AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sit,” he commands when we reach the enclosure. All three dogs immediately sit down, their eyes focused on him. Drago moves to stand behind me and wraps his arms around my middle.
“What are you doing?” I ask but completely forget about the question when a kiss lands on the side of my neck. The hold on my waist tightens as his lips move up to my chin.
“Keep your eyes on the dogs,” he says next to my ear and wraps his fingers around my wrist, raising my hand to his lips.
The dogs are watching us with interest, their heads slightly tilted to the side. I keep my gaze on them as Drago’s lips press to the back of my hand. My fingers begin to shake slightly as he turns my hand and kisses the center of my palm.
“Now, the other one,” he says.
The simple act of breathing becomes hard as I lower my right hand and lift the left one, because I can still feel the caress of his lips on my skin. He takes my hand and pulls it closer to his mouth, but not close enough for another kiss. His hot breath fans across my palm. He’s obviously doing this for the sake of the dogs. I don’t understand the reasoning behind his actions, but I’m certain it has something to do with them. And I wish it didn’t.
Drago runs his lips across my wrist, just over my pulse point, and I swear my heart skips a beat. It’s as if a low-intensity electric current is running through me. Everywhere his lips touch, thrilling energy enters and spreads through my body, zapping every nerve ending in its path. Another kiss falls to my wrist, and then he moves my hand and presses my palm against his cheek. I take a deep breath and lean more onto him, my entire back plastered to his front.
“I think I’ve made my point.” Drago lowers my hand and ushers me closer to the fence, beyond which the dogs are still sitting at attention.
“What point?” I ask and look up to find him watching me.
“That you’re mine.”
Not breaking our eye contact, he lifts my hand to the gap between the iron posts. All three rottweilers rise and, one by one, come over to sniff my hand. A wet, warm tongue licks my knuckles. Bonbon loved licking my hands and face.
I close my eyes for a second, then pull my hand out of Drago’s. “Well, I’ve met your dogs, so I’ll be on my merry way now. Have fun at work.”
I turn toward the house, but his arm wraps around my waist, pulling me back and crushing me to his body.
“I’m sorry if they scared you,” he says next to my ear. “I’ll tell my men to only let them out to run around at night.”
“Thank you,” I say.
Apparently, he still thinks I’m afraid of dogs. Whatever. I don’t plan on explaining myself.
She’s not afraid of dogs.
I pause with my hand on the doorknob. I’m not exactly sure why that realization suddenly hits me now, hours later, but I know I’m right. Whatever the reason for Sienna’s reluctance, it wasn’t fear.
“Where is my wife?” I ask Jovan who’s on guard duty at the front door.
“In the rec room.”
I step inside and turn right toward the great rec room that takes up a good part of the ground floor on this side of the house. There are several big-screen TVs and gaming consoles, as well as a pool table and pinball machines Mirko bought last month. A small wet bar with a variety of beverages is in one of the corners. With nearly fifty people under the same roof, you need to provide some sort of entertainment unless you want your life to become a living hell. Especially during evenings.
As I enter the room, I expect to find my wife watching a movie or gossiping with a few of the women. Instead, I find her sitting with three of my men at the poker table that’s set up close to the bar, with half a dozen people watching the unfolding game. The main overhead lighting is off, and only a pendant light above the table is illuminated, creating a very film noir ambience in the room. I stop by the bar to pour myself a drink, then lean on a nearby wall and observe what’s happening.
My wife is perched cross-legged on a chair, holding the cards in her left hand while chewing on the pad of her right thumb. Mirko is to her right, wearing a smug expression. On her other side is Adam, and while his poker face doesn’t show it, he believes he’s going to win. We’ve been friends since high school, and I know all his tells. Across from Sienna is Relja. I found him freezing on the streets when he was still a kid and brought him here. As usual, he’s completely enigmatic. I’m not sure I’ve ever met a man who’s been as hard to read as Relja.
There’s a minuscule heap of money at the center of the table, probably no more than a couple of hundred bucks in small bills. Hardly a high-stakes game; they’re obviously playing for fun. My attention shifts back to my wife as she takes off her big gold hoop earrings and drops them on top of the cash pile. Sienna resumes chewing on her thumb,her eyes flitting from one man to another in rapid succession. Anyone else may think that her cards are crap. My lips tug into a smile.
All three men at the table think that my wife is losing.
And all three of them are wrong.
I leave my empty glass on the counter and stride toward the group, then come to a stop behind Sienna. Grabbing the side of her chair, I turn it one-eighty and shove the back of it against the table’s edge. She must have given a little yelp when I spun her around because she’s looking at me with a slightly wild look in her eyes.
“Drago?” she gasps. “What . . .”
My hands land on Sienna’s waist. I lift her off the chair and take her place, then deposit her astride on my lap. Blinking at me in confusion, my wife presses the cards to her chest to hide them from view of her opponents. I can hear the guys behind me subtly clearing their troats as they take in our new position, and spot more than a few curious looks in my peripheral vision from the onlookers around the room.
“Feel free to continue,” I say, my eyes sliding back to Sienna’s face, just inches away from mine.
