Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Heat burns my cheeks, and I avert my eyes, cursing my thoughts.
I don’t need reminders of why I fell in love with this man.
“Remember what we were like together?” He grips my chin, forcing me to look at him. “We couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Like hormonal teenagers in a constant state of hunger. I was hard for three years, living with you, living inside you, fucking you every day, on every surface, in every hole and position. Best three years of my life.”
“It doesn’t matter how happy we were.” Releasing a breath, I hide beneath the veil of my lashes. “That was then. We’re different people now.”
“You still love me.” His thumb slides over my bottom lip. “If you ignore that feeling, it will only end badly.”
“Badly for whom?” I lean away from his touch. “You, them, or me?”
“Yes.” His frosty eyes glint with danger, whispering warnings from his scarred soul.
He’s suffered loss—the pregnancy, our marriage, the son he never met, his evil brother—and he’s still fighting. Ambitious and fiercely passionate, he will raise hell and shatter heaven in pursuit of his ultimate desire.
And that desire is me.
“I can’t get you out of my head. I wish I could. But I can’t.” He edges closer, lifting his arms to grip the overhead above us as he leans in.
Level with my face, his waistband slips dangerously low on his lean hips, revealing every inch of his rippled abdomen.
It’s impossible to look at him and not feel like I’m cheating.
“Christ, I want you. Your mind. Your body.” He lowers a hand from the overhead to stroke my cheek before sliding down to caress my throat. “You’re so goddamn pretty. Let me play with you.”
“Nope.” My ears inflame as I jump up, backing toward the door. “You got your dirty talk in. Now we’re done.”
“We’ll never be done.” He prowls toward me, caging me against the door. “You used to love dirty talk.”
I still love it. With Leo and Kody. I can’t love it with Monty.
“I won’t let you go.” He dips his head, his deep voice caressing my ear, conjuring erotic memories of his flesh against my flesh.
“If you don’t step back…” I lift on my toes and meet his molten, sapphire eyes. “I’ll show you what you paid for in my self-defense course.”
The corner of his mouth twitches, just barely, and his brows knit together before smoothing into a blank slate, erasing any readable signs.
Sliding his hands into his pockets, he returns to the helm as if the interaction never happened.
Immediately, I miss his body heat, and I hate myself for that.
31
Kodiak
—
Cold, hard, suffocating—every metallic clang in this stark, soulless box reverberates through my bones. I press my forehead against the steel bars, tracking the sound of Leo pacing behind me, the floor trembling beneath his fury.
Frankie’s gone. Vanished around the corner with her hand locked in Monty’s grip. The image burns behind my eyelids every time I blink.
I saw the way Monty looked at her, the possessiveness in his eyes, the triumphant curl of his lips. It was the look of a man reclaiming what he believes is his, a tsar asserting his dominance over his territory.
The cameras prove she’s safe to be with him. She’s forgiven him for the rest.
She no longer has a reason to hate him.
Where does that leave Leo and me?
I can’t stop replaying her walking away, the way she glanced back at us, her features ashen with anxiety and confusion and the faintest shade of something else.
Something softer.
Her feelings for Monty are changing, deepening, and she went home with him. Alone.
I sink my hands into my hair, fists clenching, tugging at the strands.
The memory of our day together—the progress with the renovations, the amazing dinner, delicious food, stolen moments of solace and passion—it’s all tainted with pain.
Leo removes his shirt and flings the blood-soaked thing into the sink.
The welted skin on his stomach twists as he leans against the wall opposite me, his eyes twin orbs of storm and fire.
Our scars run deep. Violence is our lifeblood. The eternal night will follow us forever.
“We fucked up.” A vein pulses ominously at his temple, a dark river of vehemence.
“Yeah.” I swallow, my throat raw. “But she’s safe now. That’s all that matters.”
“Safe with him. The man who betrayed her, who drove her into our arms.” Venom italicizes his words, but it’s pain and fear that turns them red.
He’s as scared as I am of what this means for us.
Monty loves her beyond the point of obsession. Just because he’s not the one threatening her doesn’t mean he’s not a threat to our relationship with her. He’s as protective and possessive as we are, if not more.
“He’s clean, and we’re not.” He presses the heels of his hands to his eyelids. “We ruined her night, made a whole goddamn mess of it, and the worst part is that we weren’t with her when she received that call. The stalker probably waited two months for us to make that mistake and leave her by herself. And we just handed her over to the man who’s been desperate to fuck her since the day he lost her.”