My Taboo Harem!

Chapter 958: New Richest Family, Dark Romance & The Goddess’s Promise

"I have never been more serious. How much was it again? I need the number spoken aloud so my suffering feels itemized."

She lifted her head, eyes glittering. "We both know you did not do it for money."

"That is slander."

"That is affection."

"Affection can still be defamatory."

"But sure," she said, smiling as her finger traced a lazy circle over his chest, "it was only one million dollars."

Phei’s grin spread with beautiful, terrible satisfaction. "Only? Listen to the Ashford Madam, casually wounding money’s dignity. One million dollars. A single ad shoot. I have been elevated. Crowned. Commercially blessed."

"You were already rich."

"I was rich privately. This is different. This is career money. Do you know independent-young-man money? This is, ’I worked hard for one day and society rewarded my beauty appropriately’ money."

She stared at him for a moment. "Insufferable."

"Professionally."

"Completely."

"Internationally, after tonight."

Her laugh warmed the space between them, and for a few seconds the Goddess simply watched him, her amusement softening into something more intimate.

She cupped his cheek, thumb brushing his skin with slow fondness.

’My Little Dragon is so cute.’ She thought.

"Seriously," she said. "Thank you."

Phei’s teasing quieted.

The hand at her waist gentled, and his eyes held hers without the shield of humor for once. "You’re welcome."

A delicate silence followed.

Then, naturally, Phei ruined it. Not because he lacked tact, but because human tenderness left unguarded for too long became dangerously sincere, and Phei had apparently survived too many disasters to let sincerity roam without a leash.

"Also," he said, tone suspiciously casual, "I didn’t just help Ashworth. I made your ad violently more popular just now. That interview alone turned me into a walking advertisement. Imagine how popular it will be when the world realizes the same divine face that dismantled the Heavenchilds also appears in your campaign."

She narrowed her eyes. "There it is."

"What?"

"The arrogance."

"I keep telling people, it is not arrogance when the evidence is publicly available."

"You are impossible."

"And profitable."

"That too, unfortunately."

"Oh, and Emily just told me something delightful."

The Goddess tilted her head, already wary because Phei’s delighted voice was the same tone disasters used before entering rooms. "What?"

"The Ashfords have surpassed the Heavenchilds as the richest family on Earth."

She stilled.

Phei smiled sweetly. "Again, thanks to me."

Her eyes lifted fully to him now, the pink glow inside them deepening into something luminous and unreadable. "Thanks to you?"

"Yes. I am generous like that. Some men bring flowers. I rearrange global wealth rankings."

"Is that what you call tonight?"

"Romance."

"Romance?"

"Okay, fine: Dark romance," Phei corrected, kissing the corner of her mouth. "A little blood in the market, a little ruin in the skyline, a beautiful woman in my lap and several old families discovering that reputation is mortal. Very intimate."

The Goddess tried not to smile but she failed terribly.

"You are shameless."

"I have been called worse by women less beautiful, and their opinions naturally died at reception."

"That sentence alone deserves punishment."

Phei leaned closer, voice lowering. "Does it?"

Her lashes lowered faintly. "Perhaps."

"Good. I have always believed in accountability when administered by beautiful women."

She touched his chin, forcing his gaze back up when it wandered too confidently toward her mouth. "You are asking for trouble."

"No, dear Ashford Madam, I am asking what your Young Dragon deserves after saving the family’s image, ruining your enemies, increasing your ad’s popularity and helping you rise to the top of Earth."

Her expression shifted into something sly and elegant, a bewitching smile with thorns hidden beneath the petals. "I think you are asking the wrong person."

"Am I?"

"Mmm. Damien would be the best person for that question."

Phei watched her for a slow moment, then kissed her. Softly at first, as though accepting her answer. Then deeper, as though rejecting it entirely. When he drew back, his smile had grown darkly amused.

"Damien already paid me without knowing in advance weeks ago, didn’t he?"

She knew exactly what he meant.

She was on his lap wasn’t she?

The Goddess looked up at him and rolled her beautiful eyes, though the pink hue spreading through them betrayed her so thoroughly dignity should have requested relocation. "You are impossible."

"So I’ve heard."

"And arrogant."

"Accurate."

"And greedy."

"Only with what is mine."

Her breath caught faintly.

Phei smiled because he noticed; the small tightening of her fingers at his neck, the slight warmth rising beneath her skin, the way her eyes sharpened and softened at once when his voice dipped around certain words.

"Fine," he said, settling back slightly while keeping her close. "That was Phei Ryujin Tiamat speaking. He will receive one million dollars as your hired talent, a thank you from the most beautiful woman alive and perhaps a mild increase in his already tragic public demand. Commercially, spiritually and aesthetically, very successful."

"How gracious of him to accept praise."

"He is humble like that." Phei’s hands tightened lightly at her waist. "But what about your Dragon; your man? What does he get? Surely you did not think both of us were one person."

Her lips curved.

There it was; that smile, soft, dangerous, utterly unfair that made men agree to wars, bankrupt kingdoms, and then insist later that everything had been strategic.

"Is it not natural," she asked, her voice sweet enough to be illegal in several ethical systems, "for a man to support his woman?"

Phei stared at her.

She continued, glowing with amusement. "Surely you are not asking for payment simply because you extended a helping hand to your woman, are you, my Little Dragon?"

"Payment?" Phei repeated, scandalized. "How blasphemous. I would never. Never. I am wounded that you would even think so."

"You are?"

"Deeply. I was merely wondering whether my woman saw me, appreciated me, valued me, adored me, perhaps wished to demonstrate that appreciation in a manner befitting my sacrifice, and, you know..."

She tilted her head, eyes innocent in a way no woman that dangerous had any right to attempt. "No, dear my dragon. I do not know; play tell."

Phei groaned, leaning his head back against the seat as though she had personally executed his hopes and buried them beneath the car. "Cruel woman."

"Cute dragon."

His eyes opened. "Powerful dragon."

"Cute."

"Divine dragon."

"Cute."

"Commercially essential dragon."

"Still cute."

"I helped make your family the richest on Earth."

She kissed his jaw. "Adorable."

Phei closed his eyes for a second, visibly suffering. "This is oppression."

"This is affection."

"Affection has become authoritarian."

"Then submit."

His eyes opened slowly.

For a breath, the air between them changed.

The Goddess realized what she had said at the same time Phei did, and the pink in her eyes deepened again, richer now, like a secret blooming inside moonlight.

Phei’s voice lowered. "Careful."

She held his gaze. "Or?"

"Or I may start believing you mean that."

Her fingers slid softly along the side of his neck. "And if I do?"

The silence that followed was warm enough to burn.

Phei’s smile returned, but it was no longer only playful. "Then Courtney should consider waiting outside for several years."

The Goddess laughed, but the sound trembled at the edges, caught between amusement and hunger. She cupped his face in both hands, her thumbs brushing his cheeks as she looked at him with a tenderness that made the dark romance between them hurt in all the right places.

"You really are cute," she said.

"I am beginning to feel harassed by this classification."

"Good."

"Rejected."

"Rejected complaints will be ignored."

Before he could retaliate, she leaned closer, her smile turning secretive enough to make even his greed sit upright and pay attention. "Lucky for you, I do have something in mind."

Phei’s eyes sharpened immediately. "Oh?"

She nodded, visibly enjoying the way his entire focus narrowed onto her. "I have been preparing it for a long time."

The excitement that rose in him was immediate and frankly humiliating. His arms tightened around her waist, and the air in the car seemed to hold still because even oxygen, that nosy little necessity, wanted details.

Then she said, "But it is not for now."

Phei froze.

She smiled like a goddess who had just invented cruelty and found it aesthetically pleasing.

"And—"

Knock. Knock.

The soft sound came from outside the car.

Phei turned his head toward the door slowly, then back to her, his expression carrying the wounded solemnity like betrayed by fate, timing, doors, employment structures and Courtney specifically.

Somewhere in the universe, destiny had apparently decided to become a chaperone.

’Disgusting development. Nobody had voted for that.’

The Goddess smiled with shameless serenity. "That must be Courtney."

Phei looked at her.

Then at the door.

Then back at her.

"Courtney," he murmured, voice low with theatrical devastation.

"Naturally. I save your family, enrich your house, make your ad legendary, ask for one tiny emotionally appropriate reward, and the universe sends Courtney like a tax auditor for desire."

The Goddess laughed so softly it nearly became another kiss. "Behave."

Phei stared at her in betrayed disbelief. "After everything I did tonight?"

"Yes."

"For your ad?"

"Yes."

"For your thank you?"

Her smile widened. "Especially for that."

Phei sighed, pulling her closer one last time, his lips brushing the top of her head with lingering affection despite the criminal interruption. "Fine. But I am adding emotional damages to the invoice."

"You do that."

"And interest."

"Naturally."

"And a special Courtney disruption fee."

"That seems fair."

"And one private reward from my woman."

Her smile softened, no longer entirely teasing. "That one was already waiting for you."

Phei went still for half a second, and she kissed the corner of his mouth before he could recover.

Then the door opened, and her laugh followed him into the cold moonlit air, soft, victorious and entirely too pleased with itself.