“I made my own choices,” Kara rasped out, and though she needed him to believe her, to see her like a victim as he had the night they’d met, she wanted him to believe her as well. The idea of this man hating her answer, and her, bothered her. Lord help her, he was the enemy and she cared what he thought. She was in big trouble.

“And you decided to ensure you got your big payday any way necessary, even if it meant getting naked.” It wasn’t a question.

“No,” she whispered urgently before she could stop herself. “That’s not how it happened. I didn’t intend for it to happen. It just…it felt…necessary.”

“Fucking me was necessary,” he repeated flatly.

“Yes.” Her mouth was dry all over again, and good lord, she was dizzy remembering all the delicious things his mouth had done to her. “Necessary.”

“I didn’t realize you and Mr. Wright knew each other, Kara.”

Kara jerked backward at the sound of Mendez’s voice, but not before she saw the slight narrowing of Blake’s eyes. And damn it, she’d let him see her cards. Blake knew just how nervous she was at the idea of Mendez discovering what she’d done in Denver. He’d assume it was because Mendez was a monster, but he’d still have that leverage over her when she’d tried to make this secret leverage for her use instead.

“We were just getting properly acquainted,” Blake drawled lazily, holding her stare a beat before his attention slid to Mendez.

Kara’s stomach knotted at the way Blake had left the door open to tell Mendez he’d met her in Denver. “I was just about to let you know he’d arrived,” she added, cutting her gaze to Mendez and the amused twist on his brutal mouth.  Beneath the man’s mid-thirties dark good looks and perfectly fitted designer suit was a tyrant who’d kill you at the snap of his fingers.

“I’m sure you were,” he replied, and flicked Blake a look. “Join me, Mr. Wright. We have much to discuss.”