Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
She takes a cautious step closer to me, and some of the warmth in her eyes returns as she mutters, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say so many things all in a row.” Her lips lift at the corner, and she’s dangerously close to smiling. “I kind of liked it, the whole talking thing.”
My face dips and I suppress the sigh of relief, instead laughing silently. I didn’t expect to get off so easily. Lifting my hand past my lowered face, I absently rub at the back of my neck and reveal, “Yeah, well, you better get used to it, because I only talk to people worth talking to.” The implication is there and completely true. From this moment on, this woman will be my world.
I don’t think she understands what that means or the lengths I will go to keep her safe. Not yet, but she will.
I take a quick peek at her to find her standing in front of me, her face soft in thought. “Okay.” She approaches the single step it takes to reach me, taking my hand and holding it tight. “Okay. So what’s the plan? What do we do about Gio?”
If I tell her the plan, she’ll ruin it—not knowingly, but she will.
I tell her what I can, leaving out major details. “The man who killed Raul, Maxim Nikulin, my sources have located him. I’m going to deliver him to your father.”
“Julius,” Alejandra frowns, “that’s not enough. My father will do whatever it takes to secure his alliance with Vito.” Her hand squeezes mine. “And Vito wants me.” I lift my face, and she runs her fingers down my cheek. “You can’t stop what’s coming. I’ve committed the insult of insults. Vito will have justice for his son.”
Sitting up tall, I reach out to grip her hips in my hands and pull her toward me. She knows what I want and rolls her eyes at me as she climbs onto my lap, facing me, her thighs draped over the sides of mine. Her arms come around my neck, and she leans in to press her chest to mine, virtually nose to nose. “I’m beginning to think this lap thing is a thing of yours.”
“Whenever you’re near me, I want you as close as possible, and this is getting you as close as possible without being inside of you. So yeah.” I kiss her full bottom lip, gently nipping it, my arms tightening around her back. “You can call it a thing of mine. Get used to it. You’re going to spend a lot of time right here.”
Her lips pucker to accept my closed-mouth kisses as I continue to assault her lips in gentle slowness. Against my lips, she whispers, “I’m scared, Julius.” When I pull back to look into her eyes, she confesses, “I don’t want to die. Not the way Gio will deliver. He’ll take his time. Make it slow.”
“You said Vito will want justice for his son. What about your father’s justice for you? I’m thinking your pops isn’t going to take too kindly to knowing the things Vito’s boy was doing to his girl.”
But she’s already shaking her head. “No. Even if I had proof of what was going on, my father has always taught me that we have to make sacrifices for the greater good. If he knew, he would just tell himself that being married to Dino was my sacrifice to make in this life. Besides, I don’t have any evidence to back up my claim.”
My anger spikes at her cool detachment. “Your entire fucking body is evidence, Ana.”
Her expression is still. “You don’t know my dad. He’ll care, but he’s a businessman. He won’t care enough.”
My father-in-law sounds like a stand-up guy. If someone ever dares to put their hands on my child, God help them. After I’m done with them, they’ll be begging for death, and because I’m a merciful guy, I’ll give them what they wish.
“Fuck your father. We’ll work something out.” I hold her tighter, moving to rest my cheek against her chest, eyes closed in pleasure. She works her fingers through the hair at my nape, resting her cheek on top of my head and, caught up in drowsy bliss, I barely hear her when she starts, “So, husband of mine.” I pull up and catch her awkward, wide-eyed expression. “Exactly how old are you?”
I blink at her a moment before I tilt my head back and let out a rumbling laugh. When she leans down to kiss my lips, I chuckle into her smiling mouth.
Unexpectedly, marriage doesn’t seem so bad.
Not when it’s to this pretty little sparrow.
My sister answers the door, and when she spots my hand clutched in Alejandra’s tiny one, her mouth parts while suspicion enters her eyes. “Uh,” Tonya starts, leaning her hip onto the wooden doorframe and admitting with a tilt of her head, “I did not see this coming.”