Free What He Bargains (What He Wants, Book Nineteen) by Hannah Ford

mean?”
    “It means that this thing between you and I only happens if we do it my way.”
    “And what exactly is your way?” she asked.
    “There’s an easy way to find out. We go through the agency and take it from there.”
    Whatever Jake Novak seemed to be believe she was—Raven thought it was quite clear that he’d gotten the wrong impression about her.
    “I don’t think I’m the kind of girl you’re looking for.”
    He looked at her with his brown eyes, and he reached out again and touched her arm with time, just above the elbow. “I think you’re exactly the kind of girl I’m looking for.”
    Her nipples stiffened automatically when he made contact with her. “But I don’t understand,” she said. She felt faint, out of control, frightened—but worst of all, she felt her desire for Jake Novak was something that could undo everything good that she’d done for herself these last four years.
    “Maybe someday soon you’ll start to understand more. And then I’ll come find you.” He turned around and walked back up the wide staircase, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. In that brief moment, she both hated him as much as she’d ever hated anyone, and she wanted to scream for him to come back down and kiss her.
    But she did nothing of the sort.
    Instead, she turned the door handle, opened the massive oak door, and walked out into the cool night air.
    Leaving the mansion and getting in a cab to take her home, Raven could almost convince herself that none of it had even happened.

----
    T he next morning , Raven’s brain felt like it had been put through a meat grinder. Her head was pounding and her mouth tasted like cardboard. She sat up in her futon bed and groggily opened one eye, glancing at the time on her cell phone.
    It was just after ten in the morning. That meant she’d have only a few minutes to shower and get dressed before heading to the restaurant for her lunch shift.
    Why did I go out partying on a night when I had to work a lunch shift the very next day?
    She glanced at the phone again, this time with both eyes open. That’s when she noticed that it said she had a missed call and voicemail.
    Yawning, she got up and shuffled to the bathroom, phone in hand, starting to play the voicemail as she walked.
    She expected to hear Skylar’s voice on the other end, or perhaps her stepmother asking her when she was coming home for a visit.
    But no—the voice was decidedly male, and the tone was decidedly unfriendly.
    “Hi, Raven, this is Max Mendez from Club Alpha. You need to call me as soon as you get this message.”
    Raven got a cold chill up her spine as she re-listened to his brief message. At first she had no idea what he meant by Club Alpha, until she faintly recalled the title at the top of the contract page she’d signed last night.
    Club Alpha was the name of that agency that Jake Novak had been talking about. Thinking back to the last conversation she’d had with Jake made her tremble inside. He’d said a lot of very confusing things, things that she wasn’t sure she wanted to think about.
    But then she remembered the way he’d looked at her, the touch of his fingers grazing her skin as he’d brushed a lock of hair from her face.
    The way her nipples had stiffened and the need had tightened her belly, a feeling she hadn’t ever imagined she could feel.
    His words still echoed in her mind.
    The only way this is going to happen is if I pay you for your services.
    Raven tried to get the sound of his voice out of her head, knowing that in the cold light of day, one thing about Jake Novak was abundantly clear. He was no good. And there was absolutely no use thinking about what he’d said and done last night, because she would never see him again.
    If she was going to forget about Jake Novak, she certainly was going to ignore that voicemail. Whoever was calling her, she wanted nothing to do with it.
    Ignore them long enough and they’ll go away. You learned that the hard