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Isabella links her fingers over my neck. “It’s the pregnancy hormones.”
I press a kiss underneath her ear. “I don’t care what it is. As long as I’m the only one who gets to see this.”
“Always,” Isabella whispers into my ear. She wriggles against me and inches closer so her breasts are pressed between us. “What do you want me to do next, sir?”
“Lower those straps, dove,” I tell her before I give her a quick kiss. “Take the whole thing off… but leave the heels and panties on while I lock the door.”
I cross over in two strides and turn the lock.
Isabella is bent over and hobbling on her heels when I turn back around.
I bridge the distance between us and crush her to me.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Carter
“What does he want?”
Tristan doesn’t look up from his phone when he answers. “His secretary said to bring you to City Hall. That’s all I know.”
I take another sip of my drink. “Fine. Let’s get this over. I have other things to do.”
Including my very hot and insatiable fiancée, who was tangled up in the sheets in our room, sound asleep when I left her thirty minutes ago.
I don’t like being pulled away from her, but this is the first time Mayor Hughes has reached out directly.
And I know it has something to do with the press conference he’s holding in twenty minutes. A part of me is tempted not to show up just to test the limits of our agreement, but the other part of me doesn’t want any more unnecessary problems.
Between the fights breaking out in shared territory, and the issue of the docks still unresolved, I don’t need one more problem on my plate. Least of all, one that involves the city’s dear mayor.
Convincing him to abandon his allies wasn’t hard, but I doubt he’ll do it a second time if I screw him over.
I finish the rest of my drink and lean back against my seat. In the rearview mirror, I feel Tristan’s eyes on me. When I glance up, he holds my gaze and doesn’t look away for the longest time. Tristan and I have been inseparable since I joined the Blackthorne family at the age of twelve.
While everyone else walked on eggshells around me, afraid of bringing up my sordid past, Tristan was the only one who didn’t treat me like I was made of glass. Although I loved and appreciated everything my parents had done for me, it was Tristan who made me feel normal.
Like I wasn’t some broken kid who got lucky.
With a frown, I break our gaze and take my phone out. After scrolling through the contacts, I settle on Isabella’s name, and my stomach gives an odd little dip. My dove and I have been doing so well lately, but I can’t help but feel like we’re living on borrowed time.
Inevitably, something or someone is going to tear us apart again. It’s how it always goes with me, and I’ve come to expect nothing less.
The only difference is that this time, I’m desperate to stop it.
I will do anything and everything within my power to keep our family together, even if it means having to walk away from the only life I’ve ever known. Still, as I wonder what the future holds for us and our daughter, another part of me rejects the idea completely.
Without the Blackthorne family to lead, I’m not sure I know who I am. Or the kind of person I want to be, but I know that I want to try.
Isabella picks up on the fourth ring, her voice thick with sleep. “Where did you go?”
“I have something to take care of.” I use one hand to keep the phone pressed to my ear and use the other to press the button for the partition, separating me from the rest of my family. “I promise I’ll make it up to you when I’m back, dove.”
Isabella sighs, and I hear her yawn. “It’s okay. Just be careful.”
My stomach tightens. “I will. I need you to do something for me, dove.”
I hear sheets rustling, and Isabella’s voice comes back on, quieter than before. “What’s wrong?”
