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Declan softens, then smiles too, a slight curl of his lips that looks painful. Knox leans into me and curves his arms around my back in a big bear hug. Declan does the same, and I hear a sniff that seems to come from Knox.
"Are you crying?" Declan asks softly.
"Don't be an asshole,” Knox murmurs. But when he pulls away, his quiet eyes are suspiciously bright.
"Oh." The words come from the stairs, and I turn to find Melissa gleaming down at me. She traces her fingers over her lips. "I really thought you three idiots would kill yourselves. That was really sweet."
My stomach flares with fire, an inferno raging that flickers and bites. "Come here,” I grunt at her.
I need her.
I don’t know how, exactly, but I need the solace that only her body can provide.
"That was our warning to get out," Declan mutters. I don't spare them a glance as their footsteps shuffle out of the room. My eyes are entirely on the woman coming towards me.
It doesn't matter if the hounds of hell are licking outside, if the fire is getting hotter, if the bastard Russians are creeping near like vines up a building.
I will never not want this woman. I will never not need her to smile at me this way, rush down the stairs and into my arms, sink into me like she is mine, and she knows this as a fact.
I press a kiss to her hair, tighten my arms like a band around her, and then another kiss to my mark, which is just dying away on her skin. "Are you okay?"
She tips her head up to press a kiss to the throbbing vein right on my neck and grins up at me. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry. I listened to Romero. I followed him here like you wanted. I've been a good girl."
Gesù Cristo.
She floors me, just like that. I cup the back of her head and tip her lips into mine. My tongue sweeps immediately between her lips, and I curl it over hers.
She moans and gives me a hard kiss back. Her teeth grind down on my tongue, and I groan.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Come upstairs."
She nods and kisses me harder, letting her hands roll over my skin, the pad of her thumb pressing into my stomach.
She sighs and smiles. Her eyes open. "What happened?"
I sigh just as softly and tug her into my side. "Gabriele ratted us out to the Russians. The men were being antsy. I didn't know how fast they would strike. I need you safe."
She gazes up at me and nods. "Who's Gabriele?"
My finger tightens around her waist, and I snort angrily. "A dead man."
She stops and looks up at me. "Will this always happen? Will his life always be disrupted like this?"
My guts want to spill. But I know the truth. I've lived it for years. "Yes. Until things die down."
She's quiet the rest of the way inside the house. I have nothing to say either, but the silence isn't the sort that needs breaking into.
It's the silence of two people who understand each other enough that words are not necessary.
When we enter the dining room, Mother and Father are already seated. Father looks dead already, a skeleton with breathing skin.
I walk to him and bend my head to receive his kiss. He waves at a chair for me. "We knew it was going to happen soon. This is nothing to worry about. The wedding will go on, the contract will be signed, and you will take over. As we always planned."
Mother closes her eyes and then pats the chair beside her for Mel. Mel gives me a look, and I nod. She takes the chair beside my mother, and I take the one beside Father.
Mother doesn't have a female in the family. I sort of understand why she needs Mel.
"I know, Father. I understand my duty." But today, the words taste sour, sliding like slough off my tongue.
