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I watch her standing in front of the bathroom mirror rubbing creams and serums—the ones she requested after only two days of being here—on her face. Her eyebrows are pinched together like she’s deep in thought. I know something’s bothering her. Watching her get ready for bed feels so domestic. I smile at the thought of how far we’ve come in the several weeks.
After walking up behind her and grabbing her hips, I pull her in so she can feel my erection against her back. She’s so much shorter than me, I tower over her more than a foot. I have to lean forward to kiss her neck. She tilts her head, giving me access, but her body’s still tense. I kiss from her ear down to her shoulder.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong, or do I have to coax it out of you?” I ask.
“That depends on what you have planned in your coaxing,” she says in a seductive voice.Fuck. Focus,Nico.Don’t let her distract you.
I spin her, lift her onto the bathroom counter, and place my hands on each side of her.
“Tell me,” I demand in a low tone.
She sighs before she rubs the leftover moisturizer onto my face. She’s been going on about how important it is to take care of your skin. For someone who’s not good at talking about feelings or showing affection, she sure is good at finding other ways to nurture and show she cares. Her eyes finally make contact with mine, and my lips turn up.
“I don’t want to let you go, Nico,” she whispers.
Her confession takes me by surprise. I thought she was tense because of the mission. This whole time, she’s been worried about us.
Did she not get it by now?Her body tenses when I don’t answer right away. It also doesn’t help that I’m looking at her, confused.
“Look, I know it hasn’t been that long, but Papa and Dom are going to know—they’re observant like that. And they’re going to be here in a few days. People talk, they’ll be furious. Not that they have a say in what I do, but I’d rather you all not fight. We’re on the same side—at least for now. And I’d like to know what to say if they ask,” she says.
Man, she was really sitting on this one. There’s so much I want to say to her. I want to tell her I won’t let her go, that she’s better than any dream I could come up with, and that she’s worked her way into this heart I never thought was capable of love. I love my family, but this is different. What I feel for her puts me so far out of my element to comprehend. I’ll kill anyone who tries to take her from me. Hell, I’ve killed for a lot less.
“You’re mine,” I say with a smile.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Anya
“You’re serious? Just like that?” I ask him, less than amused.
“What part of this sounds like a joke to you?” he asks in an easygoing manner, shrugging. He looks at me likeI’mthe one with two heads.
In this world, marriages or alliances could happen overnight. It’s certainly not customary to date casually, especially for long periods of time. Fucking double standards. In this world, women didn’t just sleep around. If you’re sleeping together, the woman’s labeled a whore or you marry. My heart sinks at the thought of Nico marrying someone else. It wasn’t unusual for men to take on mistresses, but I sure as fuck would not be his.I’m the damn Triad princess!Soon-to-be queen,dammit! But that fact makes me an outsider to them. How could this work?
“I can hear you thinking, babe. Have I not shown you in these past few weeks how much I want you?”
“Well, you have,” I say slowly, “but I wasn’t sure if this was your way of making thebest of this while it lasted.”
He grabs the back of my neck with one of his hands.
“I’m not letting you go. I thought you realized that when we didn’t send you home after we located your uncle.”
“Nico, are you even thinking this through. Be realistic. Is there some plan I’m not in on?”
I don’t expect him to have an answer on the spot, but I think we’ve spent a little too much time enjoying ourselves, and now it’s time to face the consequences. A part of me is begging for him to fight for us.
“We’ll figure it out. Together. But rest assured—you’re mine.”
His tone was almost threatening. As if the result will be catastrophic if anyone tries to say otherwise.
“This is too fast, isn’t it?” I ask, testing him.
Surely, we’re insane. It’s only been a few weeks and part of that time we thought we were enemies.
“Do you want to slow down?” he asks.
I look into those dark eyes that completely suck me in.No.I know in my heart no one will ever compare to Nico. There’s no one else. I grab his face, pulling his lips to mine before answering.
