Three Brothers. . . One Empire. . . The House of Rule
Garrett Rule won't take 'no' for an answer
Maria Alvarez is her own woman and always has been, so when Garrett Rule storms into her life with inflexible demands and an agenda of his own, she has no choice but to fight back. When Garrett Rule finds himself inconveniently obsessed with Maria Alvarez, the most conspiring woman of them all, he doesn't know which is stronger, his need to punish her or the need to have her under his complete sexual control. Luckily for him, he doesn't plan on choosing; he'll take both. 
EXCERPT: 
Maria's nerves jolted at the sound of the door above her opening and closing with the loud, echoing slam of steel against steel. She came to an abrupt halt, knowing someone was in the stairwell above her, just out of her sight. 
Silence. 
All she could hear was her heart beating, but she knew she wasn't alone. Knowing that Garrett had found her, she took two steps toward the wall, preparing to turn and run down, her stiletto heels clicking loudly against the bare concrete. 
She never stood a chance. 
He sprinted down the half flight of stairs before she could even grab the railing that would balance her on the way down.
Damn stilettos. Damn her vanity for wearing them.
He reached out and caught her, dragging her backwards, and she found her back against the wall before she could even blink. Breathing unsteadily, she looked up into the eyes of a madman.
"What do you think you're doing?" he raged, indomitable fury in every line of his body.
Breathe, Maria. "Avoiding you."
His fingers bit into her upper arms, and his brows came down in a scowl of rage that was not scaring her. If she could just remember to breathe, then maybe she could convince herself of that truth.
He looked down at her, his height and breadth dominating her where she stood, the pissed-off river of testosterone that seemed to be flowing through his bloodstream holding her in silence.
Her eyes stayed glued to his, and as he moved several inches closer, her chin lifted and her neck arched at an uncomfortable angle to keep him in her sights as he loomed closer. All the while her heart was beating so rapidly that her head was spinning, and she was sucking in oxygen so quickly that she was beginning to hyperventilate.
"The stairwell, Maria?" he questioned, biting the words out.
"What . . . what?" she asked, confusion setting in.
Lines of ice-cold fury bracketed his mouth. "Do you not have a clue? Do you not have a single working brain cell in that head of yours?"
She jerked her head back, not caring for that question one freaking bit. She felt her blood pressure rise as her eyes narrowed, a returning anger filling her bloodstream. "Watch it, Mr. Rule. You're beginning to piss me off."
He leaned into her another intimidating inch. "Piss. You. Off?" 
"I promise, you don't want to piss me off," she challenged, ignoring the warning bells in her head.
"Yeah? We'll get back to that in a minute," he stated. "Why would you take the stairway?"
"Why . . . why shouldn't I?"
He rolled his eyes heavenward and then looked back down. "Do you not give a crap about your own safety?"
"You think I'm going to trip and fall?" she asked sarcastically, beginning to get a glimmer as to where he was really going with this.
"Smart-ass," he hissed through gritted teeth.