Page 99 of Pink

Every bit of thismade him fucking stupid. In the best way.

He could count the number of times he’d dared to fuck a woman without a condom. And one of those had been in a drunken stupor that resulted in the little girl down the hall. Even so, it just wasn’t something he made a point to do barring stupid mistakes he couldn’t—and wouldn’t—take back. Except now that he’d had Gigi bare, he couldn’t imagine fucking her any other way.

It was too good.

Too right.

He made sure she came again, and only then did he roll his weight off of her. Gathering Gigi in his arms to tuck her back flat against his chest while their legs tangled together, he buried his face into the sweaty, sweet-smelling skin of her neck.

“You better wake me up like that the next time I spend the night,” she murmured against his arm holding her close. “You can’t spoil me like that and then not keep it up, Lev.”

His dark laughter echoed in the quiet bedroom. “Noted.”

The tips of her fingers ghosted over the veins in his arm, sending chills racing through all of his nerve endings. She turned into a kitten after sex … soft to the touch, quiet and sleepy, and willing to be adored by him in whatever way he wanted.

And he was about to ruin it.

Because of course.

“It’s almost six,” he murmured in her ear before kissing the spot right underneath. “I have to get up and around. Get a start before Arely wakes up. Things changed last night.”

“What things?”

Well, that wasn’t an easy answer.

“Work things,” he settled on saying. Gigi stiffened in his hold, but he continued talking, deciding now was the best time to just get it all out there. “Jensen Todrey and the other man at the restaurant—Marco, he comes from California—are in the business of trafficking. Women, Gigi. They traffic women, and they’re planning on bringing in a lot of skin for the upcoming season of baseball games. I was there that day because my boss wanted a fly on the wall, so to speak … someone who wouldn’t be recognized that could report back on what they were planning.”

Air left Gigi in a hard woosh. “Like for prostitution?”

“That’s secondary to the main problem right now.”

“Which is what?”

“Well, let’s start with the fact that I’ve been in the tabloids with you and then end on the note that they’ve called in a meeting with my boss. And me,” he added lower.

“Lev—”

“It’ll be handled. It always is.”

He was kind of banking on that.

Gigi shivered in his arms, saying lowly, “And you knew this last night?”

“Got the message while I was putting Arely to bed.”

“You didn’t tell me until this morning?”

“I didn’t have to tell you at all, Gigi. And sometimes, that’s how it has to work. I can’t help it.”

That was the mafia. Whether he liked it or not, or she did, he was in this business up to his fucking eyeballs. He didn’t need to be told the truth because he already knew.

Lev was in this for life now.

“I’ll give you a set of keys—spares for my place. I’ll have to take off right after Arely leaves this morning. You can see yourself out, yeah? Lock it up and everything?”

Gigi sighed. “Of course, but …”

“Hmm?”