Catalyst (Heart of the Inferno, #1)

by Nicole Fanning

Now I remember the nickname I gave her last night and it makes me smirk and shake my head. Britta with the Tittas.

But he’s not listening. All of a sudden, I feel myself moving before I know what I am doing. I throw my water bottle at him, and by some miracle it whacks him square on the back of the head. Holy shit!

What the fuck just happened? But I already know the answer to that question: Natalie saved Jessica. Jessica likes Natalie. Natalie does not like me. And not only does she not like me, she just scolded me like a child.

He seems to be quite a guy. Too bad he’s also quite an asshole.

But as soon as I open the lobby doors, I can smell them. Flowers. Hundreds of flowers. White roses to be exact. And they are everywhere. My heart immediately starts pounding. Glancing around the room I notice there’s six vases of white roses on the counter behind the front desk, and several more on the mantle of both giant gas fireplaces. But it doesn’t stop there. More vases of white roses sit on every end table and console in the entire lobby. To my right, gorgeous bouquets of white roses decorate every credenza table down the hall, all the way to the ballrooms. To my left, they are on every table in the restaurant, and there’s even some in the bar.

Tonight, there is no suit coat and tie, for the billionaire hotel owner, but rather a simple white dress shirt with the neck casual and open. A thin pair of reading glasses shield eyes that are buried in a book. He looks… inviting.

But I refuse to feel bad about the fate of that man. He chose his fate when he chose to target my child. He put his hands on Jessica… so he lost those hands.

“Yes, you! You just got into a car with a man you barely know, without even a hint of restraint!” I say, playfully scolding her. “What did your mother tell you about getting into cars with strange men?” “Make sure you have your taser with you,” she says sarcastically. I glance over at her, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. “Do you have your taser with you?” “No.” This time we both laugh.

Jaxon probably wines, dines and saliva-swaps with dozens of socialites a month.

“As far as I’m concerned, every man in this family owes Miss Tyler a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid!” My heart swells, listening to the sincerity in Ethan’s voice.

“I think that went well,” he says with a smirk. He looks invigorated, as if he did not just make a twenty-five-year-old, two-hundred-pound hitman shit his pants.

“Don’t judge a painting while the artist is still holding the brush… or you might miss out on something beautiful altogether.”

I’m going to kill him. Natalie had handprints on her fucking neck. My blood is boiling as I step off the elevators toward the offices.

I cross in front of another alley, but I notice it’s the same alley I passed on the other side of this block. It looks substantially darker than the street I’m on, but it looks like it will save me a good ten minutes of walking, and the narrow walls might provide a bit of shelter from the wind gusts.

You silly fucker

“Say another word inside his goddamn building, you stupid cunt, and I’ll break all of your teeth,” he whispers lethally.

“And I told your father that if I see Colton before we leave, I’m going to punch him!” she says, anger flashing in her eyes. “Or maybe I’ll just hit him with the car!”

“Yeah, but right now you’re hitting my vital organs,

I wish you would hurry up and hit Nat's vital organs