Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
My jaw ticks when he murmurs, “And when has anyone around here listened to you?” He intends for his comment to be playful, but my mood is too low to take it that way, even more when he shuts the safe with the coke I was admiring on the other side. “You’re only just breathing again. Don’t let that shit steal the air from your lungs.”
When Alek returns to my office an hour later I shouldn’t grin like a smug prick, but I do. He’s balancing a tray on his hand and raking his teeth over his lower lip.
I slant my head more to hide a smile I shouldn’t be wearing than my scars when he murmurs, “Maybe she was in the shower.”
“Or maybe she knows better than to defy me.”
He pffts me before dumping the tray onto a filing cabinet and slouching low it the chair across from me. “Whatcha working on?” His amusement shifts to fret when he scans the photographs splayed across my desk. “You clearly think there’s some shady shit going on if you’re taking this off the table.” He tosses down an image of Hailey being flanked by four FBI agents before tracing the tick in his jaw with his hand. “What did you call in?”
“Nothing.” When he mocks me with an arched brow, I bark out, “A threat was made against her life—”
“Months ago.” He sits up straighter then places his forearms on my desk. “We’ve not had a reason to utilize her since the wedding.”
“Maybe the Bureau’s files are as backed up as…” I almost say ‘me’ but stop before I make an idiot of myself.
I get why Katie froze. I understand it has nothing to do with my scars, but when you’ve been jumping on cue for years, it gets a little hard to remember not every fucker is out to get you. Some just want to be a part of your life.
It was Alek twenty-three years ago.
Now it is Katie.
I was also probably a little bit too vocal. I’m not usually the talkative one during sexual activities. I’m there to get off, and usually, I didn’t give a fuck if the woman I was using reached the same level of hysteria, but I couldn’t hold back with Katie. I wanted her screaming, moaning, and thrashing against me, and when her juices dripped from my hand when I called her a slut for the first time, I knew exactly how to achieve that.
Katie is the picture of innocence, but my fucking God, she is nothing close to naïve once she comes out of her shell. I’m hard again now, recalling the way she peered at me while flattening her tongue.
What I wouldn’t give for another taste.
Alek pulls me from my vivid imagination. “Anyway, chitchats are for pansies.” He stands, runs his palms down his thighs, then nudges his head to the tray of food. “She needs to eat.” He drops his eyes to mine. “So do you, so why not take advantage of the situation?”
Not looking up, I gesture for him to fuck off with a wave of my hand. I mainly utilize the middle finger. I’m having enough issues keeping my ass planted in my seat, so I don’t need him giving my cock ideas.
He laughs as if amused before doing as ordered, only to step back around two seconds later. “Oh, before I forget, I was thinking about something you said the other day—”
“Did it hurt?”
He gives me his best peeved expression before he continues, “Why does Kirill risk his Marys by impregnating them with straight-up, untouched sperm? Why wouldn’t he just give them the boys juice?”
“You can do that?”
Alek scrubs at his chin to hide his grin. “Fuck yeah. Designer babies are all the rage.” He rubs his hands together, a telltale sign he’s thinking. “I heard it’s pricy though, but for him to turn down seven million, he can’t be living off pennies.” His brows screw up as he purses his lips. “Unless he’s banking on his male heir to bring in the bacon?” He appears confused. “Fuck. Forget it. I need to do a little more research.”
“You could be onto something.”
He won’t ever admit it, but I can tell he is pleased by my unexpected praise. “You think?”
I jerk up my chin. “Dig a little deeper and see what you can find out.”
“His financials or his swimmers?”
His breathy chuckle shifts to a groan when I reply, “Both.”
He doesn’t look impressed, but he lifts his chin and murmurs, “All right,” then exits for real this time.
It’s for the best. My patience is stretched thin. Kirill has always been unhinged, but his possessiveness has never extended past my sister. Wife or not, if they didn’t give him what he craved, his Marys were killed within days.
Some didn’t even make it down the aisle.