He Knows When You’re Awake: A Naughty or Nice Novel

by Alta Hensley

“Mr. Asher is waiting,” the maître d’ says, pausing before massive wooden doors that look old enough to have witnessed the signing of peace treaties. Or murder conspiracies. My imagination really needs to pick a lane here.

“Wait.” I set my glass down. “I don’t even know you, and you want me to live with you?” His eyebrows lift slightly. “Worried I snore?” “Worried you’re a serial killer with excellent taste in jewelry.”

But there’s something else under that carefully curated surface, isn’t there? Something that doesn’t care about market trends or buyer demographics. Something that wants to create beauty so sharp it draws blood.”

A sleigh waits outside. An actual horse-drawn sleigh, because if you’re going to do something, you do it right.

“Does the mysterious and stoic thing come naturally, or did you have to practice?” This time I definitely catch a hint of amusement. “Both. There was a whole course at security school. Proper Brooding 101.” I wasn’t expecting him to play along, and it makes me wonder what else I don’t know about Knox. About any of this. “Let me guess. You aced it?”

It’s oddly comforting to discover that Cole’s head of security has a sense of humor, even if his massive frame and battle-hardened eyes suggest he probably knows sixteen ways to kill someone with a paper clip.

“Is it really work when you lose yourself in it?”

“I was thinking about surrender,” I say softly. “How choosing to give up control is its own kind of power.”

I’ve always known exactly how to control every variable, how to bend people and situations to my will. But Sloane Whitmore refuses to be controlled. And god help me, that might be exactly why I want her.

He’s been watching me, studying me . . . and I hate that I love it. That I crave his attention like it’s oxygen. That some part of me wants to belong to him, even when I know I shouldn’t.

“You do realize it’s slightly unsettling that you know my exact measurements?” “I know everything.” He pauses. “That sounded less ominous in my head.”