“When will you know whether that finger came from a dead body or not?” Alexei’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“Not sure.” I had asked the very same question, but Winston’s contact seemed to have some work to do before he could provide us with an answer.
“You seem different,” Alexei pointed out. “More… settled.”
“You’re different since you married my sister,” was my answer as my eyes found the source of my change, her hair shining like gold under the Portuguese sun. Everything in my life started and ended with this woman. I loved her a decade ago, and today, I loved the woman she’d become.
Despite growing up amongst vipers and wolves, she maintained her light and held her strength like an armor, and she didn’t even know it. She said her hands were sullied. They weren’t; they were pure and beautiful, just like her soul. I was a lucky fucking bastard that she picked me to love out of all the people in this world.
“She wants to kill her mother,” I said.
Even after everything she’d been through and the demons she still fought, she was capable of the deepest love. I feared that killing Sofia would leave a stain on Lou’s soul.
“Someone’s got to end her,” Alexei, ever the voice of reason, pointed out.
“I know.” A shrieking laugh had both of us turning to the window to find my nephew, Kostya, running circles around the smiling women. “Looks like his video games can only capture his interest for so long,” I remarked.
“He gets through the levels too fast.”
“I’m not surprised. He’s smart like his uncle Winston.” He’d been the only one in our family to be seriously good at it, but the day of our mother’s death, he’d just given it up.
“You love Sofia’s daughter,” Alexei stated matter-of-factly.
I had no shame admitting how utterly infatuated I was with Louisa. It was a pure, unadulterated emotion in my veins that had driven me to survive, to fight eight years of living without her, and now that she was back, to protect her.
“I do,” I finally said, getting to my feet. “And I’ll bring every goddamned alliance in the underworld down if it means protecting her.”
Louisa
“I’m happy my brother found you.” Aurora, Kingston’s sister, studied me openly. “I’ve never seen him like this.”
I flicked her a curious look. “Like what?”
She thought for a moment before saying, “Content. He seems at peace, and I know it has everything to do with you. He can’t keep his eyes off you.” I didn’t say anything, unsure how much she actually knew about me. Did she know my mother was the one who’d tried to ruin her brother’s life? Did she know my last name was stained with blood?
Lara squeezed my hand, probably attune to my feelings. Just like me, she was haunted by her parents’ decisions and because of whose daughter she was. The enemy didn’t care what she had endured as long as they felt like they got some kind of revenge.
I’d never let that happen.
“You know, the men in this world aren’t like normal men.”
“Yeah, they’re fucking crazy.” Lara’s first words of the day were muttered, drawing chuckles from Aurora and me. “And some are evil,” she agreed. “But there are also good ones too. Their love is more intense and their protectiveness fiercer.”
I lifted my head to the window of Kingston’s office and found him standing and looking out with a serious look on his face. It looked a lot like love. It was always love with him—first innocent and now as strong as the burning sun.
I returned my attention to my new ward and smiled. “Let’s stop worrying Lara with any men and go grab something to eat instead.”
That night, after Aurora and her family left and Lara was safely in her own bedroom, I stood barefoot in our bedroom, wearing nothing but Kingston’s oversized T-shirt.
I found Kingston leaning against the black marble counter in the bathroom. The giant mirror reflected both of us, him in his full darkness and me surrounded by him. His phone was pressed to his ear, talking to someone in Italian, and he was wearing nothing but gray sweatpants. I had never seen anything so fucking sexy.
“Non ne ho idea,” he uttered, dragging a palm across his stubble.
Judging by his expression, he wasn’t listening much, because a flash of something unmistakably sinful lingered in his eyes. My heartbeat tripped as his gaze raked over me.
My skin burned as I walked toward him. His cologne, so warm and intoxicating, wrapped around me and I stretched up on my toes to press a kiss on the rough stubble of his chin.
My knees shook with the need to fall down to them and pleasure him.
As I leaned forward, I hooked my fingers on the hem of his sweatpants, pressing my breasts against his chest and my lips to his neck.
Skimming my lips across his ear, bringing my lust-filled gaze up to his, I breathed out, “I want to taste you.”
Heat flared in his gaze and he ended the call, then threw his phone to the side. His finger stroked the pulse point on my neck back and forth as nerves danced in my veins.
When he thrust his index finger inside my mouth, I darted my tongue around it tentatively.
“What if you don’t like it?” he asked, insecurity coloring his voice. His hot breath skimmed over my skin, burning me alive. “I’ve never had it done.”
His finger slid out of my mouth. “I’ve never done it, so it’ll be another first we share.”
“On one condition.”
I chuckled huskily. “I didn’t know men give conditions on blow jobs.”
His lips twitched. “Tell me if you don’t like it.”
“I promise.”
I dropped to my knees and pulled his sweatpants down his muscular legs. I wrapped my fingers around his hard and thick erection, my mouth watering at the sight. He spread his thighs farther and grabbed a fistful of my hair.
I closed my eyes and licked his shaft from base to tip. A low groan escaped him, and I took it as encouragement. Opening my eyes, I repeated the motion until his eyes grew dark and hazy. Heat bloomed in my stomach, moving lower and lower, making me squeeze my thighs to ease this throbbing ache.
His grip on my hair tightened and I ran my tongue across his crown, then slid him all the way to the back of my throat. I moaned and sucked him again, gliding up and down and taking more of him into my mouth.
“Fuck, sunshine,” he hissed, his grip moving my head and controlling the rhythm. “You look so beautiful choking on my cock.”
My gaze flicked to his, sparks of pleasure fluttering through me at his filthy words.
He slid in deeper with the next thrust, but I remained still, letting him fuck my mouth, curious to see the way he liked it.
His breaths came out heavy, watching me with a half-lidded gaze. He fucked me, and I watched him come undone for me. There was something euphoric and empowering about the knowledge that it was because of me.
A hoarse sound left him, his breathing harsh and fast, and he came into my mouth with a groan. I swallowed, growing dizzy from his taste and smell.
“My sunshine,” he breathed, grasping my face between his rough hands and caressing my cheeks.
Then he pulled his sweatpants over his softening erection and lifted me by the backs of my thighs. He pressed his mouth to mine, his tongue sliding past my lips and toying with me, as I wrapped my legs around his waist.
I dug my fingers into his hair, and he deepened the kiss, pouring everything into it. Our tongues tangled. My hands slid down his chest, resting against his racing heart.
“I love you.”
His eyes flared and his fingers gripped my nape firmly. Getting rid of his sweatpants first, he ripped my panties, leaving me bare underneath his shirt. The tip of his cock at my entrance, he thrust inside me, filling me to the hilt.
He pressed his forehead to mine.
“Tell me again,” he demanded fiercely, and my walls clenched around his length in response.