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My sister had married an Eldorran earl who was a second cousin twice removed from the queen.
“That’s not the right question, Luca. The right question is what kind of casket you’d like at your funeral because that’s what I’ll have to fucking plan if Romano ever finds out about this!”
“I marry his daughter, and he’ll keep the evidence to himself. If I don’t, he’ll send the photos to Romano, and you’ll die.”
Button-down shirt, blazer, thin black wire frames. All traces of the lethal fighter from the ring had vanished, replaced with the epitome of scholarly sophistication.
It was clear, all right. It was clear Dante Russo was Satan in a nice suit.
“Buying breakfast.” I pulled a crisp twenty out of my wallet. “Two coffees and signature bagels. Keep the change. Thanks, Omar.” While I wanted to get away from Vivian as soon as possible, I was damn hungry. We’d woken up too early for breakfast, and I couldn’t buy food without getting some for her too. I was an asshole, not a boor.
Vivian’s laugh evoked a strange sensation in my chest. Heartburn? Investigate later.
“It is what it is.” I was used to cleaning up after my brother. Hell, considering some of his past choices, I should be glad he hadn’t joined the mafia.
I smiled. This was going to be fun.
I’d tried counting sheep, fantasizing about Asher Donovan, and listening to my alarm clock’s built-in white noise feature, but none of it worked.
Not just talking—she was smiling and laughing like he was an award-winning comedian when I knew for a fact he wasn’t that damn funny.
“Next time you want to mark your ‘territory,’ you might as well urinate in a circle around me,” Vivian said after Kai left. “It’ll be more subtle.”
It was one of my favorite things about her, even though I shouldn’t have a favorite anything about her. She was still the daughter of the enemy. But in that moment, I found it hard to care.
And that accent. There’s something about a British accent that just does it for me. I blame it on…”
Queen Bridget of Eldorra owns the sapphire version.”
She wasn’t my wife yet, but she was mine. No one threatened what was mine.
Christ, Russo, get it together.
We stared at the portrait, then at each other, then at the bed. It suddenly hit me that this would be our first time sharing a room. Sharing a bed. Six days and five nights of sleeping next to her. Of seeing her in those ridiculously tiny outfits she called pajamas and listening to the water run while she bathed. Six days and five nights of fucking torture. I rubbed a hand over my face. It was going to be a long week.
I’d teased him about loving Kai’s British accent at Valhalla, but it was his I couldn’t get enough of.
This is just business, I reminded myself. If I said it enough times, maybe I’d believe it.
“Yes, but I’ve seen the way he looks at you.” She ran the last dirty dish under the water. “It’s not about business.” She was wrong, but that didn’t stop my pulse from spiking with anticipation. “How does he look at me?” Janis smiled. “Like he never wants to look away.”
I stared at the ceiling, my jaw tight, while Vivian turned and tossed. Every dip of the mattress reminded me she was there. Half-naked, close enough to touch, and smelling like an apple orchard after a morning rainstorm. I didn’t even like apples.
“Try.” The sooner she fell asleep, the sooner I could relax. Relatively speaking. “What great advice,” she said. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. You should start a Dear Dante column in the local newspaper.” “Were you born with a smart mouth, or did your parents buy it for you after their first million?”
I hadn’t touched her since our tryst in Valhalla’s library, but all I wanted in that moment was to see those eyes darken with pleasure again. To feel the softness of her body pressed against mine and hear her breathy little cries when she climaxed against me. My blood pounded in my ears. The breeze from the vents grew hotter, the air thicker. The electricity from dinner returned and stretched the moment into one long, perfect thread of tension. “We should go to sleep,” Vivian breathed. There was a slight shake in her voice. “It’s late.” “Agreed.” For a suspended moment, neither of us moved.
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Raw desire took over, eradicating thoughts of anything except Vivian. No Francis. No Luca. No blackmail. Just her.
“You’re forgetting one thing.” I tapped my jaw. I didn’t know why I was dragging this out when I didn’t want to be here in the first place, but I couldn’t remember the last time someone fussed over me. It felt…nice. Disturbingly so. Vivian’s brow wrinkled. “What?” “My kiss.” Pink crept over her cheeks. “Now you’re the one teasing me.” “I would never tease about such a serious matter,” I said solemnly. “One kiss for each of my injuries. That’s it. Would you deny a dying man his last wish?”
It was always a little colder when he wasn’t home.
“I’m not a toy, Dante. You don’t get to toss me aside and pick me back up only when someone else wants me.”
Why do you care?” “I don’t know!” The force of his reply stunned me into silence. Dante’s granite mask cracked, revealing the torment underneath. “I don’t know why I care. I just know I do, and I hate it.” Self-loathing coated his voice. “I hate the idea of you touching anyone else, or anyone else touching you. I hate that other people can make you laugh in a way I can’t. I hate how I feel around you, like you’re the only person that can make me lose control when I. Don’t. Lose. Control.” Every word, every step brought him closer until my back pressed against the wall and the heat of his body
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“You can’t see the stars in New York,” Dante said. “So I brought the stars to you.”
I can’t stand popcorn. The texture’s weird, and it smells awful even when it’s not burnt.”
Dante was Valhalla, at least to me.
A sky without stars, a home without heart.
“Vivian Lau, will you marry me?”
Queen Bridget and Prince Rhys of Eldorra.
“I’m about to put my foot up your ass if you don’t shut up.” Whoever invented younger siblings deserved a special place in hell. “Both of you shut up,” Christian said from Luca’s other side. “Christ, brothers are annoying. Thank fuck I don’t have one.” A-fucking-men.
