King of Slaves (Jenna's Story) (The Slave Series Book 5) (15 page)

Jenna leaned closer.

“Are you saying that she’s better than me too?”

“No, I realize that you too are the daughter of a prominent man. I would expect the same courtesy of Miss Tahita toward you.”

Jenna narrowed her eyes. “I’ll tell you what,
Kioni
…” she spoke his name slowly and deliberately. “Titles, money, fans, and followers don’t impress me much. You see I grew up around influential politicians and I know what lurks behind the glamour. If you want my respect, then show me kindness, generosity, integrity, and humility. Do you think you can do that?”

He frowned. “Are you saying I don’t have kindness, generosity, integrity, and humility in me?”

“No! What I’m saying is that
I don’t see it
. You ask me to respect your title. Yet you didn’t ask your little Miss whatever-her-name-was to show kindness to your brother. Did you see her repulsion at him?”

Kioni sat floored for a second before he whispered. “I saw.”

“Who was she anyway?” Jenna asked, riding on a wave of indignation. She had wanted to shield Kalen from the girl’s reaction to him, and she sincerely hoped he hadn’t noticed it much.

The king took a deep breath. “Miss Molpino is one of the final candidates for becoming my queen.”

Jenna stood up feeling acute pain in her chest. She needed to leave, right now. There was nothing she could say to this man that wouldn’t be harsh, and it was better to keep her mouth shut.

Kioni was quickly on his feet and grabbed her hands. “What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

She jerked her hands out of his grip. “Nothing is wrong. I just don’t want to be here.”

“Why not?”

His closeness was messing with her senses.
There really should be a rule that despicable people should be ugly and unattractive to warn others off
, she thought.
It’s completely unfair to make a man this shallow so unbelievably sexy.

“Why won’t you stay and talk to me?” he asked again, and sounded almost pleading.

“Because I have nothing nice to say about you or your fiancée.”

With those words she walked to the door only to find it locked. “Let me out of here.”

Kioni opened the door and quietly followed her to the elevator. To her regret he got in with her.

“I can find my way back to my room,” she told him coldly, but he just shrugged.

Of course, in all Jenna’s thirty-two years of riding elevators, this was the time one chose to break down and stop.

At first they looked at each other, hoping it would start again. Then Kioni pushed the button to the first floor one more time. It made no difference.

“I think it’s stuck,” Jenna said irritably. Her plan had been to get away from Kioni, not get trapped in a small box with him.

There was an emergency button that Kioni pressed but again nothing happened. No loud alarms, no blinking light, no voice from security to calm them and tell them help was on its way.

“Isn’t there a phone connection to security?” Jenna asked.

“I’m afraid these elevators are old, and there’s not.”

“Has this happened to you before?”

“No, never.”

“Do you have your phone on you?”

He shook his head and sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. “No, we’ll just have to wait for security to come and get us out.”

“Do they know how to fix elevators?”

“I doubt it.”

“Well, then what?” Jenna threw her hands in the air, fearing she would have to spend the night in this confined space.

“Then,” Kioni said in a tight voice and took a deep breath, “they will call for a technician who will get us out. I’m sure you have elevators in Chicago, and you are aware that these incidents happen from time to time.”

“Of course,” she said with an attitude. “But as you can imagine I’m not very happy being stuck here when all I wanted was to get away from you.”

His jaw tensed. “Well, for your information, I was just trying to be nice and share a part of my life with you that I treasure, I’m sorry my company is so offensive to you.”

Shame hit Jenna. He was right, he had shared something wonderful with her and she was being an ungrateful troll. But Kioni confused her. It was impossible to navigate the unwanted attraction she felt around him, when at the same time he enraged her like no other. His harsh words the other night, about never being able to marry or love someone like her, still stung. And for him to flash a damn teenager in her face, and postulate that the cold bitch was a better fit, was a major insult. Did he seriously think that little girl could make him happy?

“You know what… I don’t want to talk about it,” she said and sat down on the opposite side of the elevator.

”Very mature,” he muttered.

She gave him a piercing glance. “Actually it is the mature thing to do, Kioni. Didn’t your mom ever teach you to keep your mouth shut if you have nothing nice to say?”

“No, unlike Americans, we value bluntness and honesty higher than politeness.”

“Really?”

He nodded and stretched his legs in front of him. They almost reached the wall opposite him. “If you have a problem with my choice of wife, then you can say it.”

“Ha,” she scoffed. “To be honest, I just don’t understand why you are so attracted to an ice cube like her.”

“What would you have me choose? A strong woman like you? Oh, please,” he snorted.

She leaned forward and tightened her jaw, giving him a scrutinizing look. “No, that wouldn’t be a good idea at all.”

“At least we agree on something.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. 

Jenna mimicked him and leaned back too, relaxing. “You’re right.” Her tone was deliberately placating. “I mean I completely get it. A strong woman, especially one who is maybe smarter than you, is intimidating to most men. It takes a lot of masculinity not to feel threatened by a woman like that.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m sorry, should I break it down for you? What part of what I’m saying is confusing to you? Am I using too many words? See, I sometimes do that… it’s something I picked up at the university. I’ll try to slow down and use small words if you want me to.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Don’t test me.”

“No, you don’t like that, do you?” She kept calm and spoke with confidence. “Basically what I’m saying is that strong women intimidate boys and excite men.”

“What?”

She repeated slowly. “Strong women intimidate boys and excite men.”

His body tensed up. “Are you’re insinuating that I’m not man enough?”

Jenna kept calm. “Based on your need to be with a weak female who doesn’t challenge you in any way… then yeah… I would say that you come across as insecure in your masculinity.” She tilted her head. “But don’t worry. Maybe it’ll come with age and you can get there when you get to your third or fourth marriage.”

“I’m only marrying once.”

“Really? Then in that case, good luck to you.”

He was angry and squared his shoulders. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. All you strong women think you’re a gift to men, but really all we want is arm candy, good sex, and offspring. We don’t need deep conversations or demands from women who want to boss us around.”

“Right.” She thought for a second. “You know how babies cry and scream and want the whole world to focus on them and their needs?”

“Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?”

“That’s how I see you. You’re like a little baby wanting to be nurtured and spoiled.”

“So? What’s wrong with that?”

“Well, for one, it’s not very attractive. It’s needy and egocentric which, sorry to say, is a turn-off for quality women.”

“Quality women?” Kioni sputtered. “For your information I’ve had enough beautiful women in my bed to fill a whole catalog from Victoria’s Secret. I have no problem attracting quality women.”

“Oh, I see…”

Her dumbstruck expression made him give her a triumphant, overbearing smile.

But Jenna wasn’t done. “So what you’re saying is that quality to you means beauty?”

“Yes, and good genes of course.”

“Because you want to have healthy children.”

“Yes.”

“But not smart children?”

“They’ll get that from me.”

God, he’s such an arrogant prick.

“Right. So explain to me again… why are the beautiful women so attracted to you?”

He smirked. “I should think that would be obvious. I’m smart, good-looking, powerful, and wealthy.”

She nodded and folded her arms. “So what you’re saying is that it’s kind of like a business transaction. You give your wife material things and status and she gives you sex and babies?”

“Exactly.”

“Hmm… so what happens if you lose your money, good looks, and power?”

“I won’t.”

“All right. So you are going to be handsome until you die? Right!” She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Okay, but what happens when you have children and your wife’s body grows softer, and she’s too tired to have sex with you?”

He wrinkled his nose. “I’ll get her a personal trainer and make sure there are nannies to take care of the babies’ needs.”

“Okay, but she’ll still age at some point.”

He looked away.

“So you think you can find a specimen of the female gender who won’t age and who won’t ever get tired or sick? Someone who will devote her life to spoiling you and making you happy.”

He didn’t answer.

She laughed and shook her head slightly. “You know, Kioni, I have to respect that at least you know what you want.” She gave him a genuine smile.  “I hope you’ll find her, and I absolutely agree… we’re not a match.”

He inclined his head to her. “Thank you. I hope you find your missing half too.”

"I’m not searching for my missing half, because I’m not a half,” she told him matter-of-factly.

Kioni raised both palms. “Okay, I didn’t mean it like that.”

For five minutes they didn’t talk until he broke the silence.

“If you were to marry, what kind of man would you look for?” 

Jenna tilted her head back and looked up at the gray ceiling, thinking for a while.
Well, I wouldn’t mind if he came with a wrapping like yours, s
he thought but applied the filter between her thoughts and her words. This guy already had way too big an ego; there was no reason to inflate it further.

“I would look for someone who wants
me.
Not just my uterus or my long legs, but the quirkiness that makes me unique. I don’t want my man to ever wonder if I’m with him for his money or his looks.”

Kioni frowned. “Okay, go on.”

“To me it’s about the connection and about finding someone I can fart with.”

“Excuse me, did you just say… fart?”

“Yes.”

He looked perplexed. “I’m sorry…”

She laughed. “You’ll never understand. Let’s just drop it.”

But Kioni didn’t drop it. He wrinkled his nose and shot her a disgusted glance. “I can’t believe you said that you want a man to fart with. That has to be the unsexiest thing a woman has ever said to me.” 

Jenna tilted her head back and gave a deep belly laugh. “And you know what the worst part is?”

“No.”

“That I really mean it.” It was hilarious how Kioni just stared at her in disbelief while she tried to dampen her laughter.  The absurdity of the two of them having this surreal conversation was amusing. “Look,” she said and sounded almost serious. “I get that you are looking for perfection, but I don’t believe it really exist. Or at least my definition of perfection is to find a partner whose imperfections I can live with and who is my match because he can live with my imperfections too.”

It was his turn to snort. “There’s nothing wrong with striving for perfection.”

“There’s nothing wrong with chasing rainbows or believing in unicorns either,” she bit back.

Her comment made him turn his head away, signaling that he didn’t want to talk to her any longer. Jenna didn’t force the conversation. He was a bossy, arrogant, domineering son of a bitch, and she was glad that he’d shut up for a while.

About an hour later neither of them had uttered a word, and the suffocating heat in the small elevator was starting to get to her.

“It’s so hot,” Jenna complained in a low mutter.

He didn’t speak but showed that he agreed by pushing off his shoes and unbuttoning the three top buttons in his shirt.

“I wish we had some water,“ he muttered.  

“Me too.”

She wondered if she could strip out of some of her own clothes; but except for the sweatpants and the t-shirt she only had on her underwear, and she would have to be pretty desperate to strip in front of him.

“So you want to fart with your husband?” He spoke slowly so as to clarify.