“You won’t be,” I growl.
“I could be. I know the risks. I can’t change who my father is, but I married you, knowing what could happen. To me or to you. I’d marry you all over again, even after what just happened. AndI’d kill for you too, you know. I have. I wasn’t trying to escape them. I was trying to get back to you.”
I’m getting better at processing the emotions that hit anytime Carina shares her feelings with me. I kiss her, telling her I love her again.
She breaks the kiss first, sitting up and shifting until she’s straddling me. The short nightgown she has on bunches around her thighs. Some of her clothes must have stayed here after her last visit. Carina leans over me, her hair falling around us like a private curtain as she brushes a finger over the shadow under my left eye.
“You look tired.”
“Not much sleep.”
She smiles ruefully. “You can smoke, if you want.”
“I quit.”
Her smile grows. “You did?”
“Yes. I hear it is bad for you.”
“It took eleven years for that to sink in?”
“No. It took you marrying me for me to care about living for longer.”
Her entire body softens, her pelvis pressing more firmly against my hardening dick.
“I love you,” she whispers.
“Ya rad eto slyshat.”
“What did you say?”
“That you should learn more Russian.”
Carina rolls her eyes, yanks the covers down, then returns to the same position. “You should learn some manners.” She pulls her pajamas over her head, revealing she’s wearing nothing underneath. “I thought you’d wake me up when you came to bed.”
“You needed sleep, not sex.”
“I wanted to know you were here. It chases the nightmares away. And now, I want sex.”
Her hips lift and circle, rubbing my dick.
I sit up, reaching her waist.
Carina bats my hands away. “You have towait, Lev. Sucks, doesn’t it?”
I fist the sheets. “I needed to?—”
“Yeah, I get why you did it. But I’m still annoyed. If anything like that ever happens again, remember that I need you more than you need revenge.”
I manage a nod, increasingly distracted by the friction between our bodies.
“Promise me, Lev.”
“I promise.”
Privately, I’m quite convinced no man will have any interest in dying the way that Nico Morello did. If threatening my family was considered suicidal before, it’ll be seen as insane now. Threats are always more powerful in practice, not theory.
Carina’s breathing is increasingly erratic as she writhes on my lap. The tip of my cock is leaking, making even more of a mess between us.
