn't know if the couch would stop an arrow, but it was their only chance. He pushed at it, heaving with his thighs, until the far end swung around enough to shield them from the window. He grabbed Mica and pulled her all the way to the end of the couch closest to the kitchen. "Run for it," he hissed at her, eyeing the three-foot gap that still existed.

She did exactly as he said, up and moving in a wink, then crouched down again in the kitchen, her eyes huge and scared. Knox followed, breathing a sigh of relief once they were both in the kitchen. He shouted to the guard in the hallway, telling him to call the cops, Bailey had shot an arrow through the window. He didn't let himself wonder if it had been meant to scare him, or to kill him. He was still alive, and that was what mattered. Bailey would pay, somehow.

He had to see what had happened in the bedroom, but he didn't want to leave Mica alone. "Come on," he whispered. "I want to look in the bedroom."

She nodded and followed as he crept down the hallway, happy it had no windows. Once at her bedroom door, he looked in, and saw half of a brick lying harmlessly on the floor next to the bed. A jagged hole in the window told him where it had come from.

Things had gotten serious. He needed to take drastic action before they turned deadly.

***

Five hours later, after the last cop had left and Daxton had shown up to take care of the finer details for him, Knox bundled Mica into his truck, well aware that they were completely vulnerable out on the street. His eyes scanned the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, his own guess being that the rooftop across the street was where Bailey had fired the arrow from. The police had found no trace of him, except his homemade trebuchet behind the building that had launched the brick through the window. Knox had stared at it, worry eating at him. A man who knew how to build something like that was a man who was an expert at weapons. He wondered what other tricky things the Brotherhood of Saints had been involved in.

"Where are we going?" Mica asked, her sweet voice pulling him back to the present.

"My place. It's a fortress compared to your apartment. You'll be safe there."

Mica sat silent for a few moments. "Oh," was all she said, and he wondered what she was thinking. He didn't think they had any other options. He wouldn't feel safe with her in a hotel.

The drive to his home took only ten minutes and Knox marveled again at how close she'd lived to him, practically right under his nose.

When he finally pulled into his driveway, she still hadn't said a word. He could feel her uncertainty and he understood it, even if he didn't like it.

He stopped next to the guard house at the end of his long driveway. The guard that day was Adam, an eager and competent young man. "Hi Adam," Knox said.

"Hi Mr. Rosesson. It's good to see you, sir."

"Thank you Adam, let me introduce you to Mica Nichols. Put her on the safe list please."

"Certainly."

Adam exited the guard house and walked around to the passenger's side of the truck. Mica flashed Knox a questioning look but he just smiled at her. Adam held up a camera. "May I take your picture, miss?"

Mica nodded, her face still puzzled. Adam took her picture and walked back to the guard house.

"I'll get you her driver's license later," Knox said, then waited for Adam to open the large black gate. Before they drove in, he leaned out of the truck window. "Adam, has Daxton briefed you on Dick Bailey?"

"Yes sir, I've got his picture here," Adam said, holding it up. Knox caught a glimpse of the bushy gray beard and nodded.

"If you see him, initiate alert level five," he said before driving through his gate and watching it close behind him.

Mica craned her neck to follow the large white columns at the front of the house to the roofline. "It's beautiful," she whispered, but then turned to him. "Adam had a Point Blank Security uniform on. He's not one of your guys?"

Knox twisted the key in the ignition and turned the truck off. "Nope. Gate guard is a twenty-five dollar an hour job, tops. None of my men do that kind of work. They are all too specialized."

Mica nodded slowly and Knox was struck by her beauty. The realization that he would do
anything
to keep her safe ripped through him.

Even kill if it came to that.

Mica

Mica followed Knox into the house, her eyes looking everywhere at once at the somehow sparse opulence. The shock of the arrow through her window had worn off, and even though she was apprehensive about being here, alone, with Knox, in his home, she was glad too. She felt completely safe for the first time that day. For the first time since Bailey had reappeared in her life. And she was thrilled at this chance to peek into his life. Discover who he was now.

Knox led her into the living room, one hand on the small of her back. When they arrived and he put the overnight bag she had packed down on the long, sectional, leather couch, his phone buzzed and dinged in his pocket. He looked at it. "I have to deal with this. Don't worry, it's not about Bailey, but I have to head upstairs to my office. Kitchen is through there. Look around. Make yourself at home. I'll try not to be long."

Mica nodded, feeling the heat from his stare before he turned and disappeared up a white, spiral staircase on the far end of the room.

Mica twirled and took in everything. Huge pieces of furniture, expensive art, a view into the back yard that was lined with ivy and flowers. She thought she saw a pool out there but she didn't investigate further. Now that she was here, all she could think about was the Green Room. Why was it called that? Did it really exist? If it did, it was somewhere close by. Maybe she could even get a look at it.

Mica looked up the staircase, knowing the room she was interested in was probably somewhere near where Knox had disappeared to, but he'd said to look around, so she was going to. She spied a hallway at the far end of the huge living room and walked that way, butterflies in her stomach. The room, and the rumors that swirled around Knox and his use of it, were the only thing that really bothered her about him, the only sticking point that still held her back from thinking maybe it would be ok to let something grow between them. He seemed to be thinking about it, but she didn't know if she could. Her body accepted him completely, but her mind was more conservative, more apt to wonder if getting close to Knox Rosesson could ever be a smart thing.

Mica wandered down the hall. The first room appeared to be a normal, spare bedroom. The second room was a bathroom. The third door opened to the left of the hallway and Mica approached it slowly, her insides quivering. The door was shut. She turned the knob and it opened fluidly, then the door swung open.

Mica knew at once that this was it. The Green Room. It really existed, even though the walls weren't green. It looked like a normal room except for the massive bed in the very center. There was no way anyone could mistake that for a normal bed. It was easily three times the size of a California King and she could see the grooves in the headboard and footboard from where she stood. Unbidden, the face of the last woman Mica had seen on Knox's arm in a tabloid picture swam into her mind. Mica couldn't remember her name, but it was Bambi or Bridgit or Bitch or something. Mica clenched her jaw at the sudden rush of jealousy that flooded through her at the thought of Knox bringing that woman here, tying her to this bed and ... and having his way with her. The thought of his solid, strong, masculine body straining over her perfect, blemish-free, size-zero form set Mica's teeth on edge.

Mica looked around the room curiously, trying to shake the images from her mind. A fleeting glimpse of Knox's bare, sexy-as-sin ass pumping roughly enough to break the dainty woman she remembered flashed across her retinas and then was gone. Her eyes settled on a camera in the corner and her mind jumped to the videos that must exist from the activities in this room. Again, she saw Knox, on his knees between two bound legs, taking what seemingly every woman he came across wanted to give him, as his thick, sexual grunts and fuck-noises filled the room.

Mica hated that this room actually existed, and yet she was curious too. What was the point of the room? Just kink? Or was there something deeper? Something about Knox that necessitated it? What would it be like, to be the one bound and helpless underneath him? From what she'd heard, he was an amazing lover, and women threw themselves at him to be the object of his attention for the night. Her own infrequent attempts at physical relationships had been short-lived and rather boring or awful. Well, since Knox anyway. He'd been her first, unwittingly taking her virginity, and then spending hours making her feel things she'd never imagined existed. He'd turned her into a woman, and no one since had been able to quite stack up.