More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
My blood was on fire. He’d never looked at me this way, with such a soft, consuming desire in his eyes, like he’d never seen a woman before. Like I was everything. It terrified me.
He lifted me off the counter, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Walking me down the hall, he held me tightly, as if I was precious, or as if he couldn’t figure out how to hurt me first.
“Should have known you would be this perfect,” he murmured.
“Are we going back to the chalkboard? Before you said all that weird stuff?” A shiver shot up my spine as he nipped my ass cheek. “Drawing board,” he corrected, before kissing and lightly sucking on my inner thigh.
Dark satisfaction crawled up from where I’d hidden her deep inside, fiery-red hair and all.
My eyes fluttered open to see his on me. His breathing was uneven, and his gaze was filled with something soft and dark that I wasn’t sure I wanted to understand.
He was much different than a man I would choose in a crowd, but maybe that was why I found him so appealing. He terrified me a little bit, and I always did like to live on the edge.
But then he dropped to his haunches in front of me, ran a hand across my cheek, and kissed me. Shock and warmth erupted in my chest. I moaned, wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and climbed onto him until I sat on his thighs. He tasted so good, so addictive. And I savored every lick and dip, every press of our lips. He kissed me without any reservation, like he had a right to, like I was his.
“Allister,” I begged. “I just had my tongue inside you,” he said, annoyed. “You can start calling me by my first name.” I opened my mouth. Closed it. His eyes darkened as he took in my expression. “You forgot my name.” When I didn’t deny it, he shook his head and then dropped me on my ass on the bed.
Christian=Humbled
“We’ll talk about this when I get back.” “This?” “Us.”
A myriad of confusing feelings rushed me at once, so I decided to avoid all of them.
mood
My hair was a mess, the hair tie slipping halfway down my ponytail. He pulled it from the messy locks and then put it in his pocket.
“How could someone ever forget your face?” I said. For some reason, he thought that was funny. A smile touched the corner of his lips, and it was so sexy I stood up and kissed him. He made a noise of disapproval in the back of his throat, but he let me have that kiss. Soft, wet, and sweet.
His name was Christian.
Why did love hurt worse than pain?
one month shouldn’t be long enough to come home and find Gianna fucking married. Hearing the news, nonchalantly, from Ace on the phone had felt like a blow to the stomach. It stole my fucking breath, turned my blood to fire. I’d lost it. I’d destroyed every goddamn computer in that room.
I’d known, if I touched Gianna, it would be over for me. I’d known she would feel too good to ever go back. But, Jesus, I wasn’t a saint. She was half-naked, her tits in my face, and I’d dreamed about them for so long I had to know what they tasted like. They tasted like they belonged to me; like they were mine.
“They have a word for what you’ve described, Christian.” I paused, my hand on the doorknob. “Obsession.” A corner of my lips lifted as I stepped out of the room and shut the door behind me.
“I said, down!” The taller one fired a shot into the ceiling. “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” I muttered. One of their gazes landed on me. My eyes went wide, and I dropped to the floor. Someone cried. A baby wailed. Another prayed the Hail Mary. The masked men—who were very inconsiderate to others, I might add—prowled toward the prescription counter. “Give us what we want, and we won’t hurt anyone.” I struggled with opening the painkiller bottle. I tugged too hard, the lid came off, and pills scattered across the floor. A blonde woman clutching her purse from across the aisle watched me in
...more
Queen
“You visited Antarctica and realized it was home.” I was so pleased with myself for that one, and it showed. “You done?” I pursed my lips. “Yes.”
Annoyance flickered through me. I brought my gaze up to his, pity pulling on my lips. “You are so right. A lot of men struggle with impotence. It’s nothing to be ashamed about.” I patted his chest and began to walk toward his car while ignoring the burning sensation in my hand. “Still thinking about why I didn’t fuck you, huh?”
“You changed your hair,” he said softly. I absently touched the dark locks that were my natural color. He always noticed when I did something with my hair. I hated that it made me feel special.
“You seem to have heard a lot about me,” I mused. “I’m informed about all the disasters in the New York City area.” “Good to know I’m up there with hurricanes and terrorist attacks.”
“A man of few answers,” I murmured. “Few words,” he corrected.
“Women are goddesses.”
Legs crisscrossed on the lounge chair, I brought my gaze to the cloudless sky. Andromeda.
You can’t scream with a hand over your mouth. That’s where fiery-haired goddesses are made all over the world.
“I guess it’s as they say,” I whispered, “the bee has a sting and honey, too.”
We all searched for strength in life. Unfortunately, mine just happened to lie at the end of a line of powder.
“Gianna,” Valentina called out. “Come here! Christian was just telling me the most amusing story.” I frowned, not pausing in my trek to the minibar. “Who?” She faltered, looking to Christian, who stood beside her and who seemed to show no confusion toward my slight. And then she pouted. “Christian, tell her to stop being rude.” His cold eyes were on me as he responded to her. “Of course. Who are you talking about?” Since he’d arrived, we’d been playing one of my favorite games: pretending the other didn’t exist.
He shrugged a shoulder. “Fair play.” This was about payback? “For what? Wait, don’t tell me—he stole one of your women.” The slightest muscle tightened in his jaw, and I faltered. “Oh, my god, he did.” He pushed off the railing and rolled his shoulders. Who was this woman he wanted so badly?
“Why did you shut the door on me earlier?” My pulse fluttered, and I took a step back. “Your face triggers me.” Another step. “Why the drugs?” Another one back. “Why the fifty questions?” “Answer me.” I gritted my teeth. “Make me.”
The bastard was Russian.
As soon as I stepped into the hall, a thunk hit the door before I could pull it closed. I gritted my teeth. She’d thrown her goddamn shoe at me.
I’d always convinced myself I disliked Nico because he was impulsive and reckless. But I knew that was just an excuse for the real reason: he’d fucked her. If I couldn’t fuck her, nobody could fuck her. It was that simple. The idea of anyone touching her was a nauseating pill I refused to swallow.
I’d missed the sight and smells of home. Fuck, who was I kidding? I knew why I was here, and it had everything to do with a grown woman with sparkly-painted toenails.
His eyes narrowed. “If she keeps fucking everything up, she’ll make this family look weak. She knows the consequences. If they’re involved, he’s dead and she’ll be dealt with.” “You won’t fucking touch her.” The threat escaped me, so calm and deadly it stilled the air. Two goddamn slipups in one day. I could have laughed, but I didn’t find it even slightly amusing that Ace now knew I had a weakness—he now had something to hold over my head. My entire reputation rode on me being untouchable, and this was going to fuck it all up. He watched my face, let out an amused breath. “Well, fuck me
...more
I wished love was visible, like the sparkles on Elena’s gown. Or the shimmer of the sun on skin. Then it couldn’t be hidden or faked. I wondered what love felt like. I wondered if it even existed.
This no-alcohol-and-drugs vow was working out just fine— Val stopped nearby and shook a pack of cigarettes at me with a raised brow. “Oh, thank God.”
“You wanna know the gossip I just heard in the ladies’ room?” she asked as we sat on a bench outside the hotel doors and lit a cigarette. “No.” “It has to do with Christian.” I might hate him, but I still wanted to unravel him like a cat with a ball of yarn. “Continue.”
While walking past us, Allister pulled the cigarette from my lips and tossed it to the sidewalk before entering the hotel doors.
“Who peed in your Raisin Bran this morning?”
“I’m done playing games with you.” He opened the passenger door for me like the quintessential gentleman, his words amused and cynical. “Is that what you think we do? Play games?” “I don’t care what you call it. I’m done! With this.” I gestured between us. “With you.” Like the set of the sun, his eyes filled with darkness. A merciless darkness that wrapped around my soul and pulled. The force of the snap made me fall back a step. He slammed the car door. Stalked toward me. “You’ll never be done with me.”
“If you ran, Gianna . . .” The words were malicious yet somehow as soft and desperate as sex in a war-torn field. He pressed his lips to my ear. “I would find you.”
A smile touched my lips. “You’ve been thinking about me, huh?” I’d only been teasing him by repeating something he’d once said to me and certainly didn’t expect his response. “Only when I need to come.”
Kissing Christian Allister made me feel more alive than any drug ever could.
“All of it, malyshka,” he commanded.
“I’ve dreamed of that sound,” he rasped, nipping at my earlobe. Warmth filled me like sunlight. I shouldn’t take what he said to heart—he was often rude as hell—but, God, when he was sweet, it made me feel on top of the world.
“Say something in Russian.” “Ty samaya krasivaya zhenshchina kotoruyu ya kogda-libo videl.” “What did you say?” “You’re annoying.” “I would hate to be Russian if it takes that many words to say something so simple,” I mused. I didn’t believe for a second that was what he’d said.
Translation: You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.
An obsessive part of me—the one thoroughly fixated on Gianna’s every move—didn’t give a shit about consequences. Knocking her up would make its fucking day. It would finally give me a reason to throw my plans in the trash and make her mine.
