HOUSE OF PAYNE: LOKI is LIVE on Amazon! Welcome to the world, Alice and Loki! *blows all the kisses* For those of you who read on other platforms, LOKI will be releasing 2/27/20, as scheduled. đ
Tag: House of Payne Loki
Early Release for LOKI!
Announcement! I’m releasing HOUSE OF PAYNE: LOKI early! *throws confetti*
The reason for the schedule change? One of my beta readers found a couple of issues, but by the time I got those issues fixed, Amazon had locked the proverbial gates and editing wasn’t possible. So, since I’m determined to put my very best effort out into the world, I’m pulling LOKI’s pre-order and hitting the “PUBLISH NOW!” button! Wheeee!
But since the book still won’t release for a few hours, why not get a sneak preview right now? Here’s the first chapter of HOUSE OF PAYNE: LOKI!

Chapter One
Slow boil. Usually Alice prided herself in being the epitome of caution, refusing to give in to that legendary Halliday rage that burned so easily inside.
But now?
If she made it through the day without strangling someone, itâd be a miracle.
âWelcome to House Of Payne.â A tall woman approached, decked out in a â50s-style dress with petticoats for days, and hair as bright fuchsia as her dress. âAre you here for a tattoo? If so, I can get you checked in over there at the front desk.â
Alice didnât bother glancing in the direction the shockingly pink woman indicated. âIâm not here for a tattoo. Iâm here because I want to kill someone with my bare hands. Or at the very least, talk to him. Is a guy by the name of Loki in?â
She had to hand it to the pink lady. Her spectacularly made-up eyes barely widened. âAre you armed?â
For crying out loud. âOf course not.â
The pink woman seemed unimpressed with her indignation. âYou did say you wanted to kill someone.â
âWith my freaking hands, not with a gun. Guns are barbaric.â Then she took a deep breath and gripped her hands together, grappling with the horrible fury thrumming inside. Wanting to kill someone with her bare hands wasnât cool. Saying she wanted to kill someone with her bare hands was even worse.
Considering that she was the child of a man whoâd died as a rage monster, she seriously needed to get her shit together.
âAre you a woman heâs done wrong?â Understandably, the pink woman didnât appear to be overly anxious to let Alice enter any deeper into the building, much less talk to one of their employees. âBecause if you are, my sympathies, sister, and I sincerely mean that. But this is a place of business. That kind of soap-opera bullshit doesnât get played out under this roof. You can wait to uncork whatever can of whoop-ass you want on Loki in the privacy of your own home. Dirty laundry doesnât get aired here in the lobby, you understand me?â
âI donât know him.â Nor did she want to, but by damn, someone had to hold the bastard accountable. âIâm not going to ask again. Is. Loki. Here?â
The pink lady took her time looking her over, and Alice was more than happy to shoot that look back in spades. They were almost the same height, though the pink chick had an inch or so on her, thanks to some wicked-looking stilettos. Flower tattoos decorated her upper chest and shoulders exposed by the dressâs scoop collar, as well as down the upper part of her arms. But, despite all the girly frills of pretty flower tats, spiky heels, catâs eye makeup and ruffled petticoats, the set of the womanâs jaw and hard look in her eyes told Alice this woman had never been a pushover in her life. Not even in her diaper days.
âYeah, youâve got trouble written all over you,â the pink lady announced, and Alice blinked. It was like she was reading her mind. âYou wanna know what I see when I look at you?â
âNo offense, but I donât actually care what you see.â
âI see a hardcore, cast-iron bitch who gives zero fucks when it comes to playing nice with others,â the pink lady went on, clearly ignoring her. âHow close am I?â
Alice gripped her hands that much tighter. âItâs like youâve known me since birth. Do you have a point?â
âYeah, you definitely donât play nice,â she muttered, as if to herself. âFact is, I spotted you from all the way across the lobby. Thatâs why I came over. Is there any point in trying to talk you out of this?â
âThis is happening, one way or another.â
âFigured.â She studied Alice through narrowed eyes. âBefore I say whether or not Loki is here, Iâm going to give you some advice.â
Ugh. âMust you?â
âYeah. I must.â The woman threw out a sassy hip and planted a manicured hand on it. âItâs more like information rather than advice, but here it is. While I give you props for your honesty, you need to know that everyone under this roof is considered family. Loki might be a dick, but heâs our dick. You roll up on him, you roll up on all of us. That should at least give you pause. Does it?â
âNo.â
Pinkieâs mouth tightened. âHeâs also about twice your size and weight, so that means the only person whoâs going to get hurt around here is you if you keep bearing down on whatever problem it is youâve got with him. Walk away now while you still can.â
âI get what it is to have family you find along the way.â Alice struggled to swallow the simple fuck you that desperately wanted to come out. Pinkie wasnât the target of her anger, after all. âLoki busted up my foster brother, landed him in the hospital, and took the payroll heâd had with him. That, in turn, lost me my job at my foster brotherâs gym, because heâs decided the only thing left for him to do is declare bankruptcy and crawl away with his tail tucked between his legs.â
Her eyes widened. âWhy havenât you gone to the police?â
âMy foster brother wonât go. Out of all the injuries Loki gave him, the injury to his pride seems to be the most crippling.â
Pinkie waited a beat. âAnd you believe him?â
What the hell. âI believe my foster brother has a broken jaw and eight teeth heâs never going to see again. I believe I have an empty bank account and canât make rent, just like all the other gym employees, because the payroll was taken by Loki. I believe this Loki asshole needs to give that money back before weâre all out on the streets, and I believe that I can persuade him to do it. Thatâs why Iâm here. Thatâs why I wonât give up until I find a way to make him do whatâs right.â
âNot under this roof, you wonât,â came the flat reply, and there was no softening in the other womanâs eyes. âUnder this roof, itâs nothing but calm professionalism that caters solely to our clientele. I take great pleasure in crushing troublemakers like bugs if they come in here trying to disrupt that peace.â
Fuck. âGreat. Thanks for wasting my time.â
âBut,â the woman went on when Alice started to stomp away, âwhatever happens beyond these walls isnât my problem. Youâre on a mission, I can see that. Gotta say, itâs an unbelievably stupid mission, because it wonât fix whatever actually happened to your foster brother and his money. Nor is it going to bring your job back, and itâll likely get you landed in a hospital bed right next to your foster brother. So, yeahâstupid. But I can also see nothing is going to stop you until you land your stupid ass in that hospital bed, so I might as well try to minimize your damage as much as I can and keep some kind of control over this crappy situation.â
Alice scowled. How many times had she been called stupid? âBesides calling me stupid three times over, what exactly are you saying?â
âLoki parks his chopper out back in the employee parking lot.â The woman ignored her commentâno doubt Pinkie deemed it as stupid as the rest of herâand pulled a phone from her skirtâs slash pocket to tap on it. âItâs the only Harley out there, and he loves it more than anything. In fact, itâs probably the only thing in the world heâs ever loved, which tells you a lot about what kind of person he is, but whatever.â Clearing her throat, she brought the phone up, but didnât put it to her ear like Alice had expected. Instead, she put it to her mouth, looking up toward the second-floor level. âAttention, House employees. Attention.â
Aliceâs eyes widened as the womanâs voice sounded throughout the building over some internal PA system.
âLoki, your presence is required downstairs. It seems someone is messing with your bike.â With that, the woman pointed toward a metal door partially hidden beneath a set of glass block and metal stairs. âEmployee parking lotâs through there. You have about thirty seconds to get there. Try not to die. Iâd hate to have you on my conscience for the rest of my life.â
âThanks.â Alice paused just long enough to give her a tight smile. âSeriously. Thank you.â
âLady, I just organized your death, so donât thank me for it. Oh, but I should probably know your name. You know, for your epitaph.â
âAlice Halliday. Feel free to donate my body to science.â With a curt nod, she moved through the door and into the parking lot.
All she needed to do was convince this Loki asshole to return the money, she thought, moving past the railing that outlined a nearly full parking lot. She would do whatever it took to make that happen. Threaten to go to the police. Appeal to his sense of compassionâif he had anyâabout the many lives heâd hurt with his selfish actions. Beat the shit out of him.
No, she chided herself, clamping down on the errant thought like the rabid thing it was. No violence. No matter how desperate her situation was, she wouldnât give in to that horrible Halliday temper sheâd inherited. No matter what, she was going to be the cautious, logically detached person she always tried to be. All she had to do was remember what her first taekwondo instructor had taught her when it came to self-disciplineâhe who loses control, loses.
Or, in her case, she.
She wasnât going to lose control. She never lost control. It was a point of pride for her. From the age of twelve, sheâd never lost control of her emotions. Not once. She was calm. She was careful. She was detached. Hell, she hadnât even cried at her fatherâs funeral. She had this.
She had this.
The Harley was near the back and parked next to a pole bristling with security cameras that swiveled to track her movements. Eyeing the one that homed in on her first, she gave it a little wave.
It was always nice to be noticed.
The door exploded open, and a nightmarish beast of a man surged through.
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit.
Pinkie hadnât been kidding about the manâs size. Most North American bears were smaller than this guy. He had the dangerous look down pat, too. Biker boots, a patch-covered jeans jacket with the arms cut off, or kutte, ripped jeans, Harley T-shirt and skull rings on several fingers. His close-cropped beard was a darker shade of blonde than his hair that glinted like hammered gold in the sun. He wore that hammered-gold hair longer than chin length, parted down the middle, with the sides tucked behind his multi-pierced ears in a way that should have lessened his overall masculine impact, but instead it only intensified it. She couldnât tell what color his eyes were from that far away, but that was fine with her. She didnât care.
The only thing she cared about was taking everything that had gone wrong in her life because of this bastard, and putting it right.
She could do this.
And yetâŚ
Something told her that appealing to this hulk of a manâs compassion was going to be about as effective as asking water to not be wet.
âGet away from that bike, bitch,â he roared, his long legs eating up the distance at an alarming rate. Impossibly he seemed to increase in size as he went. The pink womanâs remark that sheâd just arranged Aliceâs funeral echoed through her head, but the memory of what this monster had done to poor Felixâand to her and the other gym employeesâdrowned it out.
No.
Survival instinct be damned.
No way was she running.
âI havenât touched your dumbass, Iâm-overcompensating-for-my-tiny-dick bike. But if you donât like where Iâm standing, why donât you come over here and fucking move me, bitch?â
His fast roll came to such an abrupt stop it was like he hit an invisible wall. âWhat the fuck did you just say?â
Ha. âOh. You donât like being called bitch? Iâve been called that my whole life, so take it from an expert. Learn to embrace the labelâŚbitch.â
âThe nameâs Loki, and I have no doubt you answer to bitch just fine. That wasnât what I was talking about.â He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and cocked his head, his stance suddenly turning casual. âDid you just imply that I have a small dick?â
She blinked. Five seconds in, and they were already having a dick convo? That had to be some kind of record.
âDude, you ride a Harley that has more chrome on it than all the cars from the 1950s put together. Either you have terminally shitty taste, or youâre packing a light load that no woman wants a part of.â
âHavenât had any complaints so far.â The insult to his manhood didnât seem to land the debilitating punch sheâd been hoping for. If his lopsided grin was any indication, he thought sheâd made a funny. âWanna see?â
Geez. âIf I wanted something to laugh at, I wouldâve gone to the Comedy Club.â
âSuch a mouthy brat,â he observed, but again his tone was surprisingly gentle as he stayed rooted to the spot, acting nothing at all like the berserker criminal Felix had described. âMark my words, that mouth of yours is going to get you into a world of hurt someday.â
âBut not today?â That would be very surprising, considering the amount of provocation sheâd thrown his way. This wasnât turning out the way sheâd expected at all.
Crossing thickly muscled arms decorated with tattoos, he lifted a shoulder. âI donât hurt women. Itâs a personal code.â
âBut youâre fine with hurting guys who are smaller than you, and then robbing them blind?â
That made his eyes narrow. âWhat?â
âYou heard me.â
âI heard your words, but I have no fucking clue what they have to do with me. Who are you, exactly?â
âAnswer the damn question. You get off on beating up helpless guys who are smaller than you and have no hope of laying you out, donât you?â
âIâm going to be honest hereâI get off on a lot of things. Long legs and pouty lips. Fragile porcelain skin and raven hair. Big, dark eyes that burn with a deep-seated need for murder. Oh, yeah. I get off on a lot of shit. Randomly attacking crybaby weaklings isnât one of them.â
Grimly she ignored the basic description of how he obviously saw her and gripped her hands together in an effort to quell her anger. âIâm not into murder.â
âTrust me, you are. Iâve seen that look before.â He sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth and gave her a hot and heavy glance. âMm. Gotta say, you make it look sexy as fuck.â
Good grief. âAlso, Felix isnât a crybaby, or weak. Heâs just smaller than you.â
âFelix, huh? Heâs your man?â
âMy friend.â
He rolled his eyes. âYeah, right. You got your pretty little ass down here to bitch me out over a friend. Uh-huh.â
She who loses control, loses, Alice chanted to herself, gripping her hands so tightly her fingers went numb. She who loses control⌠âThatâs right, pal. You put that friendâwho was also my employerâin the hospital. Whatâs more, you stole the payroll off him after you broke him up nine ways to Sunday, which means none of us got paid.â
That stopped him cold. âBullshit.â
âOn top of that,â she went on, undeterred, âIâm out of a job, because Felix has decided to declare bankruptcy now that heâs got months of rehabilitation to go through. Iâve literally got nothing in the bank, I have no job, and itâs all because of you. Youâre going to give that payroll back, and Iâm here to make you do it.â
âLady, I have no fucking clue what youâre talking about,â he announced, his brows snapping together in a scowl so terrible it took most of her strength to not crawl away into the nearest hole she could find. âI didnât jump your man, and I sure as hell am no thief.â
Wasnât he listening? âFelix is not my man.â
âAnd if this Felix fuckface dude told you that I just randomly beat him up out of fucking nowhere, then he really is a damn weakling by not copping to his own actions,â he sneered in obvious disgust. âDamn, Iâm sorry I wasted my time on such a spineless little pissant.â
âAha! There! You just admitted to tuning Felix up.â Finally.
âIâm not admitting shit, lady. All Iâm willing to say is that I may have tuned your man up, but I donât know that for a fact.â
Clearly, he believed she was an idiot. âYou honestly expect me to believe you donât know the man you jumped and robbed?â
âAgain, Iâm no thief, so youâre barking up the wrong fucking tree on that score. And I donât usually get the names of the people I bust up.â
âBut you do bust people up.â
He gave a negligent shrug. âI do whatever I have to do whenever I need to blow off steam, but taking down names is the last thing on my mind whenever Iâm in that kind of mood. Obviously that weak-ass Felix fuckface of yours is a different story. After all, he sent you here, so he mustâve picked up my name and where I work somewhere along the way.â
âFelix didnât send me. It was my idea to come here.â
âWhy? You want an apology?â A snort of what sounded like amusement escaped him. âThat shitâs never going to happen, lady, no matter how hot you are.â
Holy crap. âI came here to make you clean up the vat of shit youâve dumped onto Felixâs lifeâand therefore my life and the lives of all my fellow employees.â
âAnd how am I supposed to do that, Stems? Unbreak him?â
Stems? âYou need to give the payroll back.â
âFor the last time, I didnât steal any fucking payroll, so thereâs nothing for me to give back. I donât know what happened to the money that this Felix fuckface dude says I took, but Iâd be willing to bet he does. Talk to him again and see if his story changes.â
That dreaded Halliday rage built, fueled by desperation when she began to realize she might not be able to fix things after all. Donât lose it, she silently pleaded with the rising tide of emotion. She who loses control⌠âI donât have time for this shit. Give the money back, or I swear Iâll bring in the police.â
âWhy havenât you already?â Slowly he sauntered toward her, still looking surprisingly nonthreatening, despite being the largest tower of pure, muscle-bound masculinity sheâd ever clapped eyes on. Even his tattoos looked like they had muscles, for crying out loud. âWhy is it Iâm talking to you, and not the police? If I robbed this Felix fuckface guyââ
âAre you seriously going to keep calling him that?â
âYeah, I am. If Felix fuckface actually got robbed by me, why didnât he call the cops? He obviously knows my name and where I work. If he really believed I took that money, all he had to do was pick up a damn phone. But itâs been ten days now, and no cops.â
âTen days,â she hissed, pouncing. âThere. You see? You do remember robbing Felix and beating him to within an inch of his life.â
âTen days ago was the last time I threw hands with someone, but thatâs all it was. I never robbed anyone, Stems. Youâve been straight-up lied to, but youâre just too damn loyal and stubborn to see it.â
âStop calling me Stems.â
âYour legs are the longest damn stems Iâve ever seen on a pretty little flower like you, so thatâs never going to happen.â
Okay, screw this shit. âLook, if you donât give the money back, then Iâm going to have to go against Felixâs wishes and call the police.â
âGo ahead.â He stopped several paces away from her, a terrifyingly beautiful statue of masculine brutality just waiting to be unleashed, with the broadest shoulders sheâd ever seen, a powerful chest Hercules wouldâve been proud of, and muscle-corded arms as thick as her legs. âBut before you do, answer the damn question. Why hasnât Felix fuckface called the authorities himself? Think, Stems. Iâll bet deep down you know the answer.â
As much as she hated to admit itâleast of all to this badass biker giantâthat question had nagged at her from the get-go. There had been that one time, right before the death of Felixâs mother, that had shown Alice just how flawed her foster brother was⌠âIâve tried reasoning with you. I tried appealing to your sense of compassion. Like I knew it would be, that was an epic fail. Iâve even threatened police. The only thing left to do isâŚis beat the money out of you.â
She waited for him to laugh. She supposed she should have been thankful he didnât. âUh⌠what?â
âYouâve left me with no other choice.â Methodically she plucked her phone and car keys from the pockets of her jeans, shoved them into her jacketâs pockets, then took her jacket off to drape it over the railing. For half a second she thought of setting her wallet aside for safekeeping as well, but this was Chicago, after all. She and her wallet would part ways only after her death.
Which, admittedly, might be in the next few minutes.
He looked like he was having trouble getting his jaw rehinged. âYou canât be fucking serious.â
âSince I was twelve years old, the only family Iâve had in this shitty world is Felix and his sister. Iâd do anything for them. You went and fucked with Felix, so that means you fucked with me. Worse yet, Iâm going to be homeless by this time next week if I donât get back that payroll you stole. I literally havenât slept in days, and Iâm probably not thinking too clearlyââ
âYeah, thatâs kinda apparent at this point.â
âAnd,â she plowed on, determinedly ignoring him, âbeating the shit out of you wonât solve a thing. But I guarantee you itâs going to give me a momentâs true happiness in a world thatâs been full of hurt for days on end. Right now, getting that kind of moment is good enough for me.â
He shook his head as if he needed to clear it. âSo⌠basically youâre a ride-or-die chick for this Felix fuckface, is that it?â
âIn a nutshell.â
âThat termâs been hijacked, you know. It used to mean that if bikers couldnât ride and be as free as the wind, theyâd rather be dead. Nowadays it describes women being goddamn idiots for shitbird men who donât deserve that kind of brainwashed loyalty. In other words, you.â
Her eyes widened as her rage bounced up another notch, and the mantra of not losing control slipped away like it had never been. That was what losing control was all about, but she was too lost in it to notice. âOkay. Done talking now. Get your ass over here and take whatâs coming to you.â
âNo thanks.â The bastard had the audacity to yawn. âAs much as I hate to repeat myself, Iâm going to go ahead and repeat myself for you, because youâre sexy as hell, and you seem to be a slow-learner. Ready? Here it is. I. Donât. Hurt. Women. Period. Even when theyâre so fucking stupid, a good slap would probably knock some much-needed sense into their heads.â
Goddamn it. âYou fucked with the only people I have as family. My life is in shambles. You shouldâve thought of the consequences before you pulled any of that shit.â
âThis Felix fuckface guy was the one who didnât think of the consequences, lady. He shouldâve thought of you and your life before he stepped up to me. Obviously, he didnât.â
Her brain shut down. Everything in her shut down. Everything⌠but the Halliday rage. âGet over here.â
âNo.â
Eyes on him, Alice put a hand on the bikeâs chrome ape-hanger handlebars. Grim satisfaction speared through her when he went statue-still.
Hello, Achilles heel.
âLady,â he said, his voice so soft it sent a shiver down her spine. âItâs your turn now to think about consequences, yeah? I donât raise a hand to women, thatâs true. But whether or not youâve got a dick wonât mean fuckinâ shit to me if youâre looking to damage whatâs mine.â
She gave the handlebar an experimental shake, then hesitated. It would take some muscle, but she could push it over. But the pink lady was right; it was clearly the one thing he loved, and enough damage had already been done. In good conscience, she couldnât add to the misery. âGo ahead and try to stop me fromââ
Holy shit, he was fast.
And heâd caught her in the middle of a sentence.
How rude.
It only took a couple steps for him to close the distance between them. As he did, his arms came up like a huge clamp to grab her in a smothering bearhug. She whirled away, keeping her weight on her toes before she dropped and spun into a low sweeping kick, the back of her leg slamming against his booted ankles.
Sheâd executed this sweep kick a thousand times before, both while in taekwondo tournaments and in teaching self-defense classes at Felixâs gym. She knew this move like she knew her own face. But, wow, pitting it against this breathtaking specimen of raw masculinity was something else again. It was like sheâd kicked a tree trunk at its base. The impact of it jarred her so much it rattled her eyes in their sockets.
Holy crap, this guy was solid.
Luckily the ankle sweep did the trickâno doubt because sheâd surprised himâand he went down on his ass. Smoothly she whirled with the momentum sheâd created with the spin kick and struck a defensive pose. If sheâd seen one of her self-defense students acting this way, she would have screamed at them for not running like hell at this point.
But she wasnât trying to get away.
This man had to pay for the misery heâd caused, either in the money heâd stolen, or in blood.
The choice was his.
âLook at that.â The light in his eyes turned savage as he pushed to his booted feet with a fluidity that made her back up another step, her moves light and on her toes. âLittle girlâs got some moves in her bag of tricks.â
âI havenât been little since I was ten.â
âYeah, youâve got the kind of legs that probably looked gawky and ridiculous at that age. Bet all the kids called you names. Stretch, or Baby Giraffe, maybe.â
âStorky Alice, actually. But donât worry about little olâ me. I taught them not to.â
âOh, I bet you did, Alice. Nice, old-fashioned name, by the way,â he went on, his smile a white slash in his beard while he watched her with eyes so strangely hot she felt scorched all over. âGood thing for you Iâve got a weakness for nice old-fashioned names and long, fuck-me-now legs. Good God, woman. Youâre just about perfect, you know that?â
A wave of heat flashed through her that almostâalmostâfelt like alarm. âI just landed you on your finely toned ass, and you call me perfect? You must like it rough.â
âOh, baby, I fuckinâ love it rough. And by the way, Stems, Iâm thrilled you like the look of my ass. Believe me, that feelingâs more than mutual.â
Arrrgh. âJust get over here and take whatâs coming to you.â
âDo I look stupid to you?â
âYou lookâŚâ Hot. Indescribably, overwhelmingly hot, with eyes that were undressing her where she stood, and for some insane reason her brain was hopelessly distracted by it. âPowerful.â
âYou know it.â He outright flexed, showing her without preening just how right she was. âThing is, youâve still got murder in your eyes. And while Iâm crazy enough to find that so fucking hot I can hardly concentrate, Iâm still smart enough to know youâre going to kick me to death with those heart-stopping stems once I get within range. Am I right?â
Shit. âYou sound like you doubt I can do it. Come on over here. Letâs find out.â
âThatâs the problem with pure kickers like you, Stems. Sure, youâve got epic reach and speed, but you donât have the greatest mobility when it comes to fighting, do you? Best fighters are a mongrel mix of wrestling, punching and kicking. Fighters like me.â
Damn him, he was bang-on target. âCome on over here and prove it.â
Again he shook his head. âSee, when youâre a mongrel like me, your opponent never knows which form of attack is going to put youââ
He launched once more, this time interrupting himself. Idiot that she was, she fell for that distracting trick again, and reacted a half-second too late. She tried spinning away toward the main empty space separating the rows of parked cars, and almost made it.
Almost.
He caught her with one arm, and the next thing she knew her feet left the ground. A heartbeat after that, her back slammed the pavement, knocking the breath out of her. That was why it took her a second to realize that her head had hit too, but instead of hitting hard asphalt, it hit something⌠soft.
His hand.
Even as sheâd been flying through the air, heâd clutched the massive mitt of his hand around the back of her head and kept it from splattering against the asphalt like an egg.
What�
Did he actually just⌠save her? From his own attack?
No.
No, that couldnât be.
The man her foster brother had described would never save her from harm. All he did was bring harm to others.
And yetâŚ
His hand was still between her head and the pavement.
He most definitely saved her from a terrible injury.
What the actual fuck.
âYouâre bad at this, Stems.â There was a hint of laughter in his voice, much to her outrage. Torn between that and genuine gratitude that her head wasnât smashed like a melon all over the parking lot, her gaze jerked to his. Something weird fluttered in her chest when she looked into his eyesâonly a handful of inches awayâand discovered they were such a light brown they appeared gold. A heartbeat later she found she couldnât move, with his body holding hers down, and his forearms trapping hers. âProps for your enthusiasm when it comes to caving my head in. I know you wanted to do me some damage, but you were too nice to push over my bike just now. You know what that tells me?â
This guyâs penchant for idle chats at weird moments was something else again. âGet⌠off⌠mother⌠fucker.â
âIt tells me that youâre an inherently nice person. And, as an inherently nice person, youâre always going to be bad at this kind of shit, no matter how many moves youâve got.â He pressed his weight down on her all the more, to show her that moving was something sheâd be allowed to do only when he was in the mood for it. âLeave shit like this to the professional ass-kickers of the world, like me, because nice is one thing Iâm not.â
An infuriated growl seethed out of her as she struggled uselessly to get out from under him. âGet off, you sonofabitch, or Iâll bite your damn nose off!â
When he burst out laughing, she honestly couldnât blame him. Then, just as she gave serious consideration to headbutting him to get him to move, his mouth suddenly landed on hers.
What.
The.
hell.
By degrees, the rasp of his close-cropped beard on her skin and the press of his hard lips against hers seeped into her stunned senses. His touch was warm and vibrant and so overwhelmingly masculine it knocked every thought out of her head. Then it was over, and he was back to grinning down at her.
Like that, the rage inside her vanished without a trace. It was almost as if heâd thrown cold water on her. Or slapped her. OrâŚ
Or kissed her.
Alice blinked, baffled and upset and holy crap, strangely unable to stop from focusing on how she could still feel the imprint of his lips on hers.
She who loses control, loses.
Yeah. That was her, all right.
A total loser.
âThere we go.â He sounded inordinately pleased as he looked down at her, his hammered-gold hair hanging down in a way that seemed to almost curtain off the rest of the world. âThat stopped the bite, or headbutt, or whatever the hell it was you were about to pull. Still wanna kill me?â
âYes.â She shouted it so loudly she hurt her throat, before huffing in a growing sense of soul-crushing humiliation. Dear God, sheâd let her temperâthat murderous Halliday temperâget the better of her, when sheâd never allowed that to happen before. Never. How could she ever forgive herself for this horrible lapse? âExcept I canât. Youâre way more than I can handle.â
âYes, I am. Though, honestly, I doubt thereâs a man alive who can handle you. âCept me, of course.â
With the embarrassment of losing her vaunted cool swallowing her whole, she barely heard him. âI wanted so much to teach you a lesson⌠Damn it.â
âWhat lesson would that be?â
âThe lesson that you canât just screw with peopleâs lives and get away with it. ButâŚâ Again she struggled, hating how hot his thighs were against hers. Honestly, the man could rent himself out during the winter months as an organic space heater. âBut I was the one who got taught a lesson instead.â
âHell, yeah, you did.â
Great. Now he was laughing at her wild-eyed lunacy. She swallowed against the hard knot in her throat and looked away, all too aware that this was what she deserved for losing control of the dreaded Halliday temper. âMaybe I should be grateful I can still walk away⌠And I will walk away, I swear, just as soon as you let me up.â In point of fact, sheâd run, not walk, as far from this place as she could to make sure they never crossed paths again. If she had to call the police to get that payroll back, then fine. But never again would she darken this manâs doorstep.
âHm.â She felt his gaze slide over her for what seemed like forever. âYeah, nah. I donât believe you.â
Her eyes widened before she began struggling in earnest, knowing instinctively that her humiliation over her loss of control was about to find new depths. âGet off of me, youââ
âHereâs the way I see it,â he went on, ignoring her while at the same time refusing to let her go. âEither youâre going to crawl away like a whipped dog, or youâre going to get even more crazy and come at me like some vengeful maniac. I canât have that, Alice, especially here at my place of work.â
Crazy.
Vengeful.
Maniac.
It was like he was trying to punch every button sheâd had burned into her soul from the time she was twelve.
âYou think I want a repeat performance of this?â she gritted out, torn between humiliation and fury. âI lost control, I admit it. Thatâs something thatâs never happened before, and I never want it to happen again.â
A faint frown crossed his face. âWhat are you talking about? You seemed pretty much in control to me.â
âI came here to talk to you, notâŚthis.â She wriggled her trapped arms against his for emphasis. âYouâre obviously too much for me to handle. I might hate your guts for screwing up my life because youâre a selfish, violent asshole thief, but Iâm not about to take you on again. Iâm not frigging suicidal.â
Watching her with that curious frown in place, he slowly shook his head. âTry to understand my position, Stems. First off, youâre continuing to believe that Iâm a thief whoâs taken something from you. I havenât taken a damn thing, but since you think I owe you something, youâre not going to stop until you feel youâve exacted some kind of payment from me.â
âNo, Iââ
âSecondly, youâre the one who challenged me. Because of that, you promising to not be a pain in my ass somewhere down the road isnât going to put my mind at ease, yeah? I need something more than that.â
What the hell could he possibly need from her? âLet me make this perfectly clear. I do not care what you need, because Iâm not a part of your life, and youâre not a part of mine. Let me up, and I swear to everything I hold holy that youâll never see me again.â
âYeah?â
âYes.â God knew she never wanted to see him again. He was a living reminder that she was nothing more than a chip off her fatherâs block.
âHm,â he said again, his head tilting as if in thought. Then he shrugged. âToo bad for you thatâs not what I want.â
She scowled up at him, baffled. âWhat?â
âNever seeing you again is not what I want. What I want is an even playing field.â
âWhat does that even mââ Before she could finish the question, he was up on his feet and pulling her to a standing position as well. The moment she was vertical, she turned and began to walk away, only to be grabbed from behind. A massive, muscled arm slashed diagonally across her torso like a seatbelt, his forearm between her breasts and his hand clamped hard on her shoulder. Automatically she stomped down on his foot with her heel, then groaned when it felt like sheâd stomped down on a rock.
Damn those steel-toed biker boots.
âEven playing field, Stems,â he said again, his mouth close to her ear. âYou know way more about me than I know about you, but thatâs about to change.â To her outrage, his hand groped her ass. In an instant she bucked, first trying to elbow him in the ribs, then crouching and trying to flip him over her own back. He seemed to know every trick she had and evaded every time. Then, just when she started to panic, she felt a tug at her back pocket before she was abruptly released. In an instant, she whirled around with a roundhouse kickâwhich he deftly avoided. He barely even looked at her, his attention instead on the wallet he held.
Her wallet.
Oh, no.
âWell, well. Hello there, Alice Kathleen Halliday, aged twenty-three,â he read out loud, then shot a frown her way. âWhatâs a good Irish girl like you doing with an apartment in Little Italy? You are Irish, right? According to your pictures here, you really go all out for Chicagoâs annual St. Paddyâs Day festivities. Looks like you and I both have a fondness for green beer. Gotta love our hometownâs traditions, am I right?â
Fucking⌠fucker. âGive that back, youââ
âLoki.â The metal door leading into House of Payne slammed open, and suddenly the pink woman was there, hands on hips and death in her eyes. âWork. Now.â
âAh. Looks like Mom got worried about me getting all handsy with you, Alice.â Plucking his phone from his back pocket, he took a picâno doubt of her driverâs licenseâbefore he threw the wallet back to her. âBut since she obviously set this meeting up between the two of us, she doesnât have anything to bitch about. Do you, Scout?â
The pink woman, Scout, didnât blink. âDonât you make me fucking repeat myself.â
âSee that, Alice? That right there is how to be genuinely scary. You should take notes.â With an unrepentant grin, he headed in Scoutâs direction, only to detour to pick up the jacket Alice had draped over the railing. âYours, right?â
Alice stepped forward, hand out. âYes.â
âNot anymore.â With a shrug, he moved toward the door. âYou want it back, meet me tonight at midnight outside Lyric Operaâs main entrance. Donât be late.â
Oh, shit. âWait, my car keys and phone are in thereââ
But he was already gone.
âLike I said,â Scout offered after a moment, looking remarkably unsympathetic. âStupid. From this point on, especially now that youâre on Lokiâs radar, you might want to live a smarter life. Being TSTLâtoo stupid to liveâdoesnât fly here at the House, Alice Halliday.â
With that pearl of wisdom dropping like an anvil on Aliceâs head, Scout went back into the building with a sassy swirl of petticoats.
***
There you go! HOUSE OF PAYNE: LOKI will be releasing in the next 24-48 hours, so be sure to look for this Gravedigger bad boy. He may have gotten swept off his feet–literally!–by his Alice, but this protective Alpha male is certain to sweep YOU off your feet! (And if there’s anyone out there who loves a good grovel from a powerful male, this is DEFINITELY the book for you.)