Page 4 of Forbidden Vow

"No, it's not."

He felt his pulse jump. Would she offer the apology he never got? Would she admit that she needed, no, wanted him? That what she'd done had been the biggest mistake of her life? "You stay away from me."

No can do. After she abruptly left his father's employ, he'd had his people search for her. Nothing had come of it.

"What the hell?" he growled, hauling her up against his chest. Memories of holding her, her hair loose and flowing over his chest, bombarded him. "You owe me," he began.

"Hey, Darius," a singsong voice came from the closet. "Unless you want to go again, you should let me out of here."

Raven stiffened in his arms. Ignoring the blonde's request, Darius looked down into Raven's upturned face. Tension lines creased her eyes at the corners of her mouth. She'd heard blondie. He thought he saw a flash of pain in her eyes, but then her face went devoid of emotion.

"Darius, honey.” The frantic sounds of nervous fingers grappling with a doorknob formed a wall, brick by brick, separating them. “Let me out," the voice climbed, as did the panic in her tone.

Raven practically threw him off her. His back collided with the wood panel.

"Damn it, Raven," he complained.

With pearly whites bared, Raven leveled him with a lethal stare, anger and hurt glistening in her eyes. Why did he have to mess this up again? He wanted answers. Now that his father was gone, Raven was the only person left to explain what had gone wrong.

"Let her out, honey," she sneered.

Hell, he forgot how beautiful she looked when she got upset. Those full lips pursed, ready to lob another barb in his direction. Darius took a step, the urge to kiss her overwhelming his survival instinct. The door at his back flung open. Blondie stumbled into the hallway. She stopped between him and Raven, inserting herself to form the perfect arc. A very oblivious, obviously tumbled woman darted glances between the two adults facing off.

"Ah...hi, I'm Kimber," she said, extending slender fingers with a pale peach manicure to Raven.

That’s it…Kimber. Raven looked from him to Kimber, and then back.

“You must be joking,” Raven said, voice dripping with sarcasm, avoiding the proffered hand.

Okay, she had a point. The handshake might be in the nasty category.

“It’s not as bad as it looks.” He hadn’t nutted inside Kimber. Hell, he hadn’t even put his mouth on her.

“It’s worse because I saw it with my own eyes.”

Just like he’d seen her leaving his father’s suite of rooms. “Well, that’s rich, coming from you.”

With a roll of her eyes, she said, "I'm leaving."

With that, she walked away. Shit, how many times could he watch her walk out of his life before he lost what was left of his soul?

Without a second thought to Kimber, he took off after Raven. At five foot three, his long strides had him in Raven's face in seconds flat.

Gripping her shoulders, he asked, "Why the hell are you so pissed at me?"

"Go back to your Easy Spread’em Barbie doll, Darius." She snatched away. “I’m gone…forever.”

The knife permanently wedged in his heart twisted a little deeper. He'd thought that impossible until now. "Think not," he growled. "Need I remind you that you’re the one who fucked my father?"

The proverbial pin drop moment happened. Not a sound came from Raven. But the way her brows dropped low and her lips thinned, Darius realized he’d waved the red flag. Ready, set, Raven Radell charged.

She got up in his face, her nostrils flaring and the veins in her neck bounding. This close, he could smell the lemon tea she must have drank with breakfast. How many times had she been his first meal of the day?

“You don’t know me,” she railed. “Just because I have to work for my money doesn’t make me a rich man’s whore. Fuck what you think you know. And fuck you, Darius.”

“You did,” he shot back. “Now you’re going to explain to me what the hell happened and where the fuck you’ve been the last four years?”